Some time ago, I had a furious conversation with a tech bro, which played out something along these lines: ‘How cool would it be’, said the tech bro, ‘if you could just download a language into your brain, Matrix-style, without having to learn it yourself.’ I spluttered out my gin and tonic and managed to croak: but that’s horrible! What of discernment, taste, style and nuance? What of the exacting but enjoyable pains of memorising words, sparking new connections, and forming your own peculiar store of knowledge? If new knowledge suddenly appeared in your brain, I’d call that creepy, akin to being possessed. ‘But it’s so cool’, came the response.  

Kim Kardashian deserves better than Lewis Hamilton

Trump’s birthday UFC fight is a seminal moment in US politics

Keir Starmer is a worse PM than Neville Chamberlain

There lies the faultline between those of us who are suspicious of the mediocrities forced upon us by new technologies and those of us who wildly embrace said technologies despite their ill effects. The latter desire everything at speed. If they can order the world’s goods to their houses in seconds, and watch films and listen to audiobooks at twice the pace,  why can’t they ‘upload’ skills as well?

Nothing is sacrosanct to technophiles. They can’t be far off inventing an AI confessional. For........

© The Spectator