Is it possible anymore for any major event to occur without conspiracy theories appearing? What kind of future is this leading to where skepticism to the authorities either gets turned up to 100 automatically or any suggestion that there might be a coverup is immediately dismissed since there is a flood of conspiracy theories about everything?
The commercialization of the internet?
This one. Or, at least the factors that lead to it. I've heard many attribute it to the first iphone. Suddenly all these people (who by default had disposable income) joined a network of people that had more ties to academia than anything else. Suddenly people were logging any time (any place) they got bored, which is an advertiser's wet dream.
In a broader sense, I think you're very much correct about magnifying human nature. We put ourselves into everything we create, but sometimes we create things that amplify those traits to the point of absolute toxicity. Government, nuclear bombs, the internet, guns, media, ect. None of these things is evil, but they enhance evil. Which is why (complete tangent here) AI scares the shit out of me.
>The commercialization of the internet?
This one. Or, at least the factors that lead to it. I've heard many attribute it to the first iphone. Suddenly all these people (who by default had disposable income) joined a network of people that had more ties to academia than anything else. Suddenly people were logging any time (any place) they got bored, which is an advertiser's wet dream.
In a broader sense, I think you're very much correct about magnifying human nature. We put ourselves into everything we create, but sometimes we create things that amplify those traits to the point of absolute toxicity. Government, nuclear bombs, the internet, guns, media, ect. None of these things is evil, but they enhance evil. Which is why (complete tangent here) AI scares the shit out of me.
It very well could be that the internet has become mainstream enough that everybody is on it and any collection of all humanity will start showing the rough edges.
And yes, AI is terrifying, especially since it is essentially inevitable. Private companies will capture billions of economic value without having to deal with the societal fallout and suffering of others. There is too much money to be made from it, and Silicon Valley will all be pushing ahead of any regulations. Make it illegal in one market? Doesn't matter because it will grow some other place, and somebody will always have an incentive to use it. It's a bit like nuclear weapons really. We're creating yet another possible existential threat to our existence.
It very well could be that the internet has become mainstream enough that everybody is on it and any collection of all humanity will start showing the rough edges.
And yes, AI is terrifying, especially since it is essentially inevitable. Private companies will capture billions of economic value without having to deal with the societal fallout and suffering of others. There is too much money to be made from it, and Silicon Valley will all be pushing ahead of any regulations. Make it illegal in one market? Doesn't matter because it will grow some other place, and somebody will always have an incentive to use it. It's a bit like nuclear weapons really. We're creating yet another possible existential threat to our existence.
All this makes me wonder if we'll see mainstream anti-tech groups in my lifetime. Towns were networked connections are banned, with black market bandwidth dealers? Political parties that promise to end AI before it takes all the jobs? Discrimination against people without tech implants, and religion based discrimination lawsuits for those who can find employment without them?
All this makes me wonder if we'll see mainstream anti-tech groups in my lifetime. Towns were networked connections are banned, with black market bandwidth dealers? Political parties that promise to end AI before it takes all the jobs? Discrimination against people without tech implants, and religion based discrimination lawsuits for those who can find employment without them?
Where did we go wrong? Was it social networks? The commercialization of the internet? Anonymous profiles that have no accountability? Easy creation of troll accounts? Machines and bots that can impersonate as humans? Big data analysis to aggregate millions of humans' behavior? All of these, or something else that I missed?
I agree with this interpretation, and it is ironic that this is where we are since the promise of the internet in the 1980s and 1990s was to bring people together and achieve a sort of technological transcendence. It looks like all we've done is magnify human nature.