The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore review
A historian charts the emergence of a democracy-crushing dystopia that is – in some ways – already with us
TL;DR
- Jill Lepore's book 'The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State' addresses the threat of artificial intelligence to liberal democracy.
- The 'Artificial State' concept includes an elite fantasy of transcending limitations and the current reality of public discourse on privatized, attention-driven platforms.
- Social media feeds are designed to manipulate user behavior for commercial or political ends, exemplified by bot-filled platforms like X.
- Lepore argues that powerful tech billionaires, such as Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, are pursuing the 'Artificial State' and prioritizing space travel or AI dominance over climate change.
- She connects contemporary techno-libertarianism to Cold War science fiction and highlights how tech leaders have interpreted cautionary sci-fi as instruction manuals.
- Lepore believes the problem lies not with AI technology itself, but with the lack of a coherent democratic strategy for its development and use.
- The argument that humanity is ceding vast power to a few unelected businessmen is deemed sound, though her proposed solution of 'unplugging' is seen as a first step.