Stop, stop… STOP!
This article was translated from its original with the asistance of ChatGPT.
Puedes leer y compartir este Artículo en Español.
We’re driving asleep at the wheel. It’s not new — but this time, we’re caught up in a grand illusion about AI, and we’re going full throttle — while our eyes are dazzled by a dreamlike fantasy.
—The Ecological Footprint of AI is No Small Matter (Link)
Ever since social media entered our lives, we’ve been cranking up the emotional temperature — along with the social consequences that come from rubbing up against each other more and more.
Centuries ago, we used to say “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). But for over 20 years now, social media has been generating sparks that fly wildly — but they don’t sharpen anything; they just rile us up. Back then, we only knew each other by reputation. Now it’s face to face, and in that game, we’ve derailed almost every certainty and foundational value that used to sustain us.
Over the last two centuries, we began by losing faith — not just religious faith (though that too) — but also that trust we need to envision a future and endure our little hells. That loss helped us uncover reality. But today, we’ve been turning victimhood into a virtue we proudly showcase. From that, narcissism, rage, frustration, and appearance-driven living took root — going into debt to fake who we are, staying in circles where no one really values us, trying to impress people who’d cross the street to avoid us if we made them look bad.
We’ve arrived at the first quarter of the 21st century, the safest, most peaceful, and most prosperous era in human history — yet we’re insecure, anxious, disbelieving, distrustful, and asleep at the wheel, with our emotions flooring the gas on every issue that could ignite the pillars propping up our fragile illusion of stability.
We look like bulls charging into the old bullring in the arena of Barcelona — charging with force, trampling everything in the arena, emotions raw and exposed. We’ve stepped into a hyper-connected world, where sensational “news” piles up in the tiny window you leave yourself to be entertained and “not worry.” Our disillusionment has left no institution standing: we don’t believe in governments, justice, healthcare, science, education, insurance, banks… none of them. And we’re on the verge of the greatest structural crisis in our civilization.
We’ve never needed critical thinking more
The need to pause before making decisions is urgent — and yet we keep accelerating… we’re speed junkies.
We’ve never been more informed, and never felt more uncertain about where we are or where we’re going.
We live at a moment when we understand how everything works better than ever; and yet, at the same time, we have no idea what anything is for.
Every country that shaped the last 1300 years of world history is imploding. In the U.S., some are making an effort to revive the principles that gave it birth, but the country is deeply divided and polarized — to the point where analysts and historians claim that the conditions for civil war are already present.
It’s complex, but it all feeds off one thing: distrust. And our distrust multiplies through the twisted actions of states and institutions, captured by socialism — the ideology that has most aggressively cultivated social guilt and division, from the very platform from which they waved the banner of equality back in the 1960s.
We need to stop, to slow down. To stop acting like bulls in a ring, chasing the red cape tossed at us by social media, the news, the talking heads in government, or any other actor with bad intentions. Just stop.
What builds and sustains any individual, group, organization, or nation is TRUST. Without it, everything collapses. I concede — institutions have proved untrustworthy, mostly because they’re run by people like us. Or do you think you’d have done it better? The truth is: that distrust is being used by people who do not have our well-being at heart.
It’s imperative that we return to the core values that uphold Western culture: integrity, collaboration, sacrifice, and truth.
Where do we begin to develop critical thinking?
The Realm of Micro-Decisions
In the next article, we’ll reflect on Geoffrey Hinton’s Nobel Prize speech for his work in AI — and ask: How do we reorient our relationship with AI in companies and organizations?