The outlook of humans can often be skewed. We see this is usually the case with technology.
While we have to admit that technology is a double-edged sword, the overall impact on society is positive. Standards of living are increased with availability of whatever is being produced increases. At the same time, the deflationary nature of technology means we see things becoming more affordable.
Over the last few years I cited these categories:
- photography
- information
- music
- video
- shopping
- telecommunications
These are just a few areas where we saw abundance. If one thinks back to the 1980s (if you were around), we see how vastly different things are. The entire list, during that period, was filled with scarcity. Each had a cost due to the fact that one have limitations.
Technology brings abundance.
Yet, somehow, humans fight it. This leads into the premise of this article, the arising of the Dead Internet Theory and how it will, in spite of the concerns, be a positive.
The Dead Internet Theory Is Coming True And Its A Positive
What is the Dead Internet Theory?
Basically, it is the takeover of the bots. This is a situation that started long ago and now is accelerating. The percentage of online traffic originally generated by humans is decreasing. This means the Internet is being run by computers.
Of course, this scares many. Humanity is doomed. There are calls of dystopia, similar to the Y2K fears.
What we are facing is just backlash against change. People have high opinions of themselves, resisting anything that is new. They think that, when it comes to the hierarchy, humans are the apex. If we look at behavior, an easy case could be made humanity is far down the list.
History shows how this evolution occurs and what the result is. Ultimately, we reach abundance. Humans resist and fight then end up fully embracing what took place.
In many articles I covered calculations. Can you imagine if we lived in a world where humans had to add up every number? It would take forever.
Does most people care when they receive an email reminding them to check in for a flight? Or that their payment on the electric is overdue? The fact that they are autogenerated rarely enters into the thinking.
Sure, people hate spam, at least the ones who receive it. Those who have it working for their benefit actually love it. Ultimately, it generates sales (signups, clicks, etc...).
The Age of Abundance
This will likely end up as a multi-part article, including Sam Altman's recent comments on this topic.
We are entering the Age of Abundance. AI is leading a charge into a realm that was long the basis of science fiction. The ability to substantially increase our economic activity is truly upon us.
Over the last few years, the success of chatbots has been impressive. Hundreds of millions of people are now turning to these as the basis for their information.
The pushback is hallucination and the fact the information is not 100% accurate. What stuns me is that people think this is new. What happens when you ask someone who is a supposed expert in a field? Do they get things wrong? What about online searches and the information espoused? Most are aware that the mainstream news is really just propaganda.
What AI is leading to is abundance.
Remember the list above. Information use to be expensive. Now it is free. Think about that. We can ask a computer a question and get an answer that outpaces most of humanity. The key is we can do this basically for free.
AI agents will dominate the online world. At the moment, they are mostly a pain in the rear end. Most are nothing more than spammy items, flooding our social media feeds with junk. This is really spam moved into the Facebook and X world.
An AI agent can be thought of as a task. It is basically coded to perform a specific function. There will come a time when each of us has the ability to spin an agent up instantly. It might take a few more generations of training for the AI models, but we are moving there quickly.
Once that happens, the acceleration of "bots" will be upon us. There will be tens of billions created, handling all kinds of tasks. The early versions will end up being rather simplistic. However, as they grow in size, and interoperability occurs, we can see how this moves to another level. What happens when the agent is tied to the information garnered from one's refrigerator? To me, this is automated grocery shopping, something most will love.
We will dig a bit deeper into this in the next article.