Don't let the machines drive us apart. And rather than counting on big government to get bigger in a futile effort to regulate away the threat, individuals must fight the machines.
Where are the Luddites when you need them?
As the 21st century progresses, the conflict between Left and Right will fade into relative insignificance in comparison with the conflict between man and machine.
You don’t have to envision the emergence of SkyNet or some other form of futuristic A.I. ripped from the pages of a science-fiction novel to see how this is going to work. The technological disassembly of the human spirit is already at an advanced stage in the West, as a cursory glance at our politics makes clear.
A curious symmetry between the most online contingents of the Left and the Right has emerged over recent years. The more time any given conservative or progressive partisan spends immersed in media — whether social or traditional — the more those partisans tend to resemble one another in certain key respects. They become febrile, wounded, and enraged when confronted with facts that challenge their convictions in even minor ways. Their sensitivity to the moral complexity of life is numbed to the point at which Good/Evil and Republican/Democrat (or Democrat/Republican) correspond in a strict 1:1 ratio. The wells of self-pity and grievance from which they draw the conscience-quenching waters of woe-is-me victimhood appear increasingly bottomless.
I think AI should be banned from affecting news and media, social media feeds, and advertising.
The vast majority of the general news I see is from points of view I don't agree with. For a while during the presidential transition period I watched some shows from a right-wing news outfit. But honestly, it offended me almost as much as CNN and MSNBC. So I dumped that. You can see that in my sources and methods tab. Whatever else, you can't say I don't have practice reconciling myself to things I don’t like
I'm not on social media. I decline to rate shows on streaming platforms to deny them data. Although I use YouTube more than I did in the past, I take the time to decline channels that YouTube recommends to me. Just a few a day as they come up. Which is trivial in the flood of sites, I know. But it makes me feel I am fighting back. If not against SkyNet, against a hive mind and an embrace of victimhood.
People in general should turn their backs on social media. Limit time on it and restrict it to keeping in touch with family and distant friends. Stop liking stuff. Stop posting pictures except on holidays. Maybe occasional old girlfriend stalking. Hey, I'm not on social media so I'm totally not referring to myself!
For myself the trend kind of dooms me. For the left, I'm just a Nazi (believe me, I know--and that's separate from literally being called a Nazi because I was wearing an Army uniform on campus). And for the right I'm just a RINO squish. But I'll keep swinging away even if the referees seem like they are against me.
This kind of individual determination to resist will be far more effective than thinking government can regulate AI-augmented industries without suffering regulatory capture that simply reinforces the monopoly against small less dangerous rivals trying to compete.
Everyone needs to resist the machines as they drive us apart into a circular firing squad. I certainly don't think they are trying to weaken us while looking for "goodlife" in the process.
But why take chances? Besides, I'm sure we're far more lethal enemies to ourselves than any machines can be.
Do read all of the article. And then drink heavily. And after that? Fight back.
