The legacy media have decided we are facing mankind’s doom.
asserted
we → decide → doom
The phrase "AI apocalypse" crops up on numerous news sites, from Reuters to The Economist.
asserted
phrase → crop → Economist
Other outlets have gone with "AI doomsday" or other formulations that look like they come from Revelation.
asserted
they → go → Revelation
Journalists aren’t entirely to blame, either.
asserted
Journalists → blame → ?
The problem is being spammed into our culture by a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) industry experts, conspiracy theorists, and Chinese-sponsored social media.
asserted
problem → spamme → experts
Turn to CNN, and it asks, "Will AI really kill everyone?
asserted
AI → turn → everyone
Meanwhile, Axios writes, "Here's how AI could kill us all (if the worst fears come true)."
uncertain
fears → write → us
That’s the goal.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
Here’s a sentence from CNN that sums up pretty much every warning you can read anywhere:
asserted
you → ’ → warning
"‘It really is about literally everyone on the planet dying, like the last human drawing the last breath,’ said Nate Soares, the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) and the coauthor of ‘If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All.’"
asserted
AI → die → Us
But it’s also very familiar.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
It reads like every apocalyptic warning we’ve had in the past 50 years.
asserted
we → read → years
Let’s recap: Killer bees (at least that got us some classic "Saturday Night Live" John Belushi humor), then murder hornets, the more recent version.
asserted
that → let → humor
Supervolcanoes or the earthquake that will sink California into the sea.
asserted
that → sink → sea
The media especially love stories tied to weather because those are good year-round.
asserted
those → love → weather
We’ve had global cooling (1970s), global warming, or the Al Gore-inspired version called "climate change."
asserted
We → have → cooling
That’s good no matter what happens.
asserted
what → ’ → ?
Go back to the late 1800s, and the press warned about global cooling.
asserted
press → go → cooling
Then it warned about warming in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl.
asserted
it → warn → Bowl
Then the Cold War brought us cooling, and so on.
asserted
War → bring → cooling
A 1975 New York Times piece cautioned, "Scientists Ponder Why World's Climate Is Changing: A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable."
asserted
Climate → caution → ?
I guess it was pretty evitable, and, yes, that’s a word.
asserted
that → guess → ?
We even had pollution, DDT, and the hole in the ozone layer, as well.
asserted
We → have → layer
None of those make the news much now because we have moved on to other timely crises.
asserted
we → make → crises
Those of us who follow the media are used to all this.
asserted
who → follow → this
It all comes from the Fear Industrial Complex.
asserted
It → come → Complex
That’s a mixture of governments, NGOs, politicians, activists, journalists, and business people who want us all scared.
asserted
us → ’ → governments
Because scared people don’t do what we want.
asserted
we → do → what
We do what they want.
asserted
they → do → what
And they don’t want us to ask questions while we do it.
asserted
we → want → it
Don’t you care about ______?
asserted
you → care → ?
How dare you?
asserted
you → dare → ?
Oh, wait, I know where I heard that last line before.
asserted
I → wait → line
"Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg," as she is sometimes described, popularized it.
asserted
she → describe → it
No one embodies the flexible nature of the fear freakout better than she does.
asserted
she → embody → freakout
She broke onto the scene in her native land protesting climate change.
asserted
She → break → change
She famously rebuked the UN Climate Summit with the scolding quote, "How dare you?"
asserted
you → rebuke → quote
Then, when that drifted from the news, she took up "Free Palestine," even appearing on one of the phony boat flotillas to Gaza and bashing Israel and anyone who doesn’t agree with her.
asserted
who → drift → her
Mark my words, she’ll be whining about AI soon enough.
asserted
she → mark → AI
If you are a leftist activist, you need to keep your name in the news on whatever the protest du jour is.
asserted
you → need → news
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
