Agnotological AI

“Agnotology” is the study of the deliberate production of ignorance. In this article, Rob Horning looks at generative AI through that lens. For much of the piece, Rob accuses AI of destroying human curiosity. Brought into schools, for example, education can: […] become a matter of consuming abstract demonstrations of “convenience,” without students having to commit to caring about any underlying interests. Untethered from any particular goal, their self-optimization can become a kind of infinite regress, an insatiable preoccupation that promises to pre-empt other forms of existential anxiety. Ignorance appears as efficiency, and helplessness appears as liberation (as when rich people proudly advertise their turning to chatbots for help with basic human decency). Next, he ties AI to the cheap, empty-calorie pleasure served up by social platforms. That pleasure comes from fakes and scams, and it can be replicated endlessly “by the laziest of grifters.” Rob goes on: AI’s express purpose…

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