Who Knows What To Believe?

Who knows what to believe these days. Pick a topic. Politics. Tech. AI. Sports. Culture. Doesn’t matter. There’s enough different opinions that want to be facts that you can pick any position on any topic and find others who will believe as you do. When you can manufacture enough belief in anything, is anything worth believing?

The sad news is we’ve reached a point where facts don’t matter. What matters is how well whatever passes for facts can be sold. Attract enough buyers or investors and you’ve created a wave. Or perhaps a bubble.

The reason for this post is some interesting back and forth I had with former colleagues who’ve jumped all in on the AI bandwagon with what I’ve characterized as blind enthusiasm.

Of course they aren’t the only ones. Thus the bubble.

I’ve pointed them to some reading that I doubt they’ll read. And I’m going to point to one of those pieces here.

Cory Doctorow is working on his next book and has posted a preview of thinking that he delivered in a recent speech. HIs next book is called The Reverse Centaur’s Guide To Life After AI. I think you’ll find reading the text of his speech informative. I hope my colleagues do. I hope a lot of folks do.

(Image from MediaMag on Shutterstock)

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.