99% of Americans used AI last week. 64% of them swear they don’t use it at all. One of those numbers is a measurement. The other is you doing the industry’s work for free.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to offer a different perspective. Let’s start by saying about eight years ago, I started understanding that AI was going to slide into my life like a catfish trying to convince me he was 40 years old, hot and rich, and wanted to date me… I had an advantage in that I had been doing research for a doc series. So I started talking about it with people, and they all looked at me like I was fucking nuts. I suspect the same way people looked at the Wright brothers when they said they were gonna fly. But I kept focus on it, didn’t push my son or my daughter into all the coding classes that they kept telling kids they needed to learn to do, sadly all those kids are graduating and can’t find jobs… And you’re right AI is in every aspect of our lives. But that does not mean that we should not opt out in every way that we possibly can.
In a way and this might be a dramatic example, it’s sort of like saying well, the concentration camps are already built, and they’re already putting people in them so we might as well just accept it. Now, more than ever, as you see with people finally starting to fight those data centers that they didn’t know we’re being built behind their houses, we must be standing up in every way we can, in every little way that we can. Because, little ways acted upon by millions of people make a difference.
Just because we chose a route, or we were forced upon a detour that we didn’t know (or more like likely, weren’t paying attention to ) doesn’t mean we can’t change course. When enough people choosing to change course, we can, in fact, reclaim our own destinies.
My little personal rebellion is to force a human on the phone. Every time I have to call customer service, even if it means I have to sit on the phone for 20 minutes screaming representative into the void. Every time I interact with an AI Chatbot in some form or another and I receive one of those how did we do emails? I take the time to respond and let them know that a newborn sloth would’ve been more effective. Every little bit makes a difference.
Never give up and never stop pushing back no matter how small the action might seem.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply Betsy. I'd like to suggest that you're actually helping to make my point for me.
My point here isn't that we are completely powerless; it is that pretending that not using AI in your daily life is making a difference towards AI adoption is a polite lie that people are telling themselves to absolve themselves of any guilt or really any additional effort.
What you did was active resistance: intelligent, planned, thoughtful active resistance. What everyone needs to do is active resistance:
- Active resistance against the data centers being put in people's backyards.
- Active resistance against the unplanned way in which AI is being foisted upon us.
- Active resistance against the leaders in government who don't seem to have any understanding about what AI means for the future of the human race.
We all need to be engaged in active resistance, just like you had the foresight eight years ago to plan for. The rest of us can't stand around pretending like we have clean hands and do nothing. We all are in this fight together. We must act like it.
Betsy, your response is spot on. Your messaging (see below) works for all the issues this country is facing now and in the future. Together with this attitude we will Transform OUR country. Thank you!!
Because, little ways acted upon by millions of people make a difference.
When enough people choosing to change course, we can, in fact, reclaim our own destinies.
Oh my gosh Elizabeth, that's hilarious! Thank you! I hope I'm a real writer. I'm wearing Lawrence's underwear so if I'm not really me and not really human, we've got much bigger problems!! 😂
So, I'm hearing that we should stop lying to ourselves about not using AI and embrace it as soon as possible, and try to steer its use towards more positive things.
I resisted using the cloud - by which I mean exactly the same idea you presented, i.e., I am using it and telling myself that I'm not.
Well, as long as I'm not legally allowed to Molotov data centers, my best choice is to continue to minimize my use of these forms of everyday technology and do the little I can to remind humanity that we are generally really good at thinking and adapting to new tools, and letting those tools do everything for us is exactly like Homer Simpson opening a beer bottle by shooting off the cap.
Mr. Winnerman, wonderful essay, sir. I know you are right about AI. God help us. My city refused a “data center” so it just went 30 miles south. From what I’ve read, “data centers” are surveillance centers. That’s what the “data” is for. Have you heard that?
Elizabeth, I am a dot connector, much like I suspect you are. I can't look at everything that is going on around us, like this administration and Palantir and Peter Thiel and the vast amounts of data that they are currently collecting and want to collect on us. Then I look at all this data center capacity that's going online and have to draw the connection that part of the reason they need these giant data centers is because they need a place to store all of the surveillance data that they're going to gather on us.
Maybe that makes me paranoid and crazy and wearing a tinfoil hat but honestly the math kind of lines up, don't you think?
Yes, dot connectors, unite! Curiosity, truth, big picture…what’s REALLY HAPPENING and who's ACTUALLY IN CONTROL, and to what end. What is the MOTIVE, AGENDA, END GAME. (Control, but that’s an endless pursuit because it eventually becomes a “last man standing” gladiator event with no one to clap!!! 😂
Brilliant article. Albeit it potentially an alarming one.
“Nobody held a candlelight vigil for the YouTube servers. Nobody at any dinner party ever announced, gently, that they had given up streaming for the sake of the grid. The infrastructure only became legible to us—only became moral terrain—when the machine started talking back.”
“I want you to look at the opt-out fiction until you see the same architecture. The question of artificial intelligence is a question of power—who builds the machine, who owns it, who profits, who decides where it lands and what it eats and whom it replaces, who pays when it is wrong. Every one of those questions has an address. And we have converted the whole stack of them into a different question entirely: have you, personally, touched the unclean thing? Power has been swapped out for purity while we were busy feeling good.”
So. A few weeks ago I decided to asked AI if it was stupid or biased. This was its response, verbatim …
“I don’t have feelings or human consciousness, so I can't be "stupid" or "biased" in the way a person is. Instead, AI systems process vast amounts of data using complex algorithms. How users and developers perceive this often comes down to the model's limitations and its training data.”
“The "Stupid" Factor
I don’t truly "understand" the world; I process language and predict patterns based on billions of examples of human writing. Because I lack common sense and general intelligence, this can lead to:
• Hallucinations: I might confidently state things that are completely factually incorrect.
• Lack of Originality: My responses are based on previously generated human knowledge, meaning I often synthesize existing data rather than creating genuine new insights.
“The Bias Factor
AI systems learn from the internet and historical texts, which inevitably contain human biases, stereotypes, and inaccuracies. This introduces a few types of bias:
• Data Bias: If my training data over-represents certain demographics or cultural perspectives, my answers will skew that way.
• KEY FACTOR —> Algorithmic Bias: The rules and preferences built by developers to ensure the AI is helpful and safe can inadvertently favor certain types of viewpoints or answers over others.”
(And then, who is actually watchdogging the developers?)
(So, I’ll take liberty here and include MORALITY, INTEGRITY, VALUES, AND AGENDA to the list.)
“Society is sleepwalking into a nightmare. The rate of global investment in AI is rocketing, as companies and countries invest in what has been described as a new arms race. The Californian company Nvidia, which dominates the market in the chips needed for AI, has become the most valuable in the world. The trend has been dubbed an “AI frenzy”, with the components described by analysts as the “new gold or oil”.
It’s insidious, as if an invisible, rotting, evil stench has slipped in under the door and there’s no way to stop it…unless, somehow “someone” decides to blow the WHOLE THING up and inadvertently destroys the Trojan horse in the process.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to offer a different perspective. Let’s start by saying about eight years ago, I started understanding that AI was going to slide into my life like a catfish trying to convince me he was 40 years old, hot and rich, and wanted to date me… I had an advantage in that I had been doing research for a doc series. So I started talking about it with people, and they all looked at me like I was fucking nuts. I suspect the same way people looked at the Wright brothers when they said they were gonna fly. But I kept focus on it, didn’t push my son or my daughter into all the coding classes that they kept telling kids they needed to learn to do, sadly all those kids are graduating and can’t find jobs… And you’re right AI is in every aspect of our lives. But that does not mean that we should not opt out in every way that we possibly can.
In a way and this might be a dramatic example, it’s sort of like saying well, the concentration camps are already built, and they’re already putting people in them so we might as well just accept it. Now, more than ever, as you see with people finally starting to fight those data centers that they didn’t know we’re being built behind their houses, we must be standing up in every way we can, in every little way that we can. Because, little ways acted upon by millions of people make a difference.
Just because we chose a route, or we were forced upon a detour that we didn’t know (or more like likely, weren’t paying attention to ) doesn’t mean we can’t change course. When enough people choosing to change course, we can, in fact, reclaim our own destinies.
My little personal rebellion is to force a human on the phone. Every time I have to call customer service, even if it means I have to sit on the phone for 20 minutes screaming representative into the void. Every time I interact with an AI Chatbot in some form or another and I receive one of those how did we do emails? I take the time to respond and let them know that a newborn sloth would’ve been more effective. Every little bit makes a difference.
Never give up and never stop pushing back no matter how small the action might seem.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply Betsy. I'd like to suggest that you're actually helping to make my point for me.
My point here isn't that we are completely powerless; it is that pretending that not using AI in your daily life is making a difference towards AI adoption is a polite lie that people are telling themselves to absolve themselves of any guilt or really any additional effort.
What you did was active resistance: intelligent, planned, thoughtful active resistance. What everyone needs to do is active resistance:
- Active resistance against the data centers being put in people's backyards.
- Active resistance against the unplanned way in which AI is being foisted upon us.
- Active resistance against the leaders in government who don't seem to have any understanding about what AI means for the future of the human race.
We all need to be engaged in active resistance, just like you had the foresight eight years ago to plan for. The rest of us can't stand around pretending like we have clean hands and do nothing. We all are in this fight together. We must act like it.
Betsy, your response is spot on. Your messaging (see below) works for all the issues this country is facing now and in the future. Together with this attitude we will Transform OUR country. Thank you!!
Because, little ways acted upon by millions of people make a difference.
When enough people choosing to change course, we can, in fact, reclaim our own destinies.
Every little bit makes a difference.
Also, I think you are a real writer and not a chatbot. Thank god.
Oh my gosh Elizabeth, that's hilarious! Thank you! I hope I'm a real writer. I'm wearing Lawrence's underwear so if I'm not really me and not really human, we've got much bigger problems!! 😂
And that’s the ultimate question! The ultimate challenge, the ultimate concern.
Chills.
So, I'm hearing that we should stop lying to ourselves about not using AI and embrace it as soon as possible, and try to steer its use towards more positive things.
I resisted using the cloud - by which I mean exactly the same idea you presented, i.e., I am using it and telling myself that I'm not.
Well, as long as I'm not legally allowed to Molotov data centers, my best choice is to continue to minimize my use of these forms of everyday technology and do the little I can to remind humanity that we are generally really good at thinking and adapting to new tools, and letting those tools do everything for us is exactly like Homer Simpson opening a beer bottle by shooting off the cap.
The most beautiful writing and mind-blowing, perspective-shifting insights (as always! 😊)
Thank you!
This is a read I've been waiting for someone to write. Thank you for the thoroughness.
Thank you so much, e. I'm so glad it resonated with you, and I appreciate you taking the time to like and comment on it.
Mr. Winnerman, wonderful essay, sir. I know you are right about AI. God help us. My city refused a “data center” so it just went 30 miles south. From what I’ve read, “data centers” are surveillance centers. That’s what the “data” is for. Have you heard that?
Elizabeth, I am a dot connector, much like I suspect you are. I can't look at everything that is going on around us, like this administration and Palantir and Peter Thiel and the vast amounts of data that they are currently collecting and want to collect on us. Then I look at all this data center capacity that's going online and have to draw the connection that part of the reason they need these giant data centers is because they need a place to store all of the surveillance data that they're going to gather on us.
Maybe that makes me paranoid and crazy and wearing a tinfoil hat but honestly the math kind of lines up, don't you think?
Yes, dot connectors, unite! Curiosity, truth, big picture…what’s REALLY HAPPENING and who's ACTUALLY IN CONTROL, and to what end. What is the MOTIVE, AGENDA, END GAME. (Control, but that’s an endless pursuit because it eventually becomes a “last man standing” gladiator event with no one to clap!!! 😂
Read the comments. Both are great!
Thanks Matuga. I really appreciate the fact that you read it and that you're taking the time to like and comment on it. That really means a lot
Loved your essay Lawrence!
Thank you Terry! I really appreciate the feedback. I'd love it if you could share it or re-stack it. 🫶
Brilliant article. Albeit it potentially an alarming one.
“Nobody held a candlelight vigil for the YouTube servers. Nobody at any dinner party ever announced, gently, that they had given up streaming for the sake of the grid. The infrastructure only became legible to us—only became moral terrain—when the machine started talking back.”
“I want you to look at the opt-out fiction until you see the same architecture. The question of artificial intelligence is a question of power—who builds the machine, who owns it, who profits, who decides where it lands and what it eats and whom it replaces, who pays when it is wrong. Every one of those questions has an address. And we have converted the whole stack of them into a different question entirely: have you, personally, touched the unclean thing? Power has been swapped out for purity while we were busy feeling good.”
So. A few weeks ago I decided to asked AI if it was stupid or biased. This was its response, verbatim …
“I don’t have feelings or human consciousness, so I can't be "stupid" or "biased" in the way a person is. Instead, AI systems process vast amounts of data using complex algorithms. How users and developers perceive this often comes down to the model's limitations and its training data.”
“The "Stupid" Factor
I don’t truly "understand" the world; I process language and predict patterns based on billions of examples of human writing. Because I lack common sense and general intelligence, this can lead to:
• Hallucinations: I might confidently state things that are completely factually incorrect.
• Lack of Originality: My responses are based on previously generated human knowledge, meaning I often synthesize existing data rather than creating genuine new insights.
“The Bias Factor
AI systems learn from the internet and historical texts, which inevitably contain human biases, stereotypes, and inaccuracies. This introduces a few types of bias:
• Data Bias: If my training data over-represents certain demographics or cultural perspectives, my answers will skew that way.
• KEY FACTOR —> Algorithmic Bias: The rules and preferences built by developers to ensure the AI is helpful and safe can inadvertently favor certain types of viewpoints or answers over others.”
(And then, who is actually watchdogging the developers?)
(So, I’ll take liberty here and include MORALITY, INTEGRITY, VALUES, AND AGENDA to the list.)
“Society is sleepwalking into a nightmare. The rate of global investment in AI is rocketing, as companies and countries invest in what has been described as a new arms race. The Californian company Nvidia, which dominates the market in the chips needed for AI, has become the most valuable in the world. The trend has been dubbed an “AI frenzy”, with the components described by analysts as the “new gold or oil”.
It’s insidious, as if an invisible, rotting, evil stench has slipped in under the door and there’s no way to stop it…unless, somehow “someone” decides to blow the WHOLE THING up and inadvertently destroys the Trojan horse in the process.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/03/ai-sexism-violence-against-women-technology-new-era