Is technology a force for good?
On the one hand there are some very exciting developments these days, from cultural capital and quantum computing to all things agentic in the artificial intelligence world. But there are also growing concerns, including challenges related to mobile security, synthetic data, and increasingly sophisticated cyber scams. It’s much like Wilkie Collins wrote in The Moonstone (also available on Audible):
Evil report, with time and chance to help it, travels patiently and travels far.
How to enjoy the benefits while avoiding the risks? Well, if you need guidance, here are some of my favourite Seth Godin quotes from his 2024 blog posts, together with a recommended title from Blinkist.
Addiction is often sold to us. It’s a shortcut to profit and power for many. Ingrained habits that fuel businesses or movements are designed to be sticky manipulations. Better for them than for you. ~ Manipulation, indoctrination and addiction
Learn more: Taming the Molecule of More
AI, rice cookers and vaccines are not magic. They’re understandable technologies we can learn about and improve. ~ Yes, but how does it work?
Learn more: Power and Progress
AI is as big a change as the internet, perhaps more so. And in just a few years, people will wonder why we weren’t wondering better. ~ For what purposes will it be useful?
Learn more: Artificial Intelligence
AI is going to produce far more opportunities than it destroys. ~ Jevons paradox is not surprising
Learn more: AI Made Simple
Bad noise crowds out good signal in just about any useful communications medium. The opportunity is to design against bad noise and to be vigilant about maintaining the magic that made it useful in the first place. ~ Communications hygiene (and the demise of texting)
Learn more: The Siren’s Call
Don’t ignore AI because it’s dumb. Figure out how to create patterns and processes where you can use it as the useful tool it’s becoming. ~ ChatGPT is dumber than it looks
Learn more: Prediction Machines
Every day, millions of people are joining the early adopters who are giving AI systems the benefit of the doubt, a stance of intent and agency. But it’s an illusion, and the AI isn’t ready for rights and can’t take responsibility. ~ The intentional stance
Learn more: AI Snake Oil
If you’re posting on social media or any platform with an algorithm, the real question is: do you work for the algorithm or are you committed to working for the people who want to go where you hope to take them? ~ Feeding the algorithm
Learn more: Cyber Citizens
Lousy tools are dangerous. They endanger our safety (physical or emotional) and undermine our work. Lousy tools are pretty easy to avoid, because they reveal themselves whenever we use them. ~ Mediocre tools
Learn more: Smart Until It’s Dumb
Media isn’t a magazine or a website. It’s a system. We can learn to see the system and contribute to it with leverage. ~ When the media is ready (Bongo part 2)
Learn more: The Chaos Machine
Social media and politics have done a great job of celebrating people who seek selfish shortcuts, simply because it’s entertaining or easy to believe. ~ Play fair & work hard
Learn more: Empire of AI
Social media has rewarded people for bringing a post-reality mindset to places where sincerity is expected. In other words, it’s profitable to lie. ~ Sincerity is expected
Learn more: Liars
Social media makes many of the people who use it unhappy. It’s better to know and then to decide. ~ Avoiding technology
Learn more: The Battle for Your Brain
Technology is said to threaten the replacement of human labor, yet, somehow we’ve found useful activities for a rapidly growing population. ~ Thinking about jobs
Learn more: What To Do When Machines Do Everything
This is only the beginning of the AI age, and it might help to find a north star, a standard for what happens when the connection machine works for us, instead of against us. ~ A possible AI future
Learn more: The AI-Driven Leader
We don’t have to wait for a new technology to feel the magic. Instead, we have the chance to erase our expectations and simply notice it wherever we look. ~ The half-life of magic
Learn more: Scary Smart
We’re about to spend almost all of our time interacting with software that appears to have an understanding of us and the world around us. All the time, in real time. ~ The third impossibility
Learn more: The Mind’s Mirror
When we come together in groups, it can bring out the best in people. When those groups are anonymous, porous and transient, though, the opposite can happen. ~ Anonymity and Bugs Bunny
Learn more: Careless People
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