“going to change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE”

re:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/opinion/joe-biden-tom-friedman.html

“ … this is no ordinary hinge of history we are at.”

Well, for one thing, supporters of the establishment parties ALWAYS tell people like me (supporters of alternative parties) that this is the MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION in history (and that’s why NOBODY should consider “wasting their vote”).

But it’s not just a CRUCIAL election, it’s a crucial time of all of history.

“We are at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution that is going to change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE.”

Well, maybe. Surely there are inflection points in the sorry dynamic of human history. The predominance of production and private property. The rise of the expansionist states and empires (made things worse). Industrialism (made things worse). Globalization (made things worse). The internet (made things worse).

Will or won’t AI constitute another inflection point? Dramatic? Crucial??

* * * *

You know that I do believe we’re in an era which will eventually be recognized as a turning point. The transition is not as dramatic or as particular as mechanization or globalization or electronification. It’s incremental and extended in time. It involves the desire and necessity to start going in a different direction.

Dramatic, but in a sotto voce kind of way.