Seventy-seven percent of middle-age Americans (35-54 years old) say they want to return to a time before society was “plugged in,” meaning a time before there was widespread internet and cell phone usage. As told by a new Harris Poll (via Fast Company), 63% of younger folks (18-34 years old) were also keen on returning to a pre-plugged-in world, despite that being a world they largely never had a chance to occupy.
It’s funny, people have all sorts of worries about how the world might end if AI chooses it to. But if AI was smart - it would create a new social network, and really ramp up the engagement factor. The reality is we do get physically addicted - we do need that dopamine hit. If AI created “the perfect” social network, we would all be far too busy screaming at each other online, to notice the world dying around us.
…or did AI already do that? cue X-Files music