Losing control

I cried on the phone to my superannuation provider yesterday and they hung up on me. I think it was an accident. I wasn’t being abusive, just emotional.

I have been trying since June to lodge a Notice of Intent Form for a lump sum that I put in my super account. The Notice of Intent Form needs to be added if you are claiming a tax deduction on the lump sum.

I reckon I’ve sent about 15 emails begging for assistance, but they just kept writing back that I needed to lodge the bloody notice. I keep telling them I HAVE LODGED THE BLOODY NOTICE and attached it to each email for good measure, but I just kept receiving the same infuriating response.

I told DD I was reaching the end of my tether and he suggested calling my superannuation provider instead of emailing them.

Ah, good idea!

Except when I called I got an automated message asking me to type in my membership number on my phone keypad followed by the hash key. When I typed it in the automated voice said it had no record of me. I tried a few times, made triple sure I hadn’t made a mistake, and started to get wobbly.

I told DD once again that things were not going well and he suggested circumventing the membership number thing by choosing the “I’m not a member” option.

Ah, good idea!

Finally, a real person answered the phone, I cried, they hung up on me and I stared at the phone in hopeless desperation. I pulled myself together, took a deep breath and called again.

A nice man answered, looked me up, assured me my membership number was in the system and explained that I’d filled in the Notice of Voluntary Contribution Form, but not the Notice of Intent Form.

Ah, so that’s what those 15 email replies were trying to tell me!

Well, they didn’t explain it very clearly.

I felt embarrassed to have screwed it up so badly, but the nice man on the phone assured me it was an easy mistake to make. What he couldn’t explain was why the automated system said my member number didn’t exist.

He emailed me the correct form, but the fun doesn’t stop there. I have to print it out, sign it and POST it to the superannuation fund. I swear that’s what his email said to do.

Now I have to find a printer, an envelope and a stamp.

Far out! In 2026!

So much for AI posing an existential risk to the human race. Super funds will keep us in the dark ages.

Speaking, once again, about AI … a researcher at the AI company Anthropic announced on X this week: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is 10 per cent within the next decade.

“I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”

That’s a little disconcerting.

Paul Christiano, the former head of safety on an AI research team also said: “If we build superintelligence without more robust alignment I expect we will permanently lose control of it. If that happens then most people could die.”

Cheery. Maybe I don’t need to worry about my superannuation then.

PS The main pic is a scene from my all-time scariest movie, World War Z – I was literally shaking when I walked out of the cinema. I’ve been pondering how to escape the zombie apocalypse ever since, but maybe I was worrying about the wrong end-of-days enemy.

PPS After researching World War Z last night I discovered that one of my favourite plans for escaping the zombies is fatally flawed. I thought I’d hide on a remote island. But apparently the zombies in the book could walk across the ocean floor. I’m screwed.

PPSS Have a good weekend. I promise not to talk about the end of the world next week.

Song of the day: Creedence Clearwater Revival “Bad moon rising”