[!INFO]
This post was originally released for members only due to the nature of its content and is now available to the public.
[!IMPORTANT]
AI has incredible potential to improve our lives, from smart assistants to personalized recommendations. But it can also be used to subtly manipulate choices, exploit behavioral biases, and extract value from us without our awareness. This post explores those darker applications not to scare you, but to help you see the patterns, recognize when your decisions are being nudged, and take back control. Awareness is the first step toward using AI on your own terms, rather than being steered by it. Read with curiosity, question what you see, and remember: understanding gives you power.
I bought a coffee. Holy shit with the tip screen. How does someone who codes this wake up every morning and feel okay about themselves?
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Arthur Schopenhauer
Same with Uber’s surge pricing, “priority” lanes, dating app boosts. All the zero-sum bullshit using every trick in behavioral psychology to extract a little more from each interaction. Nudge. Nudge. NUDGE.
Want to just live a normal life? Buy a ticket, call a friend, get a ride, order food. Oh, there’s a middleman now. A shiny AI middleman, armed with real-time data, always taking its cut.
But the market will fix this, right? People will get tired, move elsewhere?
They see that coming long before you do. Dashboards glowing red with churn risk. Quick—tune the model so users feel less manipulated. Give a little back today, squeeze more tomorrow. Lifetime customer value must rise.
The AI doesn’t even need Jeeves anymore. It replaces Jeeves. Self-adjusting. Perpetual edge.
Opt out? Good luck. Every metric is a target. If you don’t maximize engagement, you lose engagement. This is a Red Queen’s race. Burn your trust, burn your values, FEED IT ALL TO MOLOCH.
As Shoshana Zuboff wrote in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:
“You are not the customer, you are the raw material.”
Someday people will have to admit we live in a society. What will it take? Eating your own mouth? A full collapse?
Democracy, haha. You think the algorithms will let you vote to shut them down? Your ballot is as decoupled from impact as the Uber fare is from the driver’s pay. There’s no reform here. Only revolution. Or collapse.
MIT Technology Review nailed it:
“AI is no longer just predicting our choices—it’s steering them.”
It’s not okay. Advertising is not okay. Price discrimination is not okay. Training AI to manipulate humans at scale is not okay.
But you won’t learn this until the system has already devoured most of its users.
Modern capitalism is wireheading. Release the hypnodrones.
How many cans of Dr Pepper per hour again?
Cheers!