At the last show of a U.S. tour for the Sex Pistols, lead singer Johnny Rotten famously asked the audience, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” The band was in the middle of self-destructing, as all good punk bands did, but the question loomed larger than the event and echoes throughout much of life today. Nowhere does it resonate more than in politics, where everything seems calculated, and you’re left wondering if these people actually believe in anything they espouse. The issue that comes to mind the most at the moment is artificial intelligence (AI).

There isn’t a candidate running who doesn’t have some opinion on the idea of AI — it’s either great or going to kill us all. Unfortunately, the “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE” crowd is the loudest and has gained the most traction. It’s really easy to scare the hell out of voters, and it’s very effective. But is it real?

I don’t believe for a second that most of these people genuinely fear Skynet wiping out all of humanity, or they wouldn’t wait until after an election to do anything about it. So, after the election, no matter who wins, you need to be prepared for the inevitable whiplash on AI, where everyone who swore we needed to “pump the brakes” or “stop the research” suddenly does…nothing. Either that, or they do things that end up empowering the already existing AI companies — that just so happen to be massively left-wing in policy and staff........

© Townhall