Comment by disambiguation

Everyone knows we live in the Information age, not everyone realizes we're also living in an age Psychology - and of the two, we have a much clearer understanding of information and technology.

You can argue we're seeing a continuation of a pattern of our relationship with media and it's evolution, but in doing so you affirm that the psyche is vulnerable under certain circumstances - for some more than others.

I think it's a mistake to err on the side of casual dismissal, that anyone who winds up insane must have always been insane. There are well known examples of unhealthy states being induced into otherwise healthy minds. Soldiers who experience a war-zone might develop PTSD. Similar effects have been reported for social media moderators after repeated exposure to abusive online content. (Trauma is one example, I think delusion is another less obvious one w.r.t things like cults, scientology, etc.)

Yes, there are definite mental disorders like schizophrenia and bi-polar, there's evidence these conditions have existed throughout history. And yes, some of us are more psychologically vulnerable while others are more robust. But in the objective sense, all minds have a limit and are vulnerable under the correct circumstances. The question is a matter of "threshold."

I'm reminded of the deluge of fake news which, only a few years ago, caused chaos for democracies everywhere. Everything from Q anon to alien space ships, people fell for it. A LOT of people fell for it. The question then is the same question now, how do you deal with sophisticated bullshit? With AI it's especially difficult because its convincing and tailor made just for you.

I'm not sure what you would call this metric for fake news and AI, but afaict it only goes up, and it's only getting faster. How much longer until it's too much to handle?