In the mid-80s the first consumer PCs were released. In 1991 the first website. In 2007 the iPhone and Netflix. In 2022 ChatGPT and consumer AI.

Overall, has life gotten progressively better since the mid-80s, or worse? Are we healthier and happier than we were in the 1970s and before? Is the natural realm in a better state?

Futurists/Technophiles could try and argue that society worsened despite these new digital technologies and not because of them, but that doesn’t cut it. If digital technologies don’t guarantee a better standard of living than why would we embrace them, at a cost? I’d argue that they are at best futile, at worst harmful.

The reason is simple: Tech innovation always cascades downwards from the top of the pyramid. It is not distributed evenly and simultaneously, or from the bottom up. The financial ‘elite’ get first dibs; they seize, manipulate, dominate, commodify and monetize the tech before it reaches the masses. They use it to maximize their efficiency (profits), which means they use it to exploit the masses and environment more optimally.

Whom does it serve? Not us. You might think that AI is making your work more efficient, but are you getting paid more for that efficiency, or is it your employer who is benefitting? Some of you may have worked out how to earn more by using AI, but before long a competitor will arrive to undercut you. New efficiency always sets a new base level, and the job market and living costs adapt, so that before long you’re back on the same rung of the ladder as everyone else.

Similarly, you might think that your smartphone loaded with Google Maps benefits you… until you realise that Google is monetizing you as a dataset. Netflix is cheaper and easier than Blockbuster video, until Netflix is $15 a month, collecting data on you and feeding you globo propaganda… and it still has ads.

And if we colonize Mars, Elon Musk and his buddies will have a $50,000 shuttle-service ready to take you to their ready-made city complete with ready-made taxes, civic duties and a new Mars Constitution guaranteeing you freedom from anti-Semitism, religion and tradition.

There is no reason whatsoever to assume that a hi-tech future won’t be concurrent with a decrease in quality of life, of freedom, and of dignity. It’s delusional – a cope. If you want freedom and dignity, it will only be found by using tools that cannot be centrally served, surveilled and remotely controlled.

From The Fyrgen