Mondays with Mike: Can we just get along? Apparently not.

ChatGPT has brought artificial intelligence—and discussions about AI—into the mainstream. On one hand, some see infinite possibilities, on the other, skeptics see aspects of dystopia. AI was a major sticking point for the writers guild during its strike, and remains an issue during the ongoing actors strike.

Major technological advances have always been seen as a panacea by some and as threats to society by others. It has always been thus. The telephone, the automobile, nuclear energy, the television—you don’t have to search hard to see that some thought technology was sure to bring either utopia or doom.

We are really good at technology. It marches on and offers us previously unimagined possibilities, as well as the prospect of it being used for evil.

But there’s the rub. It’s not the technology stupid, it’s the people. Or, as the immortal Pogo put it, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We’ve gone from the stone age to space travel. But after all this time, human beings haven’t figured out how to get along with one another. Until we do, technology is beside the point.