Because all of our actions and attempts at doing something are thrown into a ruthless capitalistic world propelled by near-instantaneous communication, ideas and actions themselves have a differential probability of survival based on how much they further the capitalistic system.
This results in the following phenomenon: ideas and actions that appear at first glance to be for the greater good, in reality serve only to further strengthen capitalism and consumerism while doing far less good than we would expect. Yes, trade does lead to short-term advantages, but in wealthy societies, trade reaches a point of diminishing returns in the sense of truly improving life, and the only thing left to be “improved” is to make the wealthy even more rich at the expense of our common good.
One such example is environmentalism. Of course, I am an environmentalist. But the efforts of environmentalist are supported by a consumerist society. For example, environmental organizations still need to support themselves financially, and they often use social media to spread their cause. What results is this: because certain environmental efforts are easier than others, the easier efforts win out, even though what makes them easier is precisely the fact that they further consumerist society.
The push for solar power is a case in point. Of course, solar power could be an amazing solution to a reduction in fossil fuel use. On the other hand, by plugging solar power into the capitalistic system, we get something a little different: we get more sources of energy, more competition in the energy market, and possibly even a reduction in fossil fuel prices due to a reduced demand for them. In reality, solar power might encourage us to use more energy and more natural resources, rather than less. We could become more sustainable by using solar power and much less energy, but we don’t.
Yes, how solar power has affected and continues to affects the environment is a subtle thing, but one thing is clear: green energy has yet to flatten the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere. And it’s rather expected: we insist on keeping capitalism the way it is. Thus any “solution” to our unsustainable ways will likely be much less effective than we want, simply because any “successful” solution is actually only successful within the capitalistic system, which in turn means that it furthers intense consumerism.
What about AI?
Artificial intelligence or AI is another such phenomenon. According to some, AI is innovation and will improve life with new medical discoveries, more efficient computer programming, and cheaper graphical art. But why is AI so successful today? Is it because it truly provides value to humankind? Not really. To understand what AI really does, we simply have to follow the money.
And when we do, we see AI is so successful because it makes consumerism even more efficient. Generative AI like Sora, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and others generates content, and it brings in the money because content makes money through advertising. Moreover, it does so without adding any true value to life.
Yes, AI might have some isolated benefits to some individuals here and there. But the end goal of tech companies is to infect society with AI so that we become dependent on it. And when we become dependent on it, we will have to pay for it, which will concentrate wealth and power further into the hands of the soulless tech-elite.
The true purpose
But now we must examine the true purpose of AI, or its ultimate reason, which is even more sinister that simply making consumerism more efficient. Consider what the techno-capitalistic machine really is: it is a machine to plunder the earth’s resources for continued economic growth, which strengthens the growth of technology itself. It is fundamentally unsustainable because technological growth always requires the use of natural resources.
Based on this viewpoint, we can immediately see why AI is making so much money and is so popular: it functions as a mental drug, continually bombarding us with new content to distract us from the extreme problem of the techno-capitalistic machine threatening to destroy the biosphere itself. Of course, art and content creation has been such a drug for quite some time, but AI brings it to the next level. There is nothing wrong with content per se, as storytelling is as old as humanity. Yet, computers and the internet have transformed content into a pure vehicle for advertising and propaganda.
In a sense, AI is now crucial: tech companies and indeed, the entirety of the mass of all technology needs AI. It needs AI to keep is even more heavily sedated so that we do not see the truth behind the growth of technology: this truth is that such growth necessitates increasing destruction of natural habitats; that for every new phone and new car, we need to fuel the continuing genocide of nonhuman animals and rivers and mountains through mining, pollution, and habitat destruction.
And it doesn’t end there: with the growth of technology, we are forced to do ever more meaningless, specialized work. Can you honestly find an example of a corporate job that truly improves your local community or the world? No. The true work of providing your family with enough food, shelter, and clothing has been relegated to unsustainable mining, destructive agriculture, and slave shops in Asia. You don’t do that any more: instead, you continue the advancement of technology for the sake of technology.
In order to escape this toxic world of having to perform degrading work and having to breath in contaminated air, media is becoming more and more the drug of choice.
Why else is Apple investing so much effort into virtual reality? It’s because the population demands the drug of virtual reality. And why do they do that? Because modern technological life is meaningless. And AI is the crucial key to bring it to the next level and to keep it all going. With AI, we can design artificial environments, beautiful scenes, virtual AI boyfriends and girlfriends, and an entire world to replace the natural world that gave us life.
Conclusion
In short, the true purpose of AI is to be a drug. It’s another drug in the long line of drugs to keep us docile so we forget the forests, forget the gentle whales in the sea, forget the birds in the sky that industry keeps murdering.
But instead of accepting this drug, we should kill it. I hope there are enough brave people out there to stand against AI and bury it. We should destroy AI and reconsider this destructive path of endless economic and technological growth that will in actuality lead to endless death.
AI is not the core problem: endless consumption and meaningless technology is. Yet, AI is the apex technology that may lock us into a maximum security prison of technological determinism via addictive distractions, which is why we should oppose it and take it down. It may be the first true meaningful action towards on the path towards greater sustainability and the death of consumerism.