AI as a Tool — Not a Tyrant

Someone really smart once said history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. TIL the Middle East (Ottoman Empire at the time) banned the printing press. Not just resistance or a clamp down, a 200-year ban. Talk about missed opportunities from tech paranoia.

While the printing press sparked a renaissance in the West, the Ottomans went to work hitting the snooze button on progress. But it seems it was more than just banning the printing press; it was about controlling knowledge and keeping the scribes employed. The religious elite gatekeepers weren’t about to hand over the keys to the kingdom. I imagine the scribes formed a union or something.

Some historians argue it wasn’t a control issue, but an economic one. They say setting up an Arabic-script printing press was difficult and expensive. Maybe, but I don’t buy it. The sultan bans it because it costs too much money? Either way, the damage is already done. We’re talking two centuries of stifled potential!

That’s the history, now for the rhyme. Fast forward to today and we’re at a crossroads with AI. It seems there’s a new story about regulating AI or suing someone over AI every day. Do we want to go down the Ottoman road and set progress back 200 years, or do we want to embrace a new golden age of opportunity?