“The intelligent use of science and technology are the tools with which to achieve a new direction.” – Jacque Fresco

 

 

Stop Blaming AI: The Problem Isn’t Technology — It’s Clinging to an Obsolete System

Every few weeks, a new headline screams that ChatGPT or some other AI tool is pushing people toward mania, psychosis, or death. Pretty soon, they’ll probably be telling us AI is the literal work of the devil. And why not? Fear sells, and a good moral panic is always cheaper than nuance.

But let’s get real: it isn’t the technology that’s hurting people. It’s the outdated economic and social system wrapped around it — a system so terrified of its own obsolescence that it would rather blame the tools than question itself.

We’re still living in an economy designed for the steam engine era

Our economic model still clings to the sacred idea that every human must “earn their keep” by doing something — anything — that can be called a “job.”
If automation wipes out real, necessary work? No problem! The system will happily invent pointless busywork so people can keep clocking in: writing corporate mission statements no one reads, shuffling spreadsheets that don’t matter, or moderating comments on cat videos.

And if you can’t find even that? Too bad. Into the economic wasteland you go, labeled as lazy or useless. Then we wonder why people are bitter about technological progress.

The real irony

We’ve built machines and software that can handle enormous chunks of human toil — and instead of celebrating, we panic. Not because the technology is evil, but because our system only knows how to measure a person’s worth by the hours they sell to an employer.

When AI or robots threaten that fragile illusion, we don’t rethink the rules. We just blame the tech.

The truth no one puts on the front page

AI isn’t systematically causing mass psychosis, and it isn’t secretly plotting to destroy society. What is destroying people is a society that tells them they must constantly prove their right to exist by moving things around, writing words no one reads, or answering emails that shouldn’t have been sent in the first place.

With our current technology, we don’t actually need all eight billion of us to have a formal “job” to keep the lights on. But rather than evolve, our system doubles down: more meaningless jobs, more anxiety, more resentment — and more clickbait headlines blaming the tool instead of the rules.

The real solution

If we truly care about human wellbeing, the answer isn’t to halt progress or demonize AI. The answer is to create an economic and cultural system compatible with technological abundance:
One where human value isn’t tied to busywork, and where freedom from drudgery is a blessing, not a curse.

Until then, we’ll keep seeing headlines about how ChatGPT is destroying minds — when really, it’s just exposing how brittle and outdated our institutions have become.

  We can do better