Before the internet we didn’t know much about remote areas, simply because we didn’t have access to that information. We had no idea what happened, for instance, in Antarctica, because everything we knew was very difficult to access, and extremely slow. We would resort to books, newspapers, and, more recently, to television. But even when a relatively fast information medium was accessible, like television, it was usually filtered: we had either state television, or, in capitalist countries, privately owned television. Both of them had their own agendas, which were more often than not diverging from the factual truth.

We’re now at the peak of the internet. The most advanced human technology, that makes virtually any spot on this planet accessible, is now commonplace. Chances are that someone at the research station in Antarctica is tweeting right now, or, who knows, even live-streaming. But, guess what, the truth about that place is still elusive. Why? Because we cannot trust the internet anymore. AI not only made everything fakeable, but it made it extremely cheap too. Anyone can create a deep fake now, for free. That live-stream? Maybe already made weeks ago and running in a loop from some building in Cambodia.

Technology Doesn’t Equal Trust

Just because a technology is sufficiently advanced to achieve impressive results, it doesn’t mean that technology is inherently trustworthy. At its helm are still humans. And humans are flawed. The moment some tool will grant them access to more wealth, or power, their ingrained greed will kick in.

I would go even further and say that the more advanced and predictable a tech is, the more it would be hijacked, for profit or control.

We came to a point where trust should be our base currency, not performance, or intelligence. Trust is more important for survival than intelligence now. You can be a very intelligent person, but if you trust the wrong sources, you’re fucked.

And here comes the one million dollars question: how do you develop trust? How do you practice it? How do you become a trustworthy person?

Counterintuitively, it’s by coming back to basics. To real life interactions (outside social media), to technology-stripped communication (in person, not on video calls), to material stores of value (gold, not Bitcoin). You see, we grew up as the wunderkind generation, believing that tech will fix humans. I still remember when Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, was calling a few years ago for artificial wombs, in a strikingly similar way with the Matrix. Why artificial? What’s wrong with the real wombs?

Comfort Doesn’t Equal Truth

Technology made our lives incredibly comfortable. We grow up food anytime, anywhere; we can fly anytime, anywhere; we can talk to anyone, anywhere. This comfort shaped our expectations the wrong way. Just because we can do some things easily, we now expect everything to be easier – and when it’s not, we pour more technology into the fabric of reality.

The end result is not truth, it’s more confusion.

Our lives are more comfortable, but slowly drifting away from truth, in a never ending sea of confusion.

The way back to solid ground is difficult, but doable. It requires discipline, skill and the willingness to experience reality in a raw, unfiltered way. And the unshakeable commitment that we are the masters of technology, not the other way around.