The May 2025 Socionomist identifies the key data set: social mood
Robots taking over the world. It used to be the stuff of science fiction. But now, it’s a legitimate global concern. I decided to ask Chat GPT what it thought about its own controversy:
AI’s response:
That’s a deep one — and honestly, it could go either way, depending on how we steer the ship. Maybe it’s not so much about technology itself, but what we choose to do with it. Do we build responsibly, or burn too bright, too fast?
What do you think tips the scale? Is it about leadership, education, money, something deeper?
Something deeper indeed! The May 2025 Socionomist proposes an unexamined data set not on AI’s list as the single-most influential factor as to whether technology is perceived as and produced for “pro-human” or “destructive” ends: social mood. From the May Socionomist’s cover story “Good Tech/Bad Tech: Social Mood Governs the Intensity and Character of Technological Development” by Chuck Thompson:
The reaction to technological developments fluctuates according to the social mood trend. If mood is positive, then researchers and society are likely to have a confident, optimistic view of the future, resulting in technologies that improve their lives, including their affluence and comfort.
If mood is negative, then researchers and society are likely to have a fearful, pessimistic view of the future, resulting in technologies that promote domination and survival, such as weapons.
The May Socionomist cover references both scenarios: In the U.S., the record-setting bull run in the nominal Dow has translated into technological windfalls for AI investments. By contrast, in Russia and Ukraine, long-term bear markets have translated into “technological warfare.”
As Mark Twain said: “History doesn’t repeat. But it often rhymes.” The second report in the May Socionomist revisits the past, when the “dystopian use of technology became a fully operational assassination program” throughout South America.
You don’t have to be the last to know when the robot uprising is afoot.
Just kidding! But if you do want to understand how to recognize if the tide driving AI innovation has turned, to safely orient your financial and personal investments – the May 2025 Socionomist is the most non-artificial intelligence around.
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