Much of the world is engaged in a tug-of-war where each side just yanks as hard as it can, trying to topple the other side and win. Every argument becomes binary. This isn’t how good decisions are made! Instead, you need to listen to the other point of view and consider it seriously. You need to see where the nuance is, and head directly there.
I feel nearly everything is more than two sides… or rather more than two dimensions. Things, imo, can’t be boiled down to a single yes or no, but rather a series of yes/nos… some of whom may be simple and some of whom may be complex. And some are definitely more important to factor than others.
Excellent article. This is a great approach for personal journaling or when brainstorming a concept. A very intuitive way to conduct some steelmanning.
1) We might ask, WHY does every argument become binary?
This phenomena is far bigger than social media. Every ideology, philosophy, religion, political party first divides itself from other points of view, and then inevitably subdivides in to competing internal factions. The universal nature of this division process suggests that the source of the division is something that all philosophies have in common. And that can only be what all philosophies are made of. Thought. Every argument becomes binary because all humans, and all of their ideas, are made of thought, a chemical/electrical information management medium that operates by a process of conceptual division. Understand this, and you'll understand a great deal of the human condition.
2) AI romantic companions are an anathema? Before anyone on Substack says that yet again, please understand this. Most of us here on Substack are already deeply involved in what might be called "Fake People Intellectual Companionship". That is, few of us are ever going to meet in person, and typically we know almost nothing about each other. In this environment we are such a fragmentary percent of our real life selves that we might reasonably be labeled "fake people". And....
We don't give a shit! We're here every day, typing, typing, typing, often desperate to build the audience for our writing so that we can have even more highly transitory, highly fragmentary, often somewhat imaginary, fake people relationships. What we're already doing, right now today, right here on Substack, is not fundamentally different than AI romantic companions.
Because AI romantic relationships in some cases reference sex, we're going to do what humans always do in regards to sex. We're going to tell some lies, make up some stories, embellish the reality, fall victim to some self delusions, engage in various pretensions and attempts at sweeping some things under the rug and keeping them private etc. That's what I hear when I read yet another Substacker talking about AI romantic relationships being anathema, more of the same old thing humans always do when it comes to such personal matters.
Social media might be thought of as a half way point between real world human relationships and the emerging realm of relationships with AI. So before you say you'll never have relationships with imaginary humans, know this. To a significant degree, YOU'RE ALREADY DOING JUST THAT.
The people who can credibly state that they are above relationships with AI are the people who don't socialize on the Internet. That ain't us folks. That ain't us.
The real truth is always in that area in between both perspectives. This is usually referenced as "grey area" but I would pick any other colour since grey has negative connotations.
Agreed, sweeping, yes maybe but also, I suppose- even for what are widely believed and accepted facts, there is always someone out there with a counter view. My approach is to meet in that middle area, hear the perspective respectfully, even if at the end of the day from where I stand, the earth isn't flat.
Also, I saw a post recently, might have even been a meme, about how flat earthers are "all around the planet" 🤣
I believe social media is as good as it was intended but unfortunately bad elements can be found. But that shouldn't prevent anyone from creating a community that's respectful. It actually depends on how one articulates issues , object and debunk. Setting unwritten rules of respectful debate is contagious and whoever comes will follow suit. You own the community and you can control their behaviour through your actions. Thanks
You will probably agree that almost everything has unintended consequences or trade-offs. Some we can live with, and some we cannot. If anything does more good than bad for more people, I am all for it. We are also living through the growing pains of a massive technological change, but we go through with it every time we deal with a transformation level change like the internet, smartphone, maybe AI, etc.
The internet and smartphones are the best and worst inventions of the last 30 years. However, over time, we will have something else to distract us, and it will have its trade-offs. The bigger question is if a phone like the one below is an option for kids before they reach a certain age (it is easier said than can be implemented):
I definitely agree that having a good attention span is like a superpower, and I feel like merely being countercultural - swimming against the grain - can give you a very useful skill, just based on supply and demand.
I also think the ability to tell the difference between fantasy and reality is something that can and should be taught to kids.
"When the self-appointed superheroes of tech try to sell us their vision, it’s often in millenarian terms, and they speak as if innovation were a force independent of the people making it happen. If we believed them, we would conclude that superhuman AI is inevitable, deepfakes and misinformation are unavoidable, and that the erosion of the American middle class is the predetermined endpoint of all automation.
But this simply isn’t the case. For example, China-style mass surveillance and behavior modification may be uniquely enabled by technology, but it isn’t inevitable—it’s a decision by the Chinese Communist Party. And while America still has no far-reaching federal privacy law, years of violations of our trust by tech companies have led to a growing patchwork of laws, regulations, and voluntary changes that have curbed many of the worst offenders.
By paying attention to what’s just over the horizon, my hope is that in our collective, imperfect, democratic way, we can figure out how to use new technologies, rather than being used by them.
"Officials say Finland's success is not just the result of its strong education system, which is one of the best in the world, but also because of a concerted effort to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool."
Complexity is maddening because it's so hard to fix anything, but it's incredible because views are nuanced and so much more than I would have thought as a kid.
Huge topic that you handled with great finesse! There are so many issues where nuance is needed and yet the tendency is to be pulled into groupthink; in fact I just read an essay this morning about the history of exodus in the middle east that made re-think some things. I think one can do this, incorporate new information, and still retain one's basic position and values. Binary thinking kills that.
On the other hand, some people switch echo chambers and go from one extreme to the other (again, because the social tendency is tribal). That was always a thing. But maybe such phenomenon were more gradual in pre-Internet days?
I'm not sure if the swinging pendulum nature was faster prior to the Internet, or if it's just possible for entire movements to swing nowadays. There's something to that for sure.
How can you even begin to justify spending any time on social media at all?! You're defending the worst, most evil corporations out there. I'm disgusted!
Wait til my friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram hear about this!
I might even record a rage-filled Tik Tok dance to drive home the point.
Reminds me of John Wolpert and the Two But Rule
https://www.2buts.com/
I feel nearly everything is more than two sides… or rather more than two dimensions. Things, imo, can’t be boiled down to a single yes or no, but rather a series of yes/nos… some of whom may be simple and some of whom may be complex. And some are definitely more important to factor than others.
I feel like your answer is way too binary.
11111100000001011110000!!!
Sigh. There are 3 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Really interesting Andrew, I would say you've given us a lot of food for thought. Thanks, man.
You know what goes great with thinking?
Coffee!
Chocolate, too 😜
I will test this theory out later today.
Hahaha, **you** know it ain't no theory :)
No doubt! :-D
Excellent article. This is a great approach for personal journaling or when brainstorming a concept. A very intuitive way to conduct some steelmanning.
"Intuitive Steelmanning" would make a great band name!
OWL= “One With Life”
1) We might ask, WHY does every argument become binary?
This phenomena is far bigger than social media. Every ideology, philosophy, religion, political party first divides itself from other points of view, and then inevitably subdivides in to competing internal factions. The universal nature of this division process suggests that the source of the division is something that all philosophies have in common. And that can only be what all philosophies are made of. Thought. Every argument becomes binary because all humans, and all of their ideas, are made of thought, a chemical/electrical information management medium that operates by a process of conceptual division. Understand this, and you'll understand a great deal of the human condition.
https://www.tannytalk.com/p/article-series-the-nature-of-thought
2) AI romantic companions are an anathema? Before anyone on Substack says that yet again, please understand this. Most of us here on Substack are already deeply involved in what might be called "Fake People Intellectual Companionship". That is, few of us are ever going to meet in person, and typically we know almost nothing about each other. In this environment we are such a fragmentary percent of our real life selves that we might reasonably be labeled "fake people". And....
We don't give a shit! We're here every day, typing, typing, typing, often desperate to build the audience for our writing so that we can have even more highly transitory, highly fragmentary, often somewhat imaginary, fake people relationships. What we're already doing, right now today, right here on Substack, is not fundamentally different than AI romantic companions.
Because AI romantic relationships in some cases reference sex, we're going to do what humans always do in regards to sex. We're going to tell some lies, make up some stories, embellish the reality, fall victim to some self delusions, engage in various pretensions and attempts at sweeping some things under the rug and keeping them private etc. That's what I hear when I read yet another Substacker talking about AI romantic relationships being anathema, more of the same old thing humans always do when it comes to such personal matters.
Social media might be thought of as a half way point between real world human relationships and the emerging realm of relationships with AI. So before you say you'll never have relationships with imaginary humans, know this. To a significant degree, YOU'RE ALREADY DOING JUST THAT.
The people who can credibly state that they are above relationships with AI are the people who don't socialize on the Internet. That ain't us folks. That ain't us.
Yep, I agree with all of this.
I will always say this, to all who support nuanced thinking: yes, AND we need ever more of it. Thanks Andrew for carrying the torch!
The real truth is always in that area in between both perspectives. This is usually referenced as "grey area" but I would pick any other colour since grey has negative connotations.
Yeah, it's more like a blend of both colors at the same time, kind of like weaving facric... maybe that's a better analogy.
That's kind of a sweeping claim. Sometimes one thing is right, and the other thing is wrong. The Earth is not flat.
Agreed, sweeping, yes maybe but also, I suppose- even for what are widely believed and accepted facts, there is always someone out there with a counter view. My approach is to meet in that middle area, hear the perspective respectfully, even if at the end of the day from where I stand, the earth isn't flat.
Also, I saw a post recently, might have even been a meme, about how flat earthers are "all around the planet" 🤣
I believe social media is as good as it was intended but unfortunately bad elements can be found. But that shouldn't prevent anyone from creating a community that's respectful. It actually depends on how one articulates issues , object and debunk. Setting unwritten rules of respectful debate is contagious and whoever comes will follow suit. You own the community and you can control their behaviour through your actions. Thanks
Thanks, Edwin. I feel like Substack works this way most of the time, and I'm glad you're here!
You will probably agree that almost everything has unintended consequences or trade-offs. Some we can live with, and some we cannot. If anything does more good than bad for more people, I am all for it. We are also living through the growing pains of a massive technological change, but we go through with it every time we deal with a transformation level change like the internet, smartphone, maybe AI, etc.
The internet and smartphones are the best and worst inventions of the last 30 years. However, over time, we will have something else to distract us, and it will have its trade-offs. The bigger question is if a phone like the one below is an option for kids before they reach a certain age (it is easier said than can be implemented):
https://www.thelightphone.com/
Do we think the below post/book captures the most critical skill of the future?
The Super Power of Tomorrow? Being “Indistractable”
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/super-power-tomorrow-being-indistractable
I definitely agree that having a good attention span is like a superpower, and I feel like merely being countercultural - swimming against the grain - can give you a very useful skill, just based on supply and demand.
I also think the ability to tell the difference between fantasy and reality is something that can and should be taught to kids.
There is a very good article in the WSJ. I'm not sure if you will be able to read it, as it is behind the paywall.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/what-i-got-wrong-in-a-decade-of-predicting-the-future-of-tech-06420bba?mod=hp_lead_pos10
"When the self-appointed superheroes of tech try to sell us their vision, it’s often in millenarian terms, and they speak as if innovation were a force independent of the people making it happen. If we believed them, we would conclude that superhuman AI is inevitable, deepfakes and misinformation are unavoidable, and that the erosion of the American middle class is the predetermined endpoint of all automation.
But this simply isn’t the case. For example, China-style mass surveillance and behavior modification may be uniquely enabled by technology, but it isn’t inevitable—it’s a decision by the Chinese Communist Party. And while America still has no far-reaching federal privacy law, years of violations of our trust by tech companies have led to a growing patchwork of laws, regulations, and voluntary changes that have curbed many of the worst offenders.
By paying attention to what’s just over the horizon, my hope is that in our collective, imperfect, democratic way, we can figure out how to use new technologies, rather than being used by them.
At least until the AI takes over."
Also, one country does teach about fake news:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/world/europe/finland-misinformation-classes.html#:~:text=Officials%20say%20Finland%27s%20success%20is,core%20curriculum%20starting%20in%20preschool.
"Officials say Finland's success is not just the result of its strong education system, which is one of the best in the world, but also because of a concerted effort to teach students about fake news. Media literacy is part of the national core curriculum starting in preschool."
I wouldn’t have a good point without being inspired by your post!
Thanks for inserting enough “have you considerers” to keep people pleasers circling for days. 👍
Complexity is maddening because it's so hard to fix anything, but it's incredible because views are nuanced and so much more than I would have thought as a kid.
Huge topic that you handled with great finesse! There are so many issues where nuance is needed and yet the tendency is to be pulled into groupthink; in fact I just read an essay this morning about the history of exodus in the middle east that made re-think some things. I think one can do this, incorporate new information, and still retain one's basic position and values. Binary thinking kills that.
On the other hand, some people switch echo chambers and go from one extreme to the other (again, because the social tendency is tribal). That was always a thing. But maybe such phenomenon were more gradual in pre-Internet days?
I think I need another coffee.
I'm not sure if the swinging pendulum nature was faster prior to the Internet, or if it's just possible for entire movements to swing nowadays. There's something to that for sure.
And I agree about the coffee!
“This isn’t how good decisions are made!” From my perspective, by saying it is not “good” we maintain the binary aspects of decision making.
Good point! Is it reasonable to say a more informed decision is good?
Perhaps… Is “more informed” a contrast of sorts?
Yes, I'd definitely say there is a contrast in a more informed decision than one where you don't have as much data.
That's outrageous!
How can you even begin to justify spending any time on social media at all?! You're defending the worst, most evil corporations out there. I'm disgusted!
Wait til my friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram hear about this!
I might even record a rage-filled Tik Tok dance to drive home the point.
Psh, I don't go on any of those places! No social media for me. Just Substack and Notes, all day every day.
Good. This was a test. You passed.