I think I'm (unfortunately) starting to really understand what Frank Herbert meant when he wrote, "Fear is the mind killer." It's very disheartening to see legitimate concerns snowball into lemming-like behavior.

When in the throws of despair or grieving for a society in decline I'd typically appeal to the classic MiB quote:

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

But as the years go by it's becoming increasingly difficult to find solace there — mostly because my experience is showing me that it's simply no longer true. I feel like I'm living in a world where everyone read Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity and most people responded with, "Where do I sign?"

I've observed this behavior from both doomers and AI evangelists.

However, in the effort of full-disclosure, I must admit that I am a staunch accelerationist. That's because, when viewed from a cosmological perspective, the only rational way to describe the last few hundred years of human development would be as an explosion, and I firmly believe the only path out is forward. Standing against the tide of technological progress at this point would be akin to standing against a blast wave.

That's really damn scary.

The real sticking point seems to be that increased knowledge does not alleviate the existential dread. On the contrary, in many ways it exacerbates the mortal fear. Knowledge without power or prescience is impotent. Not that it would make a difference anyway.

If we had developed the concept of The Great Filter before the steam engine, would the world have responded to Watt's machine in the same way it's responding to Dario's now? And would that have even made a lick of difference?