Is society cooked? if so what do we do about it?

➡ The article discusses the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on our daily lives. It highlights how AI is increasingly creating content, from music to art, and even generating fake news, leading to a theory that most of the internet is now fake. The author expresses concern about the potential negative effects, such as job loss due to automation and the erosion of human skills due to over-reliance on AI. However, they suggest that we can mitigate these effects by reducing our dependence on technology and engaging more in creative activities.
➡ Despite having more entertainment options due to technology, people feel more bored and empty. It might be beneficial to return to simpler times before smartphones and AI. This won’t stop the world from becoming more high-tech, but it could help create a personal space that feels more human and less chaotic.

This bouncy house? It’s AI, unfortunately. Looks fun, though. Which lamppost is real? That one’s real. That one’s AI. The bench? It’s real. It’s everyone’s favorite game, purse or potato. Which one’s real? This one’s real. This one’s actually not a potato. It’s a game. Boy, if you don’t! Is this gazebo real? No, it’s actually this gazebo thing. What about this easel? The easel is real, so if anyone was looking for a beautiful piece of art to hang in their home, you can’t hang this piece because the art was AI-generated. Sorry. There is one AI banana in this bunch.

Can you find it? It’s this one. It’s actually a potato. I’m so confused right now. What is even real anymore? It feels like every day we wake up, technology is dragging us closer and closer into a world where you won’t even be able to tell if that cooking video you’re watching at 2am is real or just AI-generated. Most of you who support the channel already know that a lot of the news we hear is fabricated in one way or another. To what extent that varies, but still, you’ve probably always had your head on a swivel.

In just the past decade, we’ve gone from seeing early deepfake videos to where we are now. If you drink this, you will explode. Where most people’s minds are racing to the dark side of what this tech can do. Now the concept of deepfakes or deepfaking can actually be traced back to the 90s when researchers were using CGI to try and create realistic human images. The term deepfake though didn’t show up until a Reddit user with the same name started posting **** in 2017, swapping celebrity faces. Things really picked up in the 2010s.

Large datasets, better machine learning, and more powerful computers meant rapid progress. Fast forward to today and comments sections are spammed by bots, you got people unknowingly arguing with them, your phone’s blowing up with robocalls, your inbox is drowning in junk, and countless AI generated YouTube channels are emerging overnight. And all of this has kind of culminated in what’s now known as dead internet theory which started gaining traction around 2021. For those unaware, in a nutshell, dead internet theory claims that most of the internet is now fake, filled with bots, algorithmically generated content, and minimal actual human interaction.

The idea is that it’s all manipulated, possibly even by governments, to control perception, steer attention, and to kill off organic activity online. Spend 5 minutes on social media and I swear it starts sounding way less like a conspiracy and more like just facts. Now with the rise of artificial intelligence, we’re seeing just how fast this can all evolve. We’ve come a long way from the days of that janky video of Will Smith sloppily eating spaghetti and now, just 2 years later, we’re here. I’m not saying it’s perfect, it’s got ways to go, but until then, what we have is enough for many to get lost in the sauce.

No, but for real, it’s getting weird out here, and it doesn’t matter what kind of content it is. If an AI company like OpenAI, Google’s Gemini, Elon’s Grok, or one of the thousands of startups out there can scrape it, it’s only a matter of time before it gets automated. Music, books, films, social media posts, pictures, news, broadcasts, YouTube channels, you name it, there’s no finish line. Since the early days of chat GPT, people have been out here creating full novels and selling them on Amazon. Others are making AI art and cashing out on Etsy.

If you listen to hip hop, you might have even been duped by what sounded like a real Drake release in 2023, only to find out it was just advanced AI vocal cloning. I saw a video on TikTok where this creator here was talking about the invasion of AI generated music in the lo-fi genre, and I’m sitting here like, damn. And that’s when it hit me. What happens when something AI generated, a song, a video, a piece of writing, resonates with you on a deep level, even maybe more than human made content. Then what does that say about us? Are we even gonna bother trying to figure out if what we’re watching is real anymore? And even if we do, will we be able to figure it out in 3-5 years? Honestly, I don’t know.

People are out here forming friendships with AI chatbots, even using chat GPT as a therapist. If you know you don’t want a relationship, why get into a talking stage? You’re right. If you really wanted something, be showing more effort instead of just talking in circles. He’s just an idiot. Let’s just call it a bit. He’s an idiot. All while worrying whether their jobs will be replaced in a few years. I mean, just imagine, one day your boss calls you and 10 coworkers into a meeting just to let you know you’re being laid off.

Because they’ve figured out how to automate everything your department does. Then you go home and vent to an AI chatbot about losing your job. That’s fucked up, man. But hey, at least it’s not no ordinary chatbot. You got your AI girlfriend. It could be your AI wife. Hell, it could be your AI boyfriend, depending on what side you’re on. Yeah, no, we’re pretty cooked. Now look, I’m not here to start preaching doom and gloom. AI isn’t inherently evil. I see it like a gun. The real danger isn’t the tech, it’s who’s holding it and what they want to do with it.

But I’m also not naive. The people behind these AI giants, chat GPT, Grok, Gemini, they’ve got their own agendas. And you already know corporate investors aren’t doing this for charity. So yeah, odds are it’s not really being built in our best interest. And more like it’s just data mining more from us. That said, it doesn’t mean you can’t use it. I mean, doing a quick search with AI instead of Google. Sure, tweaking an email for work. Go for it. But writing a whole essay for school, bro. Come on now, doll. Can’t even lie, if I were in high school with this tech, I probably would have done the same thing if I was desperate.

But damn, how are these kids supposed to learn now? How do they grow when everything’s just spoon fed to them, right? The price of convenience is steep. Every time the world gives us something of convenience, it always comes with a cost, especially when it’s abused. Fast food, convenient until you’re fighting obesity. Smart phones, perfect for passing time on the train, but now our attention spans are cooked. We can’t even hold conversations without glancing at our screens every five seconds. And we’re supposedly the most connected generation. But right now with AI, we don’t know what the full price is yet, but it’s coming.

We just gotta wait and see. I mean, there are people genuinely scared their surgeon in 10 years won’t know what the hell they’re doing because they cheated their way through med school using AI. Then again, who’s to say your surgeon will even be human? Okay, okay, but damn, I don’t want to get too dark. Look, you’re probably seeing the same shit I’m seeing. You’re either deeply concerned, couldn’t care less, or you’re in that middle zone, mildly panicked and just trying to keep up. But no matter where you land, one thing’s for sure.

Companies are going all in on AI. It’s practically on everything now, but if it isn’t, it’s going to be in less than a decade, just like how we’ve got smart versions of literally everything now. Y’all remember when people were saying smartphones made dumb people? Well, AI might take us into full blown idiocracy if we’re not already there. So, what the hell do we do? How do we pull ourselves back into some kind of reality, something that actually feels moderately real when everything around us is starting to feel artificial? Now, I definitely don’t have the answers, and anyone who says they do is probably selling you a course.

But here’s what I can’t say. The best thing we can do is start slowly detaching step by step from relying on tech for everything. No, you don’t need to go full cabin in the woods, off-grid survivalist, unless you want to, but that’s not realistic for most people. However, you can leave the house without your phone sometimes. You can show up to the homie’s place unannounced like it’s 04, okay maybe don’t do that, or screw it, just do it. Go outside more, read a book, get off social media, or better yet, delete the apps entirely.

Go back to a flip phone, I’m not even kidding. Start creating instead of constantly consuming, pick up that canvas and paintbrush you’ve been meaning to try, dust off that guitar you bought in college and never touched again, and if you’re a writer, use pen and paper, cook something new, read something weird, try something different. You could even start right after this video, and don’t forget to hit the like button. But I remember being a kid and whenever I was bored, my mom would just say go outside or read a book, and whenever I did either, I felt pretty great.

These days, we have more to watch, more to scroll, more to play, but people feel more bored and empty than ever. Legit, it might be time to start living like we’re in the pre-smartphone, pre-AI slop era. Get back to the simple stuff, and no, it won’t stop the world around you from spiraling into a high-tech hellscape, but maybe, just maybe, you can build a small piece of the world that still feels human, that still feels like yours, or at the very least, not falling apart at the same pace as everybody else’s. Anyways, that’s been your boy Script.

If you enjoyed the video, you know what to do, man. Like, comment, subscribe. I’m outta here. Peace. [tr:trw].