(Mere Orthodoxy) – The advice to “use AI like a tool, not a person,” is insufficient. The very nature of the product is personal because the medium is personified. And as the latest friendship statistics keep repeating: we live in a lonely age. It’s not enough to tame this desire with suppression.

I agree with Challies that GenAI offers many benefits. He gave good advice on how to use AI. But he could have said more. In fact, what most surprised me is that he didn’t say more, given his 2011 book, The Next Story.

In that work, Challies said “Technology is Ecological,” agreeing with arguments from Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan. The missing element of Challies’ article is this: the benefits of GenAI messages must be considered in light of the medium of those messages. Technology is more than efficient — it’s ecological — changing its users and our society according to its design. (Read More)