The way AI has been implemented and particularly now with data centers is polarizing a lot of people, particularly in more individualistic cultures. For instance the more collectivist and state controlled rollout of AI in other countries like China has mitigated a lot of this. Like their strict control on online content and their strict control on business is guiding them to build out their data centers in very remote locations like in their east to west project. Finally their culture is far more understanding of the unpleasantness of development for the collective good. So rural people in the US will be extremely polarized in comparison by a data center making their area unpleasant because of their strong sense of individual freedoms.

I guess one can argue there's been an anti-science / academics / technology movement for a long time, particularly within more right wing political spheres but this recent push seems more bipartisan.

[–] yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're definitely correct about the response to AI, but I think there is more to it than that, just that AI seems to be the tech that is most talked about. While the left-leaning have been more open to tech in the past, the way, for example, Air BnB causes more harm to the housing market than anticipated, Uber has lost its financial benefit to drivers while still being profitable to the owners, or Amazon wildly mistreating employees to provide their benefits to users has soured the pot for a lot of people. Also, the extent that tech has harmful effects on users, especially young people, or is used as a means of surveillance is well-known, and most new tech from the outside can be seen as falling into either of those categories. There are also numerous examples of companies having security breaches and exposing the data of their users to hackers by skimping on security or not having effective protocols. Not to mention things like ads on televisions and refrigerators, subscription fees for faster acceleration in your car, and Amazon revoking and modifying digital purchases from users, while maybe not being universal experiences, have broadly affected perception of how far these companies will worsen experiences in order to get more money put of users. "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product" is a saying the majority of people know by now, but even paying doesn't protect you from becoming the product.

[–] Zephyr@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I would reckon it's my comments about China. If you haven't noticed on most of Lemmy any statements about china that aren't positively raving are immediately met with downvotes. That said my comments aren't even negative. China's east west program, tight control of their internet, and companies is well known and arguably quite beneficial for them.

You also make good points, we're in a new gilded age but instead of oil tycoons it's tech magnates. A lot of these things have been seen for a long time but they sure seem to be coming to a head currently. Like one could have just seen the behavior kids had with myspace and just extrapolated that out. It's a bit like climate change in that sense, aka very apparent for a long time to anyone who was paying attention. There's nothing new going on but it seems we've about hit a critical mass.

All the while the same games are still being played in nearly every other industry but maybe it's not our time to be enraged by them yet, one thing at a time as the public's collective attention span is famously short.