> People have been made to believe by very influential people (dario, sam, elon etc) that AI will replace them. As a result people are getting angry. Who did not see this coming?
Cal Newport calls this "Doom-Trolling" — there was an NYT article, he has talked about it on his youtube channel and there was an actually really great, long discussion with Ed Zitron about it where Ed covered a lot more topic ground than he has been focussed on lately.
He makes the case that this fear-based marketing is causing real harm and unnecessary anxiety and is basically despicable.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/ai-dangerous-open...
Also, in discussion with Ed Zitron on the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr6tOIjFXDs
Yea, this was good, wasn’t it; quite different from a lot of Ed’s more, er, brassy stuff.
Yes, I prefer the interviews over the monologues most of the time. The good thing about Ed is that it's not just hot air but he backs up arguments with sources and data. Personally, I prefer a little less anger with my coffee lol
Yes — though he can still be quite brassy if he is the interviewee, I think, depending on who is intervewing!
In this case, as two equals, something about Cal Newport's manner really anchored him and they got into some interesting stuff.
Agreed. Cal brought a great balance. I don't even think of Ed as 'angry' so much as a 'scorned lover' archetype - I suspect he actually deeply loves technology but hates the lying, hypocrisy, and cons of the industry.
Thank you!