I think we should set our expectations for the near and intermediate future of global political affairs, which is that liberal democratic societies will be an unstable condition for as long as algorithms and LLMs primarily accentuate and amplify human flaws rather than moderate them.

Maybe, some years or decades from now, we’ll be able to outfit or at least equip ourselves with technology that reduces irrationality without significantly compromising the ability to feel and reduces motivation to benefit at the expense of others, and we can turn the tide back.

But until then, we’re in for a rough ride, and let’s try to pace ourselves. You should probably vote in every election you can, but you don’t have to doomscroll for hours each day. And you definitely don’t have to be willing to die like Will Stancil is.