CHAPTER 1 The Mad Hatters of Silicon Valley
CHAPTER ONE — The Mad Hatters of Silicon Valley
Let me share a brilliant piece of writing with you: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
It is in this space where the battle for the future of AI — and in fact civilization itself — will occur. It is in this space where the awareness, creativity, power of choice and compassion of the individual resides.
There are no algorithms, chemicals, herd thinking or intellectual overlords in this space. There is no web in this space.
Do we think, in our wildest imaginings, that we can regulate or legislate or moderate or moralize or upgrade software sufficiently to tame the potential dangers that come with the advance of technology, when in fact we are not also addressing the character and condition of the individual users of the technology.
Our power of choice, our ability to create independently, our vitality, and our ability to evaluate data are eroding. Self-determinism is being degraded.
The term for this is cognitive surrender.
It is what happens (and is happening) when the individual stultifies and quietly stops exercising his own power of choice and creativity — and hands the controls over to an algorithm, or the responses of a large language model, or whatever voice is loudest or cleverest in the environment and we wind up offering up our unalienable rights to the fascist or technologist who promises a more efficiently organized society.
The other side of the coin is cognitive sovereignty.
This is the assumption of full authority and ownership and determination over one’s own thoughts, observations, decisions, and actions. Not in opposition to technology — but as its master. It is the utter refusal to surrender one’s ability to observe, think and act independently.
This is what defines the sane individual, and this is what will define a sane outcome for AI.
Cognitive surrender is not inevitable, but work must be done to prevent it. That is what this book is about.
Here are some exercises to punch up some of these points for you.
DRILL ONE — Cognitive Sovereignty
One could say that an aspect of cognitive surrender has to do with some external entity or stimulus capturing your attention. Attention is actually under your own control and this drill is simply designed to allow you to observe this.
1 — Under your own volition put your attention on an object in the room. Keep it there for a moment, observing some of its qualities (color, shape, size, etc.) and then on your own volition take your attention off of that object. Repeat this three or four times.
2 — Now look at your phone screen or your computer screen and observe your attention being drawn to whatever image, headline, or information appears there. Observe what the image or headline or message did to your attention and your control over it. Did you knowingly decide to put your attention on that image — or was your attention ambushed? Did your attention get pulled onto something without your volition. Do this a couple of times.
3 — Repeat step one.
Cognitive Sovereignty and The Mad Hatters of Silicon Valley is a work in progress. Chapters are being published as they are written. To follow along and receive each new chapter directly visit:
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