This is an interesting read on what I suspect will eventually turn into something like a digital daemon:
These ‘digital assistants’ of ours can gradually transition to automating our lives such that ads may one day target them rather than us. It may be a different form of ad, of course: we can’t assume the same ‘psychological’ mold for our surrogates. But this leads to the critical part of the thought experiment: what happens when the machines begin to insert themselves directly in between us and the System, taking our place as full intermediaries in the consumer loop?
Example: an agent can write articles, as they’re already semi-competent at. When those articles begin generating money for you in an increasingly autonomous way, out of convenience the agent may be asked to begin spending that money on your behalf, to purchase essentials or even recreational items for you. When tasked with choices for those purchases—between similarly priced items, for instance—the agent will have to rely on advertisements—it is to be assumed—just as we do, in differentiating between products, and coming to a decision on the best one.
At what point in such a progression does the agent effectively become a surrogate of ‘us’ and take us entirely out of the consumerist loop? What purpose would a corporation have in targeting ads at us rather than directly at our agents, who are making the primary decisions on our behalf in order to liberate us from time-consuming mundanities? And if such a point comes, where do we even stand as humans—what purpose do we serve any longer? Will it only remain for us to be quietly ‘shuffled off the stage’?
https://darkfutura.substack.com/p/agents-4-all?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Through an individualised lens I find this incredibly exciting, particularly when I’m at the stage where I’ve seemingly reached the limits of my productive capacities; I don’t think there are productivity hacks I can do or ways in which I can manage my time more effectively, at least not ones that avoid administrative costs that mitigate the productivity agains they offer. I’m just reaching the limit of what I can do, leaving me in the place where, to quote C Wright Mills, my plans “exceeded my capacities and energies”.
But from a sociological perspective it’s terrifying when you consider the profound inequalities this will give rise to, as well as the surveillance capitalism which risks being its business model. Presumably this would a luxury surveillance free good for those who can pay, a surveillance mechanism for those who cannot.
Mark Carrigan 