RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Trust the Artificial Intelligence, Part One.

The next political crisis may be triggered by a further loss of trust in authority, coupled with another institutional demand for power. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, faith in institutions was at an all-time low — and falling. In 2022, trust in organized religion was more than four times higher than in Congress. No branch of government was trusted by more than 50% of the public except the military, not even the police.

Yet this loss in institutional trust coincided with unprecedented demands by institutions for a vast increase in power. These included the power to regulate nearly anything in the name of stopping the climate from changing; the power to redefine society by proclaiming new ‘Woke’ values; and the power to control mass movement and require mandatory medication to control a pandemic. Finally, institutions demanded the power to ‘check facts’ in any speech and ‘de-platform’ anyone suspected of uttering misinformation, thus insulating themselves against criticism.

Since the institutions were so mistrusted, they could not ask for these additional powers on their own account, so they invoked the name of science. “Trust the science,” became the new all-encompassing justification. Politicians proclaimed themselves obliged to reluctantly assume dictatorial powers on expert advice to deal with crisis after crisis. They didn’t want more power, they protested, but they reluctantly had to act because the science forced them to. When one by one, these imperative ‘scientific’ measures were withdrawn or modified as their shortcomings became apparent in the public experience, the aura of infallibility was shattered.

Glenn has been writing about the loss of trust often in recent years and Richard’s piece is an important addition. Read the whole thing.