AI could be the incredible thing humankind has been waiting for to free us from drudgery and devote our energy to living happier lives but to do so would take ultra-heavy regulation by the government, and unfortunately AI’s arriving at the exact worst possible time for this:
1. America has millions of people who think saying “the government can’t do nuthin!” “the gub'ment's evil!” etc makes them sound smart, when what it really does it let politicians know they can do whatever they want since they don’t have to give a shit how these people think or vote.
2. The last 10 years in particular have been the greatest instance in modern history of the federal government itself stuffing people’s heads with a blizzard of disinformation, including a Nicene Creed that regulation of any kind is anti-American, with layer after layer of fake news fakes news fake news fakes news etc etc
3. We’ve been sold this life-crippling fantasy of “American exceptionalism” and “you can be just as successful as the richest man in the world!” under the guise of “freedom”, so instead of the 99% of us circling our wagons together to demand the government enact harsh regulations that protect us against the whims of the 1%, we’ll be teased with the promise of BECOMING part of the 1%
We're told that if goshdarnit we just believed in the American freedom that pushes us to work 3 jobs scrubbing toilets until our backs break while voting for tax cut after tax cut for the uber-uber-wealthy then WE will become one of the 4 dudes at the top of the mountain getting all the cash, and in 2026 America there is no easier task to accomplish than a rich guy getting a poor guy to trust him with whatever power and money the poor person can hand over to him.
We can make a grand bargain with AI and have happy, fulfilling lives during the few short decades we’re on this Earth, or we can destroy ourselves in the arena fighting for scraps we’ll never be allowed to taste anyway. Take a wild guess which one we’ll decide to do.
