Oct 24·edited Oct 24Liked by Paul T Shattuck, MSW, PhD
You're on to something, Tall man. I've been railing against cell phones, particularly smart phones for years. Any device that consumes the attention of people the way smart phones do is dangerous and the tool needed to exert control of the masses, should the powers that be decide it necessary beyond the current manipulation. Just look around in any waiting area (the airport waiting for a flight) and 80-90% of the people are all looking at their cell phones. Very little human interaction. It's in those moments I love to be reading a book.
Here's a thought, a prediction maybe: with the current rapid emergence of AI and all of its potential, it seems to me the potential of it becoming, or supplanting God is quite good. As its evolution and technology continues it will be here - presence. And more importantly, tangible. It will be omniscient and omnipresent. And what is omniscient, omnipresent for far too many? God. I can easily envision, in a couple of hundred years (or less), a "techno-church" where the faithful come and revere the "presence" of the "only god" backdropped by a light show like no other. Those that "need" a god, a religion in their lives will finally have it. It will be seen. It will be touched. It will be all too believable for it not to be "true". There's some reality for you. Especially in this era of Trump and how he has shown how to BS so many. The evidence is clear. These smart phones and what you're on to (and I agree) are only a tiny morsel of a prelude to what's to come with AI.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! Sounds like a bloodless, nonviolent version of The Matrix. In my next post I’ll be talking about “surveillance capitalism”. Every online movement is tracked. Our behavioral data is sold, packaged, and analyzed. Then that data is used to continuously refine a customized approach to shaping our future behavior. It would be analogous to a tobacco company having the data and the means to customize a cigarette design for every consumer so that the cigarette is maximally addictive for each individual based on their unique body chemistry and behaviors. You raise a valid point about the dangers of AI. Whether AI continues to simply be a tool of human overlords or becomes an overlord unto itself is an interesting discussion.
You're on to something, Tall man. I've been railing against cell phones, particularly smart phones for years. Any device that consumes the attention of people the way smart phones do is dangerous and the tool needed to exert control of the masses, should the powers that be decide it necessary beyond the current manipulation. Just look around in any waiting area (the airport waiting for a flight) and 80-90% of the people are all looking at their cell phones. Very little human interaction. It's in those moments I love to be reading a book.
Here's a thought, a prediction maybe: with the current rapid emergence of AI and all of its potential, it seems to me the potential of it becoming, or supplanting God is quite good. As its evolution and technology continues it will be here - presence. And more importantly, tangible. It will be omniscient and omnipresent. And what is omniscient, omnipresent for far too many? God. I can easily envision, in a couple of hundred years (or less), a "techno-church" where the faithful come and revere the "presence" of the "only god" backdropped by a light show like no other. Those that "need" a god, a religion in their lives will finally have it. It will be seen. It will be touched. It will be all too believable for it not to be "true". There's some reality for you. Especially in this era of Trump and how he has shown how to BS so many. The evidence is clear. These smart phones and what you're on to (and I agree) are only a tiny morsel of a prelude to what's to come with AI.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! Sounds like a bloodless, nonviolent version of The Matrix. In my next post I’ll be talking about “surveillance capitalism”. Every online movement is tracked. Our behavioral data is sold, packaged, and analyzed. Then that data is used to continuously refine a customized approach to shaping our future behavior. It would be analogous to a tobacco company having the data and the means to customize a cigarette design for every consumer so that the cigarette is maximally addictive for each individual based on their unique body chemistry and behaviors. You raise a valid point about the dangers of AI. Whether AI continues to simply be a tool of human overlords or becomes an overlord unto itself is an interesting discussion.
Folgers husband-pleasing ad from the 1960s illustrates Debord’s “spectacle”: https://youtu.be/Pm2b6lKtx8Q?feature=shared