The Lawfare Institute (30 June 2026). "A conversation with Cory Doctorow, the author of The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI"
https://www.youtube.com/embed/T1KIwaYRs1g
Criticism: "Take another high-profile voice associated with the left, at least when it comes to tech, Cory Doctorow, one of the world's most esteemed sci-fi and technology writers. In December, Doctorow published the text of a speech given to the University of Washington called 'The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to Criticizing AI.' His purpose was to 'explain what I think is going on here with this AI bubble, and sort out the bullshit from the material reality.' At its heart is the claim that 'AI is just a word guessing program, because all it does is calculate the most probable word to go next.' In case you missed the point, Doctorow repeated it elsewhere in plainer words: AI is merely a 'spicy autocomplete machine.'" (Kagan-Kans, D., 2026). Context: The Lawfare Institute https://www.youtube.com/@lawfaremedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawfare_(website) https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaNi3wBggCJ/ Related: "A former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was met with students' boos at a university commencement address in Arizona on Sunday when he raised the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects. Schmidt – who led the tech giant for more than a decade, acquiring a multibillion-dollar fortune in the process – was speaking to as many as 10,000 graduating University of Arizona students when he addressed the impact of modern technology on society. The topic struck a nerve of anxiety within the student body when he traced technology's evolution, through the laptop – which he said had 'democratized knowledge' and led to prosperity – to the smartphone, the internet and social media. 'We thought that we were adding stones to a cathedral of knowledge that humanity had been constructing for centuries, but the world we built turned out to be more complicated than we anticipated,' Schmidt said. 'The same tools that connect us also isolate us. The same platforms that gave everyone a voice – like you're using now – degraded the public square,' he added, referring to the polarization within democracies. Schmidt said that information technologies, including AI, had unsettled young people. 'That was not the plan, but it happened,' he said. Shouting and jeers against Schmidt's talk started when he acknowledged fears that AI threatened to deprive people now entering the workforce of a future. 'I know what many of you are feeling about that,' Schmidt said. 'I can hear you. There is a fear. 'There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics are fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create.' He acknowledged that their fears were 'rational' and encouraged them to adapt and to shape how AI will be used in the future – rather than for that to shape them. 'The question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will,' Schmidt said. 'The question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence.'" (Lynskey, D., 2026). Point: "What sets AI apart, however, is its ability to access and synthesise the vast storehouse of human knowledge we have gathered. It does not spontaneously invent new truths or create new data in isolation. Rather, AI relies on patterns and insights drawn from what humans have already produced—literature, scientific research, historical records, cultural artifacts, and more. Seen in this light, AI becomes less of an autonomous brain and more of an amplifier of our existing collective intelligence. By revealing patterns and possibilities within the trove of data we feed it, AI can shine a bright spotlight on both our strengths and our shortcomings" (Reimer Bjørkskov, K. B., 2025, April 15). More: https://newpractices.co.uk/AI/ Bibliography: Lynskey, D. (2026, June 22). "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow review – the real price of artificial intelligence". The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/22/the-reverse-centaurs-guide-to-life-after-ai-by-cory-doctorow-review-the-real-price-of-artificial-intelligence Kagan-Kans, D. (2026, February 16). 'The left is missing out on AI'. Transformer; Transformer. https://www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-is-missing-out-on-ai-sanders-doctorow-bender-bores Reimer Bjørkskov, K. B. (2025, April 15). 'AI is not the problem, our system is'. Illuminem. https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/ai-is-not-the-problem-our-system-is
