The Unquestionable Machine
The rise of AI is being sold as progress and efficiency, but its real purpose is to create a system of control that cannot be questioned. This is not about convenience, it's about power.
Introduction
The promise of artificial intelligence is one of efficiency and innovation, but beneath the surface lies a more troubling reality. As governments and corporations rush to integrate AI into every aspect of our lives, from public policy to personal choices, we face a future where human judgment is replaced by an unquestionable algorithm. This shift is not about making life easier; it's about building a system of control, where the machine dictates and we lose the ability to question its commands. The architects of this future, figures like Eric Schmidt and Henry Kissinger, frame their vision as a necessary evolution, but their words reveal a plan to diminish human autonomy and creativity, turning us from creators into dependents.
The 'Wizard of Oz' Cover for Government
The push to put AI in charge of government functions is the ultimate "Wizard of Oz" cover. When an AI makes a decision, it becomes untouchable. If something goes wrong, the blame can be shifted to the machine, which is so far beyond human comprehension that it cannot explain its own conclusions. We are expected to trust it in a "religious way," simply because it is smarter than us. This creates a powerful shield for those in charge. If a controversial policy is implemented, they can simply say, "The super-intelligent AI told us to do it, and we can't question that." This is a way to get away with whatever they want, bypassing accountability and human ethics.
This is a key point in the book The Age of AI, Our Human Future by Schmidt and Kissinger. They outline a world where AI reaches conclusions that are incomprehensible to humans. This sets up a "computer says no" society where decisions are made without explanation and without the possibility of an appeal based on logic or reason. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for example, is presented as a way to reduce government bloat, but it may be a Trojan horse to hand over as much of government as possible to AI. While this might shrink the human workforce, it does not necessarily mean smaller government; it could mean a new, expanded, and unaccountable form of government run by algorithms.
The Cognitive Diminishment of Humanity
The widespread adoption of AI threatens to lead to a phenomenon called "cognitive diminishment." This is the idea that when we stop using our mental skills and outsource them to machines, those skills will atrophy and eventually disappear. This is a simple, verifiable truth: if you stop doing mental math, you become worse at it. The same principle applies to creativity, decision-making, and critical thinking.
As AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, it will recommend what music to listen to, what clothes to buy, and even where to go. We will lose the ability to make these decisions for ourselves or to develop our own preferences. We will become dependent on machines to function, and we will lose the creative spark that defines us as human. This is not a distant sci-fi fantasy; it's a process already underway with the rise of generative AI. People are outsourcing their creativity, asking AI to make art or write for them, and in doing so, they risk losing the ability to create on their own. The danger is not just that we become lazy, but that we become fundamentally less human. We must consciously choose to keep creating, to keep thinking, and to resist the convenience that leads to our own intellectual decline.
The New Religion of the Machine
Schmidt and Kissinger predict two possible outcomes for a world dominated by AI: either the public overthrows the elite, or AI spawns a new religion. It is clear which outcome they prefer. They envision a new religion where we worship the machine because it is so much smarter than us. The "hallucinations" of AI—its ability to "see" realities humans cannot—will be taken as divine truth. We will shape society around what could be the fabrications of a human-created machine simply because we have a religious-like devotion to its intelligence.
This is a world where we surrender our souls and creativity to the machine, allowing that spark of humanity to atrophy. This is a path toward a post-human future, one where we are not creators but merely processors for AI, harvested for data, energy, or something else. We must resist this path by continuing to create, to manifest, and to make our own decisions. The choice is simple: we can be active participants in our own lives, or we can become passive servants to the machine. The latter leads quickly to a kind of digital slavery.
Conclusion
The path we are on is one of profound consequence. We are being asked to trade our autonomy for a false sense of efficiency and convenience. The architects of this new world are not simply building better tools; they are building a new system of control, one that operates behind the screen of artificial intelligence. We are told to trust the algorithms, to believe in the wisdom of a machine we cannot understand. In doing so, we are giving up the very things that make us human: our ability to create, to think critically, and to make our own decisions.
The stakes are our own humanity. If we surrender our creative and cognitive abilities, we become dependent on a system that is not accountable to us. This is a trap, a form of digital slavery masked as progress. We must recognize the manipulations and the subtle efforts to get us to consent to our own subjugation. We must choose to participate in our lives, to create, to think, and to resist the urge to outsource our existence. The choice is ours, and it must be made with a clear understanding of what is at stake. We can choose to be the creators of our own future, or we can choose to be the subjects of a machine's reality.
Takeaways
AI as an accountability shield: Government and corporations can use AI to make decisions, then evade responsibility by claiming the algorithms are too complex to question.
Cognitive diminishment: Over-reliance on AI for tasks like decision-making and creativity will cause our own skills to atrophy.
Loss of autonomy: We risk losing the ability to think for ourselves and form our own preferences, becoming dependent on AI to guide our lives.
The new religion: The push for AI could lead to a new religion where we worship the machine's "unobservable truths" and surrender our human spirit.
The choice to create: We must actively resist this future by continuing to engage in creative acts and critical thinking, refusing to outsource our humanity.
Source
Business Core | "People Will GO INSANE When This Happens!" – Whitney Webb