4 Comments
May 8Liked by Mike Elgan

Okay I'll bite.

Maybe our species is evolving in phases. There was the western renaissance, then the industrial-steam-sciences era, now we plow into the information era and many are concerned as to what it all means along with some hand wringing in this country's general election year. Maybe future humans will evolve into some combo partnership with this whole advanced information era that is apparently about to pop on humanity.

I was reading today how agriscience-tech has probably perfected molecular created coffee, Atomo bio product produced coffee. Business seems to think coffee is okay whereas dope is not really on their list of okay stuff. But if and when coffee bean production becomes even more deleterious to the general environment Atomo might catch on quickly, (I think faster than it's taking synthetic meat). Reported like a true addict plus Seattle goes Nimby.

Expand full comment
author

What I'm concerned about is how the public seems completely unaware of how AI is seeping into every conceivable kind of human interaction, and also becoming determinant of human social status, power, etc. On the first point, consider this article that came out today in Forbes. There's literally no aspect of a next-generation public speaking gig not mediated, enhanced or delivered by AI. To a growing extent, the human talking is almost a puppet of the AI. https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilsahota/2024/05/08/the-future-of-oratory-ai-enhanced-public-speaking/?sh=29c972d56045

Expand full comment
May 3·edited May 3

I've always been excited by the next technological advancement. I may be showing my age but I'm unnerved about what's already here and worried about what's coming. Sure AI will benefit us in ways we have yet to see but the other side of that coin scares me. Any nations or groups can harness its power with relative ease to undermine trust, sow discord, create new biological weapons, autonomous battlefield robots. I'm 65 years old and I'm pretty sure I'll get to see all this in the next decade. That's how fast the technology is progressing.

Expand full comment
author

Yes, I agree with all that. It always seems like new technology makes everything better and worse at the same time, and AI feels like it's a massive accelerant. We live in extremely interesting times. : )

Expand full comment