In a thought-provoking interview on the Before Skool podcast, investigative journalist and author Whitney Webb sounded the alarm on the potential consequences of unchecked artificial intelligence (AI) integration into society.
Webb, known for her two-part book One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Organized Crime, criticised the narrative that a transhumanist, AI-driven future is inevitable, arguing that individuals still have the power to resist its encroachment.
Referencing the book The Age of AI: Our Human Future by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and the late Henry Kissinger, Webb highlighted their assertion that AI will create a divided society—where an elite class programs and understands AI while the majority loses the ability to discern how AI influences their lives. She warned of a phenomenon they call “cognitive diminishment,” in which over-reliance on AI leads to a decline in fundamental human skills, from decision-making to creativity.
Webb pointed to the growing dependence on AI-generated content in art, music, and writing, suggesting that, within a generation, humans may lose the ability to create without AI assistance.
“We do end up in this helpless state where we become dependent on machines to function,” she said, cautioning that AI could push humanity toward a post-human future where people are controlled by the very technology they once created.
She urged individuals to resist complete reliance on AI, advocating for hands-on creativity and skill preservation.
“People have always been creators,” she noted, emphasising that outsourcing human expression to AI could lead to an irreversible loss of autonomy. Webb also addressed the philosophical implications of AI, noting that Schmidt and Kissinger envision two possible outcomes—either societal upheaval or the emergence of AI as a new form of religion.
While Webb personally refrains from using AI in her work, she acknowledged that it can be useful in limited contexts. However, she cautioned against blind adoption, urging individuals to maintain their cognitive abilities and set personal boundaries with AI. “If you choose to use AI, make sure you’re not cognitively diminishing yourself,” she warned.
Ultimately, Webb framed the AI debate as a choice between human agency and digital dependence. “Either we remain active creators and decision-makers, or we surrender to a system where machines dictate our thoughts, preferences, and lives,” she concluded.
Idiocracy isn’t a movie, it’s a documentary.
And all brought to you by “Corporate Convenience”, who are tip toeing you towards their digital gulag.
Have you ever noticed that everything remotely feasible as an acceptable idea, organisation or project is given assumed legitimacy with the sneaky use of abbreviation? Actually, acronym, to be more specific. Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of an expanded phrase and usually do not include periods: so the jargons of different disciplines become more and more indecipherable to those outside that particular club.
Publications such as the pseuds corner the “Guardian” or the nz herald etc. are littered with acronym, used to convey a superior sense of intelligence and awareness and the assumption of intellectual superiority.
Artificial intelligence is a prime example. By weaving together every available text, sound, computation and lived experience of the connected (be it voluntary or involuntary), supercharging the whole mess with zettawatts of power and forcing it down our throats with the help of an acronym, a copyright bypass and a ganglion press we are supposed to sit back, take it easy and relax because “it’s all taken care of” – with an acronym.