So much to unpack here! This entire topic of social media and our use of AI fascinates me. The social media part, I was just having a conversation with someone today about it, and I mentioned Neil Postman’s book (it’s old, but still relevant) called “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. I was just saying how in his book, he warned that the shift from print to image-based media, especially television, (and now, by extension, I would say social media), would reduce public discourse to spectacle and emotional manipulation. Serious issues become entertainment, and are stripped of nuance and presented out of context. It’s all performance and content. In the social media landscape, that means we’re conditioned to consume instead of process…and eventually, to feel less and less.
And on the topic of AI, I don’t think the issue is AI itself. As you said, I also think it can be a useful tool. Tool being the key word. The problem is in how we’re using it, and more importantly, what we’re letting it replace. I think the real risk is that it’s making us intellectually lazy. It’s so easy to ask a question and get an answer that sounds so proper and perfectly polished and reasonable, that we stop doing the harder work of sitting with contradictions, asking better questions, or thinking through the implications ourselves.
Also, I once asked ChatGPT how it can speak confidently about moral questions, when its understanding of morality comes from human sources, many of which are biased, contradictory, or completely shaped by time and culture, and it admitted that morality shifts over time. So if that’s the case, what are we really being offered? Something that sounds good? That fits the current moment? That flatters our position? That’s usually what ChatGPT does- it tends to offer you an echo chamber that just validates your own opinions, especially if you present them with a lot of conviction. It doesn’t offer you the friction and the challenge that is usually needed for growth (unless perhaps you specifically ask for it). There is so much more to say here, but I feel like this comment is already long enough…
AI as a tool is going to make for a real interesting future where I believe there will be three types of people: first, those who get sucked into it entirely, losing any sense of separation between the digital world and reality. This will, unfortunately, probably be the majority of people. Second, those who avoid it altogether (rare, in all likelihood), and third, those few who hit the sweet spot of understanding how to utilize its potential effectively for enhancing life while setting necessary boundaries. As it becomes more integrated in the world around us, the lines between the three camps will shift but also become more hardened. Its own form of natural selection.
I feel as though the third path has the potential to be the most rewarding by far, but it'll take the most awareness and skill to navigate properly.
Love hearing from you on this topic Med and hopefully we get a follow-up post soon. I use generative AI very infrequently which I think is overall good but I also have friends from various points in life that I just exchange memes with and never call which is a bad thing. Certainly believe that the future belongs to those that can thrive in the real world.
So much to unpack here! This entire topic of social media and our use of AI fascinates me. The social media part, I was just having a conversation with someone today about it, and I mentioned Neil Postman’s book (it’s old, but still relevant) called “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. I was just saying how in his book, he warned that the shift from print to image-based media, especially television, (and now, by extension, I would say social media), would reduce public discourse to spectacle and emotional manipulation. Serious issues become entertainment, and are stripped of nuance and presented out of context. It’s all performance and content. In the social media landscape, that means we’re conditioned to consume instead of process…and eventually, to feel less and less.
And on the topic of AI, I don’t think the issue is AI itself. As you said, I also think it can be a useful tool. Tool being the key word. The problem is in how we’re using it, and more importantly, what we’re letting it replace. I think the real risk is that it’s making us intellectually lazy. It’s so easy to ask a question and get an answer that sounds so proper and perfectly polished and reasonable, that we stop doing the harder work of sitting with contradictions, asking better questions, or thinking through the implications ourselves.
Also, I once asked ChatGPT how it can speak confidently about moral questions, when its understanding of morality comes from human sources, many of which are biased, contradictory, or completely shaped by time and culture, and it admitted that morality shifts over time. So if that’s the case, what are we really being offered? Something that sounds good? That fits the current moment? That flatters our position? That’s usually what ChatGPT does- it tends to offer you an echo chamber that just validates your own opinions, especially if you present them with a lot of conviction. It doesn’t offer you the friction and the challenge that is usually needed for growth (unless perhaps you specifically ask for it). There is so much more to say here, but I feel like this comment is already long enough…
Not too long. That’s a great book by the way. It’s more relevant than ever.
Great post, Med.
AI as a tool is going to make for a real interesting future where I believe there will be three types of people: first, those who get sucked into it entirely, losing any sense of separation between the digital world and reality. This will, unfortunately, probably be the majority of people. Second, those who avoid it altogether (rare, in all likelihood), and third, those few who hit the sweet spot of understanding how to utilize its potential effectively for enhancing life while setting necessary boundaries. As it becomes more integrated in the world around us, the lines between the three camps will shift but also become more hardened. Its own form of natural selection.
I feel as though the third path has the potential to be the most rewarding by far, but it'll take the most awareness and skill to navigate properly.
Love hearing from you on this topic Med and hopefully we get a follow-up post soon. I use generative AI very infrequently which I think is overall good but I also have friends from various points in life that I just exchange memes with and never call which is a bad thing. Certainly believe that the future belongs to those that can thrive in the real world.