Socrates on Writing
As someone who often takes the position of AI optimist and makes a living, in part, by getting people excited about the potential for technological innovation, I’m not oblivious to the many possible dangers that accompany such changes. The potential for job (and purpose) loss, the ecological impacts on our planet, the prioritization of data centers over communities… These threats are very real and need to be part of every conversation around AI. As the saying goes, “The world is run by the people who show up,” and we all need to show up right now to decide what kind of AI future we want to live in. History moves in one direction, and it’s unlikely this Genie is going to go back in the bottle.
This morning I heard an episode of the Today Explained podcast from Vox, in which senior correspondent Eric Levitz compared our current moment to another technological pivot point in history: the invention of writing. Socrates was not a fan and predicted it would be the end of knowledge. I share this not to minimize the potential impact of AI on our world, but to encourage us to keep two ideas in our heads at the same time.