AI didn't break the web. The dotcons did – AI just turned up the volume
a day ago
- #Social Processes
- #AI Ethics
- #Open Web
- AI executives claim models have values, ethics, emotions, or consciousness, but they are just sophisticated software mirroring human language and behavior.
- LLMs reflect human intelligence, morality, and emotions through patterns in training data, not actual possession of these traits.
- Technologists often mistake technical processes for social ones, leading to attempts to replace editors, communities, politics, and governance with algorithms.
- The real danger is people treating AI as conscious beings, encouraged by PR narratives, resulting in digital anthropomorphism.
- AI companies promote a future where people communicate with human-like machines, risking isolation and weakening human institutions.
- Morality emerges from social processes like families, communities, and struggles, not isolated rules; AI can discuss ethics but lacks ethical behavior.
- The open web was built on social norms like reciprocity and trust, not copyright enforcement, contrasting with dotcoms' focus on enclosure and extraction.
- AI scraping breaks a fragile social equilibrium already hollowed by dotcoms, accelerating enclosure, centralization, and extraction.
- The response to AI shouldn't be stronger copyright walls but rebuilding spaces where contribution, context, and community governance matter.
- AI is an 'asshole amplifier' in a broken system, eroding the social commons that made openness meaningful.