Resource Roundup
Things I've found helpful lately: on AI relationships, social media regulation, solitude, and Gen Z's 2024 Spotify trends
“Are Humans Using AI to Build a Modern Tower of Babel?” - This Gospel Coalition interview with Mark Sears gets into his concerns with AI simulating human empathy and emotion, and the potential negative consequences for human relationships. As I’ve reflected on what I’m seeing about the development of AI, this has been one of my top concerns as well.
“AI friendships claim to cure loneliness. Some are ending in suicide.” - Here’s a potent example of the dangers of building relationships with AI chatbots. The statistics seem to indicate that they are more addictive than even TikTok, and they are no replacement for real relationships.
“The Tech Industry’s Playbook to Prevent Regulation” - From Jonathan Haidt’s After Babel Substack, this guest article gives an enlightening look at social media’s response to proposed laws like the Kids Online Safety Act. Their tactics have mimicked the tobacco industry’s former playbook.
“The Enclosure of the Human Psyche” - This piece will feel more dense to read, but I found it to be a helpful reflection on the effects of increasing digitization, and our need for silence and solitude. The more our lives become surrounded by the digital, the more we become distracted from silence and solitude (perhaps because we’re doing things like building relationships with AI chatbots to avoid boredom). Yet silence and solitude are age-old practices for cultivating spiritual health and wisdom, so Christians should think carefully about the insights here.
“Wrapped Anxiety and Boomer Takes” - Spotify recently released 2024 Wrapped, where each user can see highlights from their use of Spotify from the past year. Gen Z expert Casey Lewis got data on Gen Z’s trends for 2024 exclusively from Spotify. Here you can see their top songs and artists, both for Gen Z in the US and globally. If I’m honest, I don’t think I know any of those songs.