Reflections on danah boyd's 2018 TED keynote
Link to video: "What Hath We Wrought?"
I wonder what danah boyd thinks about how rapid, mass availability of generative AI models have exacerbated the wicked problem she's describing here.
GenAI seems like it's simultaneously weaponizing and distracting the people she describes at the end as truly "lost" in their search for identity, people who would use it to antagonize others. It's also suddenly given people creation tools that can summon any idea into text and images at will with no effort at all. Some of us, on Bluesky and in my little corner of tech at least, are hoping that the cognitive fatigue and growing recognition of what's AI generated or not is a natural inoculation.
Zooming out, if you consider how genAI has further weaponized systems of power - Trump's administration, tech billionaires and the finance bros backing them - it feels like we're in a very critical moment. While adults are caught between giving into these systems and people, or rejecting it and choosing another path, kids and young adults just seem very sad and tired.
It wasn't always like this, and it doesn't have to be like this either! Social media used to be social, for example. I feel absolutely ancient saying this, but as I'm on the cusp of turning 40, I think I'm grown enough to address my peers: we need to give kids something to hope for and look forward to.