I knew I was going to open Instagram before I touched the screen. The sleep cost and regret were clear. I opened it anyway.
That’s the dual-use problem. We use the same technology to learn languages, fix our squat, study a market and scroll at 2am. A useless app gives you a clean no. A tool that helps without taking much gives you a clean yes. Instagram helps and hurts at the same time.
- Mass media: The news helps you understand the world. It can also be propaganda that programs you.
- Algorithms: A feed teaches you a craft in a month. The same feed takes a year of your evenings.
- AI models: An AI model writes a clear paragraph for you and writes ten thousand more for spammers.
The pattern holds at every scale. Nuclear physics gives power plants and bombs from the same equations.
The capability and the danger are the same thing.
I deleted my Instagram account. For YouTube, I use Unhook, a browser extension that strips the recommendation feed. The tutorials load. The recommendations disappear.
The useful technology is also the dangerous one.
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What’s one technology worth cutting or constraining this week?
