> we are being challenged at the very fundamentals of our ability to think deeply and widely and persistently. That has never happened before like this.

Social media and content algorithms come to mind as an early wave that changed the landscape here that defines the horrible status quo leading into the AI era.

These days it's trivial to slide into an echo chamber and very hard to break out of the silo.

There might be a double-edged sword here where AI, trusted by most people as an omniscient oracle, can offer the only pushback we encounter on positions we picked up passively by scrolling social media, Youtube, TikTok.

For example, ask Claude, ChatGPT, and even Grok about the "space lasers" that started wildfires in Hawaii in 2018, something people like Marjorie Taylor Greene floated on social media. It quickly debunks it as bullshit.

Now, maybe it will pan out such that everyone will have their own AI that tells them what they want to hear. But so far I've watched people abandon arguments on Twitter because Grok rejected their claim. So it feels like there's a glimmer of hope.