ABOUT THIS EPISODE
“Personality traits, such as severe narcissism or antisocial behavior, impacts a leader’s decision-making capacity and, by extension, democratic stability.” — James and Ashley Weinberg, paraphrased (2026)
• Would You Know Artificial Intelligence If You Saw It?
The threat of A.I. is portrayed as an independent agent working toward non-human goals. The danger, we’re told, is that such an agent will pursue its goals at the cost of morality and human values. Such agents have been with us since the dawn of civilization in the form of independent institutions. They are now enshrined as individuals in the form of corporations and authoritarian governments.
From this point of view, exploitation is predictable. Institutions further their own expansion over the benefits of the individuals with whom they’re engaged. Corporations enhance their profits at the expense of consumers, and governments expand their power at the cost of lives and health.
• Machines Can Behave Unpredictably
• Institutions Are Forms of Artificial Intelligence
• Feedback
• The Future of A.I. is Already Written
• The Cost/Benefit Equation is Incomplete
• What’s the Difference Between Institutions and A.I.?
• Back to Mental Health
