I Was *Already* An Apocaloptimist
Quick thoughts on The AI Doc
I *finally* watched The AI Doc!
The AI Doc is a new documentary that follows a soon-to-be father as he investigates the existential risks and transformative potential of AI — exploring a middle ground between doom and utopian hype: “apocaloptimism.” Which if you know anything about Synthesis Media, you know that’s already our starting point.
First and foremost: it’s a STUNNING film. I deeply respect its intention. And various people featured in it are friends and colleagues — including Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin, Liv Boeree, and David Evan Harris.
With that, a few humble critiques:
The AI arms race didn’t show up until more than halfway through. At that point, I would have loved a broadening of the aperture — a shift from interviewing AI experts to interviewing people with expertise on how to transcend arms races. Like Audrey Tang and David Sloan Wilson.
The interviewees didn’t talk to each other. Just monologues, woven together. Which I think made it hard to articulate a higher-order synthesis.
The final call-to-action was too general. ‘Get involved. Call your Congresspeople.’ I would have loved more specifics. Like cultivating epistemic humility and participating in citizens assemblies.
That said, I still highly recommend watching the film! It’s now streaming. And when you do (or if you already did), I’d love to hear what you think 🤓