“Why Whitney Webb Refuses To Use AI (And You Should Be Careful Too)”|Whitney Webb

[00:00:00] They want to harvest us for data and [00:00:01] like I said earlier, they want to use us [00:00:03] as as bootloadaders for their digital [00:00:06] intelligence and they can't continue to [00:00:08] improve and feed the AI without us doing [00:00:11] it for them. They can't do it alone. So, [00:00:15] >> um I think the more we [00:00:17] >> but people are not [00:00:20] they're not likely to leave things that [00:00:22] make their life easier. There is not. [00:00:26] >> Yeah. Well, that's that's the price of [00:00:27] convenience, isn't it? And I think a lot [00:00:29] of the effort to enslave us has been to [00:00:32] u uh cajul us and uh influence us with [00:00:36] with convenience and comfort. Uh but [00:00:39] also in theory, you know, prison is [00:00:41] comfortable, right? In the sense that [00:00:43] you have a roof over your head and they [00:00:45] bring you food. Um, and I mean it it you [00:00:48] know a digital prison without walls uh [00:00:51] you know could be similarly comfortable [00:00:54] and you wouldn't have to lift a finger [00:00:56] to fight uh you know for your freedom. [00:00:58] But we can still uh oh sorry you [00:01:01] wouldn't have to lift a finger to fight [00:01:02] for your freedom. You would just [00:01:04] willingly walk into the system, right? [00:01:05] Um but we those of us that don't want to [00:01:08] live in the system have to do something. [00:01:10] And so I think we're at the at at a at a [00:01:12] crossroads and have been for several [00:01:15] years. uh where those of us that don't [00:01:18] want to uh [00:01:20] walk into this have to actively build [00:01:22] alternatives. And if you don't have, you [00:01:25] know, uh a ton of people in your [00:01:27] community uh doing that, maybe you [00:01:29] should reach out and build awareness. Uh [00:01:31] but if you have people that are aware of [00:01:33] this around you, um it's it's important [00:01:36] to build, I would argue, local resilient [00:01:38] networks that don't depend on on this [00:01:40] infrastructure. there's still open- [00:01:42] source alternatives to a lot of the um [00:01:46] you know big tech platforms uh out [00:01:49] there. Uh and [00:01:51] I I still think I'm still hopeful that [00:01:53] there is time. Uh but you know [00:01:56] ultimately at the end of end of the day, [00:01:58] you know, if they're pushing us towards [00:01:59] a posthuman future, I think at some [00:02:02] point people will realize uh that they [00:02:04] don't want to lose what makes us human. [00:02:06] And so so much of what we're being [00:02:07] pushed to use AI for are things are [00:02:10] creative pursuits that help define us as [00:02:13] human, right? Uh making art, making [00:02:16] music, writing. Um these are the things [00:02:19] that we're being told to outsource uh to [00:02:21] artificial intelligence, not necessarily [00:02:23] the tedious stuff, right? So what's [00:02:25] going to be left for us when we uh [00:02:28] outsource of this all to AI? Will we [00:02:29] allow ourselves to be cognitive [00:02:31] cognitively diminished to the point that [00:02:32] we can't even create anymore? and then [00:02:34] what kind of you know humans are we at [00:02:37] that point. So I think it's very [00:02:39] important to um encourage uh analog [00:02:42] alternatives to that kind of stuff and [00:02:44] to engage in uh in creativity and uh [00:02:48] there's a lot of opportunity for that [00:02:50] especially for people that have uh [00:02:51] children. You know children are very [00:02:53] creative and we need to uh promote that [00:02:55] to them instead of being like here's a [00:02:57] tablet learn how to scroll by the time [00:02:59] you're three or four [00:03:01] >> um and navigate the the algorithms. you [00:03:04] know, if we do nothing and we don't [00:03:06] shift that cultural uh um behavior or [00:03:11] what's being made, you know, common [00:03:12] cultural behavior now, then yeah, it [00:03:14] will be very problematic. And so, I [00:03:16] think, you know, it's a very important [00:03:18] time right now for parents uh to make [00:03:21] sure your kids are are well and anchored [00:03:22] in in the real world and not just uh you [00:03:26] know, uh checked out to launch and [00:03:28] trusting uh you know, potentially [00:03:30] trusting algorithms more than you. I [00:03:32] mean, there's these efforts to have [00:03:33] domestic robots in the house. A lot of [00:03:36] the ads show show, you know, young [00:03:38] children develop developing emotional [00:03:40] relationships with these robots, saying, [00:03:42] "I love you," [00:03:43] >> and all of this stuff. It is that is not [00:03:46] good. [00:03:47] >> I absolutely agree. Uh, and so, you [00:03:49] know, just because you want to focus on [00:03:51] yourself or X, Y, and Z is is no excuse [00:03:54] to have, you know, the emotional [00:03:56] connection your child needs be built [00:03:58] with a machine programmed by who knows [00:04:00] who. I mean, so many of these big tech [00:04:02] figures also had relationships to [00:04:05] Jeffrey Epstein, a pedophile. Do you [00:04:07] want to trust those people uh to program [00:04:09] stuff uh that's around your kids and and [00:04:12] talks to them and you know, potentially [00:04:14] manipulates them when you're not there? [00:04:16] So, you know, it's not just with that, [00:04:19] too. I mean, that that is the idea of [00:04:20] taking active responsibility for things [00:04:22] in your life. And we need to do more of [00:04:24] that. And culturally, Americans have [00:04:26] been the best at that for a very long [00:04:28] time. But we there have been a lot of [00:04:30] efforts to condition us out of that and [00:04:32] a lot of it has been through this um [00:04:35] effort to cultivate the importance of [00:04:37] comfort above all else and convenience. [00:04:39] you know the idea of rugged [00:04:40] individualism in the US uh unfortunately [00:04:43] has been uh you know greatly reduced and [00:04:46] I think it's important for us to take [00:04:49] active responsibility because you know [00:04:50] the the pull of AI is to get is is for [00:04:54] is uh for us to be passive and do [00:04:57] nothing and just let it wash over us and [00:05:00] uh oh you don't have to do that anymore [00:05:02] AI can do that and AI can do this for [00:05:04] you and and this and that. Um and if [00:05:06] we're not uh focused on uh the things [00:05:09] that we like to create and that we like [00:05:11] to do um and uh active, you know, we [00:05:15] will recede and that is how the [00:05:16] posthuman future will happen. There is [00:05:18] still a lot of time for agency. Um but [00:05:21] people just need to be [00:05:23] >> really aware of what's going on and [00:05:25] determined to to change it. [00:05:26] >> Is there anything to I mean do you use [00:05:30] AI at all for anything? [00:05:33] >> No. [00:05:33] >> Nothing. You're completely off if you [00:05:36] don't use it. [00:05:38] >> No, I'm I'm uninterested in using it. I [00:05:40] mean, I didn't I mean, it wasn't always [00:05:42] around. You know, I'm I'm 35 now and you [00:05:45] know, when I was in university, there [00:05:47] was no AI. I learned how to write and do [00:05:49] what I do now without it. So, why would [00:05:51] I need it? Especially when I'm aware [00:05:53] that, you know, the whole idea if you [00:05:55] don't use it, you lose it. So, I stop uh [00:05:58] you know, let's say for example, a [00:06:00] person who does work similar to me uh [00:06:02] stops researching, has AI do their [00:06:04] research for them. Well, they'll come [00:06:05] back in a year or two and be like, "Wow, [00:06:07] I kind of forgot how to do this. I don't [00:06:09] remember how to do it anymore. It's [00:06:10] gotten a lot harder for me." Right? The [00:06:13] same idea if you stop doing mental math [00:06:15] because you're constantly relying on a [00:06:16] calculator. Uh it gets harder. Uh that's [00:06:19] the idea of cognitive [00:06:22] >> diminishment [00:06:24] called it. Ray Kerszswhile told