What to Do About a World Obsessed With Status
Toby Stuart’s Anointed argues that while status-seeking is human nature, the internet has supercharged its influence.
Illustration: Sun Bai for Bloomberg
Deus ex machina — “god from the machine,” in Latin — is a trendy phrase, inspiring movie names, clothing brands and dark thoughts about our tech-driven world at the dawn of AI. But the phrase is about a contrivance in classical theater: When a play was nearing its end and a plot was unsolvable, the playwright would have an actor playing Athena, Helios or some other god appear by crane (the machine) to rescue a character or (why not) reverse death.
Our current moment seems to be about erecting cranes for our own knotty problems: Will economic productivity reaccelerate? Can civil politics return? Can we guarantee basic income for all? Is my job safe? Maybe AI is the fix for everything! We don’t know. It’s still new! But speculating on AI can at least be a way to end the show.