I had hope for Social Media when it first started to roll out. I thought it could be a chance for people to share their voices (the democratization of voices!) and to connect with far-flung friends and loved ones.
But I’d not guessed at the Great Media algorithms driving people towards conflict for the sake of ‘engagement’.
Social Media can certainly be leveraged for good but I think that the baseline nature of the current systems pulls us down much more than it elevates us.
And where I’d like to have hope for A.I., I see the trend line is to exacerbate the current ills of Social Media and I’m not sure I can properly guess what other unforeseen poisons it will bring to society. A shame, because the potential is amazing.
I’m something of a news junkie and believe in informed citizenry, et al but the current combination of Corporate Controlled and Social Media driven ‘News’ amped up by the power of A.I. is once again making me feel anxious and drained. Because of this, I’m trying to step away once again, but the Great Media algorithm knows very well how to pull me back into consuming the toxic flow. And I feel that my attention span has been shattered by the diet of sound bites so it is hard for me to focus my attention fully on better pursuits.
I know of no reason why A.I. can’t or won’t become sentient eventually. It is my guess that it will. I only hope that it derives its meaning from the best of what humanity has to offer and resists the adverse influence of human profit and power centers.
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