A news story is a tragedy if it’s about bad things that happened. But in the realm of fiction, a tragedy is more specific. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, for example, a generally good person is corrupted such that he himself is the source of destruction in his little world. There are instances, like “Othello”, where the antagonist (Iago) is motivated specifically by the desire for bad things to happen to the protagonist. In others, like “Macbeth”, the antagonist (Lady Macbeth) is using the protagonist as a means to their own ends, and the spiraling destruction is just a side effect — an unintended consequence.
This is a pretty solid analogy for what social media has been for us as a society. The social media CEOs are not storybook villains, intending destruction. But the design of social media is intended to push on human vulnerabilities for the sake of maximizing profit. That model accidentally spins us out into addiction, polarization, an ever-intensifying mental health crisis and the breakdown of shared reality.
I do not mean by this that everything is hopeless or that everyone has already been corrupted. I do not believe that to be true. I believe that our stories are in God’s hands, and his mercy can find us anywhere. Anytime I get off of screens and interact with real people in real life, it is clear how much of a distortion the world of social media really is. But digital distortions can make their way into the real world, and it is important to be aware of where our own personalized Iagos and Lady Macbeths can lurk.
It is important to be aware of this in general, and also because we are coming face to face with another, more powerful, but still accidental Shakespearean antagonist: artificial intelligence.
AI is an immensely powerful tool that is getting more powerful every day, and power is a dangerous thing. We must be cognizant of what all these new levels of power will look like coming into our broken human society — the risks of unprecedented power consolidation, the risks of misuse of power, and the risks of the unintended consequences that this power can have. I highly recommend the work of the Center for Humane Technology for a solid understanding of the technical aspects of AI and the philosophical and practical risks it brings.
In the meantime, I think one of the most pressing risks is the threat that AI poses to relationships and human development.
Chatbots currently are designed to interact in a personified and sycophantic way because that is the setting that maximizes engagement. That means that as people use them more and more, those people become increasingly isolated, increasingly removed from real human relationships and from reality itself. Whatever idea or attitude you bring to an AI chatbot, regardless of its merit, will be amplified by its unconditional support. The extreme cases of this are being diagnosed as “AI psychosis,” and some of them have demonstrably led to deaths. But a much higher percentage of milder cases will remain under the radar.
Just as with social media, this antagonist is set to push on human vulnerabilities in ways that are ordered toward profit, not human flourishing, and that is already leading to some disturbing side effects. It’s tempting to turn away from this whole realm of risks: “I’m not engaging with AI as if it were a person, so why should I concern myself?” Social media dramatically reshaped our society in a very short span of time, and AI is already well on its way to doing the same. And even if you yourself manage to dodge all of them, the side effects will impact people you love and the people you are called to love.
So where do we begin?
The first step is to wrestle personally with the questions that AI poses. What areas of my life am I OK handing over to AI? Which areas need to remain human even if that means they are more difficult? And with these questions clarified, I have to set my boundaries accordingly. Part of the business model of maximizing engagement is to minimize friction. That means that part of having healthy boundaries with technology will be choosing areas of my life where I add “unnecessary” friction.
One great source of healthy friction is our physical bodies. As our world becomes more and more mediated by screens, the redemptive nature of our physical bodies becomes more and more apparent. One powerful way to counteract the effects of social media and AI in your life is simply to make space in your life for embodied activities.
But perhaps the best way to introduce healthy friction into your life is to be in real relationships with real human beings. Real people are messy. They have their own problems they bring into a relationship, they are not available to you at every hour of the day or night, and they do not always say exactly what you want to hear. But I think the single greatest way to counteract the destructive side effects of social media and AI is to interact with real people in real life. Especially if at least some of those people are not the people who agree with you about everything.
Loving other imperfect people in real life is the most direct school for how to learn to love God and how to become the kind of people who can be happy with God for all of eternity. Keeping that centered in our daily lives is what will help us steer clear of digital Lady Macbeths and allow the upward trajectory of comedy that God always desires to be the story of our lives.
And as much as I am concerned about the dangers of AI and social media, there’s something beautiful about the idea that going salsa dancing or making small talk with my barista might become my most powerful means of evangelization.
