Editor’s Letter – Autumn 2023
The mainstream media or the MSM, as all the cool kids on social media call it these days, gets maligned for spreading negative news stories. During hard economic times, market sentiment can also be triggered for good or bad by headlines. All media in general no doubt contributes to echo chambers of bad news and division. I’m sure this leads to more polarisation and anxiety than would be the case if we were only sending postcards to each other and reading the morning newsprint. Instead, we get a 24/7 stream, perfectly tailored via the magic of growing algorithms, that know our fears and hates as well as what triggers our greed.
And now new developments in AI, like chatGPT, also look to be able to help create more content that taps into the largest social datasets we have ever known. This means that large tech companies not only have the means for distribution, but can also create the sort of content that feeds those echo chambers. A lot of this is, of course, an unhealthy downward spiral if we let it become that.
At the same time though, there are, of course, many positives about this world of hyper-tailored hyper-connectivity. It is part of a platform for some people to achieve their dreams – a gateway into endless inspiration and instant insight into the lessons from those who have faced incredible odds in the pursuit of their goals. I really believe that these tools can be put to good use.
So to prove this, I uploaded some of the lyrics of our cover star Lizzo’s songs to ChatGPT and then asked it to “draw a life lesson from Lizzo’s career that will make us all feel better in a world of uncertainty.“ This was its answer: “One life lesson that can be drawn from Lizzo’s career is to ‘Juice up your life’ just like Lizzo’s hit song ‘Juice’. Just like how the song encourages people to embrace their confidence and own their individuality, we should all take the initiative to add some ‘Juice’ to our lives by embracing new opportunities, taking risks and not being afraid to be ourselves in the face of uncertainty.”
It might be slightly clunky but it’s kind of poignant for this year and I think that it’s actually a wonderful bit of advice. It’s also an example of the fact that all this tech is really a reflection of our humanity but it will never replace it.
