Cory Doctorow20h ago

I'm worried about AI psychosis. Specifically, I'm worried about the psychosis that makes "capital allocators" spend *$1.4T* on the money-losingest technology in human history, in pursuit of a bizarre fantasy that if we teach the word-guessing program enough words, it will take all the jobs.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/13/always-great/#our-nhs

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Show threadCory Doctorow20h ago

That's some *next-level* underpants-gnomery:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/12/normal-technology/#bubble-exceptionalism

The thing that worries me about billionaires' AI psychosis isn't concern for their financial solvency.

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Pluralistic: Three more AI psychoses (12 Mar 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Show threadCory Doctorow20h ago

No, what I worry about is what happens when the seven companies that comprise a third of the S&P 500 stop trading the same $100b IOU around while pretending it's in all of their bank accounts at once and *implode*, vaporizing a third of the US stock market.

My concern about a massive collapse in the capital markets isn't that workers will suffer *directly*.

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Show threadCory Doctorow20h ago

Despite all the *Wonderful Life* rhetoric about your money being in Joe's house and the Kennedy house and Mrs Macklin's house, the reality is the median US worker has *$955* saved for retirement. You could nuke the whole financial system and not take a dime out of most workers' pockets:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/955-saved-for-retirement-millions-are-in-that-boat-150003868.html

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$955 saved for retirement? Millions are in that boat.

The typical American worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement, according to a new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS).

Yahoo Finance
Show threadDavid Nash19h ago
@pluralistic Linked article states $955 is the median value (so, 50% of workers have less), not the 95th percentile value.
Show threadCory Doctorow
@dpnash Thanks.
Apr 13 at 6:22amWeb