Criticizing AI-future prophesying: fatalistic 'line must go up' discourse is bad-faith posturing
gleech · x · 2026-10-30
gleech amplifies criticism of Will Manidis's essay The Commanding Heights, which argues the benefits of abundant intelligence will accrue far outside San Francisco. The critique: while such forecasting may be logically reasonable, its framing is off-putting — a large share of AI discourse prophesies in absolute terms, assumes we have no agency over outcomes ("the line must go up", "it is unavoidable"), and adopts an unnecessarily triumphant tone ("Rejoice", "there is deliverance"). Describing the K-shape economy, inequality and displacement without any remorse, while implicitly advising readers how to get rich from it, reads as self-satisfied 'thonkism'. The author insists these outcomes are not unavoidable and we retain agency.
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