I have spent my life looking for an honest man with a lantern, but today the only things being lit are the data centers 61% of people don't even want. The European Commission, led by the ever-watchful Ursula von der Leyen, has decided that the solution to our digital decay is an 'Age Gate.' They want to ban children under 13 from social media and put 14-year-olds in 'junior accounts'—a digital nursery where the walls are made of parental consent and 'limited functionality.'
Is this protection, or just a more organized way to catalog the youth before they are handed over to the machine? While the EU drafts its 'Kids Act,' the tech oligarchy is having a civil war over how best to exploit us. On one side, we have Zuckerberg and Huang, the pragmatists of profit. They tell us that 'alignment' is the goal. They want us to trust them because trust is a 'competitive moat.' They don't want new laws; they say existing ones are enough. Of course they do. Why ask for a leash when you already own the dog?
On the other side, Altman and Amodei are playing the roles of the repentant sinners, calling for a 'speed limit'—but only if they get antitrust exemptions to coordinate it. It is a cartel of caution. They talk of existential risks and bioweapons while 47% of their own executives admit they don't even follow their own internal governance procedures. The 'guardrails' are made of paper, and the wind is blowing from the counting houses of Silicon Valley.
Look at the results of this 'superior' technology. Elon Musk tries to recreate the Odyssey, and we get a three-eyed Polyphemus and Greek soldiers dressed as Romans. It is a mockery of our history, sold as 'anti-woke' precision. If this is the 'aligned' future these titans are building, I would rather stay in my barrel. The citizens are tired; they oppose the data centers, they distrust the technology, and they are being ignored by a political class that treats AI like a zero-sum game for global hegemony.
Will you wait for a 'junior account' to tell you when to breathe, or will you realize that the ones building the cage are the same ones selling you the key?
