AI has sparked anxiety, earlier generations showed us ways to manage our fears

Much of what we are hearing about AI leaves many people anxious about the risks posed by the technology. The writer Michael Sacacas takes a long view of how to manage such feelings.

There has been a lot of AI news these days, and it makes sense to try to learn everything you can about what's happening with AI and what could happen. But for some of us, the more we learn, the more we're filled with a sense of anxiety, even borderline panic.

MICHAEL SACASAS: I think there's certainly a kind of pit in the stomach where you might think, oh, how big of a deal is this? What are the impacts? How worried should I be? What can I do? Oh, there's nothing I can do, and now what?

PFEIFFER: Michael Sacasas is a Christian writer who explores the existential side of the technology we use. He's been thinking lately about an old essay by C.S. Lewis called "On Living In An Atomic Age."

SACASAS: So this is three years after the first atomic bombs are detonated. The specter of a Cold War is brewing. An arms race is taking shape. And it becomes evident that now humanity possesses these weapons of mass destruction. And he addresses this question right at the outset of this essay - how are we to live in an atomic age? - maybe in the same way that we might be asking now, how do we live in an age of artificial intelligence, if there's a threat of human extinction, at the most extreme?

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