The Internet Wants Me Dead

2024-01-13 · Source: Investing 101 · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Emerging Technologies & Innovation · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, long

Summary

The author recently received online death threats for a casual tweet about a Waymo ride, prompting an exploration of violence. The article contrasts historical societal violence, including impalement and ritual sacrifice, with modern individual non-violence, noting 83% of Americans report never fighting. It questions if this peaceful state is temporary, especially as digital distance enables aggressive rhetoric. The piece introduces "the natural meritocracy of extreme violence" and René Girard's "mimetic desire," linking rising anti-technology sentiment to economic and cultural envy among Millennials and Gen Z. These generations face reduced assets, lower wages, and job displacement fears, leading to resentment against technological progress. With AI polling lower than Trump or ICE, the author concludes that the tech industry, now a target of societal anger, must prioritize "cause over capability" and address fundamental human tendencies like revenge, glory, and goodness to avoid becoming a focal point for "justified violence."

Key takeaway

For tech leaders and strategists developing new capabilities, ignoring the growing societal resentment and the fundamental human tendencies towards revenge and glory is a critical misstep. Your focus on "capability over cause" risks positioning technology, especially AI, as a primary target for "justified violence" fueled by economic and cultural envy. You must proactively address negative externalities, foster empathy, and integrate human experience considerations into development to redirect destructive energies and ensure technology serves a broader, positive mission.

Key insights

Rising online threats and anti-tech sentiment reflect a societal shift towards justifying violence, driven by envy, requiring tech to address fundamental human nature.

Principles

• Civilization actively protects against extreme violence.
• Mimetic desire fuels envy, competition, and violence.
• Human nature seeks revenge, glory, and goodness.

In practice

• Humanize others and apply mercy in disagreements.
• Redirect hunger for meaning into positive missions.
• Lean into empathy in close proximity.

Topics

• Online Harassment
• Societal Violence
• Anti-Technology Sentiment
• Mimetic Desire
• AI Ethics
• Tech Industry Responsibility

Best for: Executive, Consultant, AI Ethicist

Related on AIssential

• Less Apocalyptic Rhetoric Can Help Mitigate Anti-Tech Violence — Apocalyptic AI rhetoric, even from industry leaders, can inadvertently fuel anti-tech violence by fostering extreme beliefs and actions.
• Technology Was Never Separate From Nature — Technology is an amplification of existing human nature and systemic incentives, not an isolated good or evil.
• Cartoon: AI Soul Selling — Unregulated AI deployment by self-interested tech leaders risks repeating the internet's societal harms, driven by bogus promises and insufficient guardrails.
• Political Violence Is Never Acceptable — Violence and threats are unacceptable, immoral, and ineffective, especially in high-stakes AI discourse.
• Research indicates that the resistance to AI is not merely a matter of technological skepticism but is rooted in the preservation of identity and the psychological need for cognitive consistency. — Users avoid AI for worldview-sensitive tasks due to perceived ideological bias and the psychological need for identity preservation.
• Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a rollicking parable about this moment in tech — The film "Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die" satirizes modern tech anxieties and screen addiction.

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Investing 101.