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Technology Is Threatening Our Species’ Survival
The painful lessons of social media show why we need to approach our A.I. future with more care
Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let’s make sure wisdom wins.
— Stephen Hawking, 2018
As an evolutionary anthropologist, I have spent my career working to understand the mechanisms of human relationships and the role they play in our daily lives. Our sociability sits at the very center of what it means to be human; I have witnessed that as I have studied the love between parents and children, the sense of belonging that bonds soccer fans, or the camaraderie of an army unit.
But the emergence of social media, and more recently artificial intelligence, continues to have a profound impact on how our social relationships function, and the essential benefits we derive from them.
After water, food, and shelter, the single most powerful influence on our health and happiness is the strength of our social connections. Our relationships with friends, family, and colleagues underpin our emotional lives through a complex set of neurological…
