{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Keen On America","title":"The AI Wedge: It's as Painful as it Sounds","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2598,"description":"So what, exactly, is the AI wedge? According to Ewan Morrison, author of For Emma, an already acclaimed novel about our dystopian biotech future, it means a “V-shaped” force that starts small but gradually drives people apart, replacing human connection with technological mediation.\"It starts off really small. You end up with something like internet dating... it begins as a novelty and then people become dependent on it,\" Morrison explains. What seemed harmless in the 1990s has evolved to the point where 60-70% of people now use dating apps, with younger generations saying they \"don't wanna meet anyone outside of using an app because they don't trust anyone.\" But the wedge doesn't stop there. The final stage, Morrison warns, is the replacement of the humans completely by AI friends, partners, even therapists. The metaphor captures how each technological \"solution\" creates new dependencies while eroding our capacity for direct human interaction. As Morrison puts it, technology \"removes that sort of tactile sense that humorous, trusting, improvisatory, make do sense that we have when we deal face to face with people.\" Morrison notes that \"for some, it's easier. It's easier to have an AI friend because it's always going to tell you, you're wonderful.\" This highlights how the wedge works not just through dependency, but through the seductive appeal of artificial relationships that never require the messy, challenging work of real human connection.1. AI is Pure Hype, Not a Real Revolution\"I think you just have to break it down and look at AI from a PR perspective and see what we were promised. We were promised human level AI by Marvin Minsky in 1970... And I think we're seeing the same cycle happening again.\"Morrison argues we're experiencing the third \"AI winter\" - a pattern of overpromising and eventual collapse that's repeated since the 1970s.2. The AI Wedge Drives Human Separation\"They're a bit like a wedge, like a V-shaped wedge... So it starts off really...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/bCpvkYgrorWYCv4ujOodZ7o-xqCKvQH-YHlEI5E7zpw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83NDM2/MGJjOTYyNjBkYzJi/ZDVhMTUwZDgwMWE3/ZDk3OS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}