Beware when machines do our thinking

Technology continues to allow us to exploit speed by trading off knowledge. This will either allow us to reach escape velocity or wilt in ignorance.

AI may either accelerate wealth consolidation by concentrating power in the hands of a few, or democratize opportunity by reducing barriers to entry and operational costs, fostering entrepreneurship, in turn increasing competition and opening niche markets.

Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope they would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.

— Dune, Frank Herbert

doomsday scenario is … A.I.-supercharged corporations destroying the environment and the working class in their pursuit of shareholder value. Capitalism is the machine that will do whatever it takes to prevent us from turning it off, and the most successful weapon in its arsenal has been its campaign to prevent us from considering any alternatives.

— Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?, Ted Chiang