Essay

The Case for Trying

Today in my lecture someone asked who actually believes the moon landing was real. The professor and I were the only two to put our hands up.

I could go on a rant about how social media has warped our trust in expertise, how questioning authority has drifted into reflexive cynicism. But that is not where my mind went.

People were questioning how we could possibly have had the technology to go to the moon. I found this astonishing as they said it with MacBooks open in front of them.

The rapid rise of technology has not been fully appreciated. The computing power we carry in our pockets is extraordinary, yet we use it largely to scroll. That is not the iPhone’s fault. The internet gave humanity unlimited access to knowledge. It did not guarantee wisdom.

Which brings me to artificial intelligence.

We stand again at the edge of a technological shift. The instinct in many circles is to restrain it, to fear it, to assume we will misuse it just as we arguably misused the internet. But retreat guarantees nothing.

This is not a post about weighing the risks and benefits of AI. It is about whether we are willing to try again, whether we can steer a powerful invention deliberately instead of drifting with it.

The contrarian position today is belief.

Belief that we went to the moon. Belief that progress is real. Belief that we can use intelligence — artificial or otherwise — for something better than noise. Belief in humanity.

We can try again. We can reach further. And we can choose to believe it.

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