Rosie Tucker has shared a new song titled 'Paperclip Maximizer' taken from her upcoming album Utopia now! – Released March 22 via Sentimental Records. It follows previous cuts “All My Exes Live in Vortexes” and “Unending Bliss”. Check it out below.
Speaking about the new song, Tucker said in a statement:
“Paperclip Maximizer” is a cautionary tale about watching from afar as a former loved one seeks continued growth and professional accolades by abandoning and collapsing the universe. The song was partly inspired by watching former friends pursue ostensibly impressive music careers while completely destroying their own relationships. When I wrote it, I felt alone and belittled in my attempts to express how my interactions with the music industry often left me feeling isolated, angry, and sad. When I started trying to channel my frustrations into art, the songs that emerged weren't just critical of the artist's experience, they were critical of capitalism as a system.
It's impossible to explain the song without coming off as a real goof, but here it is: Philosopher Nick Bostrom first described the paperclip magnifier in a 2003 thought experiment intended to illustrate how artificial general intelligence could pose an existential risk to humanity. I find some of Bostrom's thinking harmful and reactionary (he's a proponent of long-termism, which is the latest bullshit ideology that tech billionaires try to pass for the sake of moral integrity) but I really liked the metaphor, not as a statement about AI, but as an expression of AI. An account of the destructive dangers of capitalism, especially when its logic is internalized and recreated in our personal lives.
People seem to fear that new technologies will oppress and dehumanize us, even as we are already impoverishing and exploiting each other very efficiently. It's like, if you think it's scary to have a machine controlling you, wait until you hear about what humans do!
