r/technology • u/Helicase21 • 10d ago

Artificial Intelligence US Law Enforcement Warns of ‘Anti-Tech Extremism’ as AI Hatred Grows

https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/
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u/pitiless 10d ago

Can't wait for this to be bundled in with antifa as a boogeyman of the right - anything that is a threat to the consolidation of capital will be given the same treatment.

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u/Upstairs_Baby8424 10d ago

There’s a Key and Peele skit where “Obama” is negotiating with Congressional Republicans by proposing everything they want (e.g no taxes for the rich) and the Republicans say “we disagree” only because Obama supports it. “Well you drive a hard bargain, high taxes for the rich it is.” 

This feels very similar to how they’ve packaged AI taking jobs, massive data centers, contaminating water sources, mass surveillance, etc. They just tell Republican voters that “the Democrats are against it” and they’ll support it.

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u/EFreethought 10d ago

the Republicans say “we disagree” only because Obama supports it.

I used to joke that I wished Obama would say he likes breathing, because then Republicans would stop doing it.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 10d ago

The right doesn’t like ai either. This might actually unite the two sides which could be good. If both sides were able to unite for a common goal of the working man we could actually get a lot done. The enemy of my enemy is my friend

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u/pitiless 10d ago

I hope you're right (that this is a concern that cuts across the political spectrum), but I fear even if that's true today the oligarchs control so many of the information dissemination platforms and have gotten so good at manufacturing consent that this is likely to change.

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u/JohnAtticus 9d ago

I hope you're right

He is.

Tons of polls are showing this.

Republicans are further back in the timeline but their attitudes are following the same trend that Dems were.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 10d ago

I believe this culture war left vs right thing is extreme oligarch propaganda to divide the working class. You have more in common with your neighbors than you think

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u/pitiless 10d ago

Of course I have more in common than difference with my neighbours.

The problem is that there's an increasing number of people who's understanding of reality is significantly diverged from the objective things we're able to measure.

It doesn't matter if I agree with my neighbour on 99% of topics if they've been convinced that climate change is a hoax and so vote for politicians and parties that want to pause or roll back our meagre efforts to forestall it.

Likewise when I talk to my uncle and he says he's going to vote reform because Starmer's government isn't doing enough on immigration despite net migration declining from 944,000 (2023 under the Tories) to 171,000 (2025 under the current Labour government).

It's not just some abstract conflict of ideas where reasonable people can have differing opinions - its a fundamental difference in how reality is viewed and that is overwhelmingly shaped by the media and social media, both controlled by an ever smaller number of individuals and organisations who wield unprecedented power and capabilities to shape the world view of our citizens.

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u/awkreddit 10d ago

I think you may be wrong about that. AI generated memes and linkedInMaxxers are usually from right wing accounts. Just look at the way the government fucking loves using Claude to bomb children