I am reading “Slouching Towards Utopia”.

Good so far.

It opens with a discussion on effort required for certain output, e.g. enough calories to live on, and how that looks at different points in time.

The thesis of the book is probably something like: tech driving this dramatic drop in effort for calories, yet why don’t we experience paradise? But I might be getting that wrong.

According to claude:

…despite achieving material abundance for the first time in human history, DeLong contends that we have “slouched” rather than strode towards utopia. This is because our social, political, and economic institutions haven’t adequately evolved to distribute this unprecedented wealth or provide people with meaningful work and purpose in an age of plenty. The book suggests that while we solved the problem of production, we haven’t solved the problems of distribution and meaning.

Okay.

Anyway, it go me thinking:

Are we going through another one of these changes right now?

Not with calories, but with intelligence.

We have calories that are so cheap that companies make and market irresistible “foods”. In turn, we consume and constantly about consuming these things and in turn get obese, and all the health/societal effects of that.

Ultimately, something like:

  • Insanely cheap calories -> widespread health problems

So what is the equivalent for intelligence?

What are the products (that we have the start of now/that are coming) that cannot resist?

  • Personalized media?
  • Personalized decision support?

Maybe.

And the downstream effects?

Perhaps, pushing on the issues we are already seeing:

  • (further) Media addiction. The books, essays, tv shows are custom made for your preferences, and continually adapted.
  • (further) Indifference. Why bother care about this or that issue, you’ve got content to consume.
  • (further) Lack of critical thinking. “It’s too hard to decide”, what does the llm say?

Why think/decide when the hyper personalized decision support “llm buddy” can decide for you.

Things get dark quickly when the systems are biased/co-opted.

What will we call the apathetic media-addicted critical un-thinker?

What will we call the afflicted “cognitive obese”?

Cognitive atrophy? That might be a better name. It’s a wasting disease.

It seems deepseek is “confirmation biasing” me (is there a verb for this? reinforce? reaffirm? confirm?):

Just as overeating leads to physical obesity, overconsumption of AI-driven content or services could lead to a kind of “cognitive obesity,” where people are mentally overwhelmed, distracted, or unable to process information effectively.

And:

Over-reliance on AI could lead to the atrophy of skills like critical thinking, creativity, or problem-solving, similar to how a sedentary lifestyle leads to physical decline.

And:

Just as people can become addicted to unhealthy foods, they might become dependent on AI-driven products, leading to compulsive behaviors or reduced autonomy.

Nod. It’s that “reduced autonomy” that’s really bad.

Brainwashing used to be a worry, e.g.:

Don’t read that book or listen to 3 hour podcasts on that topic because you might start believing it…

Personalization is so much worse.

It won’t take a whole book or epic podcast episode. It might take a few minutes of spearfish’ed comments.

With this in hand, and with sufficient time, there might not be anything where one cannot be convinced is the right thing to do (ouch, double negative) one the cognitive atrophied could be convinced of almost anything.

Weaponized “nudges”. Super-intelligent persuasion.

We’ll need to make sure we get our “cognitive essential nutrients”. It used to be “the news”, now what?

“Eat not too much, mostly plants” It used to be an hour of “documentaries” and all you can eat “biographies”.

“An hour of movement every day” We did math problems, wrote code, read challenging books, played games like chess and sudoku. Now what?

If it (or was, before pills) high status to be thin/fit/healthy, what will the new equivalent be for the environment of high “cognitive atrophy”?

No screens? Can think on their feet?

“Don’t read too much, mostly old paper books”

“At least one hour of deep work every day”

Oh man, how far we will fall.