AI feels different because quietly we are all aware, to differing degrees of comfort, that the world around us is collapsing. We see the escalating effects of climate change impacting day-to-day life in ways we were told would only happen in the far future, witnessing genocide become a normal part of the news critique of which can mean serious personal consequences, we're watching the United States transform into State Capitalism [0] making our country far more like modern day China than many of us would have ever imagined possible.

And we deeply need to believe something wonderous, whether delightful or terrifying, is also happening. I honestly think AI is largely mass hallucination which is supported by a system that is able to extract tremendous wealth from this hallucination continuing.

We can no longer believe that everything happening is normal, so we need to inject some, slightly less horrific, explanation for what we're experiencing.

0. https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-u-s-marches-toward-state-cap...