Soulfood

open.substack.com/pub/theupheaval/p/american-strong-gods

A couple of thoughts:

1. The layers of bureaucracy that serve to entrench the ideal of open society also serve to remove agency from people. The stifling nature of managerial society allows individuals to excuse themselves from moral culpability when their actions are done in the service of protocol.

2. AI promises to be the ultimate morally exempt scapegoat: the algorithm did it is an all-powerful expression of the sentiment, “I was just following protocols,” but without the bother of a managerial system populated by humans. When the actuarial tables determine a person’s worth to open society goes net negative, the decision about elimination will already have been made. It’s not personal….