Counterpoint
Every episode gets a follow-up.
Challenge an argument, add what I left out, or correct something I got wrong. I’ll bring the strongest responses into a Counterpoint episode about a week later.
See the questions
Choose an episode
Questions for Counterpoint
Choose a question to read more and respond.
-
I argue that AI inherited distrust of the tech industry. But people might dislike AI for reasons specific to AI, regardless of how they felt about other technology. What does that explanation get right, and what does my argument miss?
-
You don’t have to dislike tech to dislike living next to a data center. Am I reading a broader backlash into opposition that’s really about what these facilities do to the places around them? If you live near one, I’d especially like to hear from you.
-
How much of the left’s anger at tech comes from tech leaders embracing Trump? Does that political shift explain the change in attitudes better than the story I tell in the episode?
-
I keep saying “tech,” but much of my argument focuses on social media. Is that too broad a label? Where does the story hold up for the rest of the tech industry, and where does it fall apart?
-
The whole premise might be overblown. Disliking tech doesn’t seem to stop people from using it. How should we understand the gap between what people say about these companies and what they do every day?
-
Maybe the techlash is mostly an elite story. Journalists, academics and politicians lost a lot of their gatekeeping power to tech platforms, and they’ve had every reason to tell a story of public betrayal. Meanwhile regular people kept buying the phones, using the apps and trying the AI tools. If you think the distrust lives mostly in newsrooms and on Capitol Hill rather than in kitchens, make the case.
-
Cars, radio, television and the early internet all had their panics, hearings and moral crusades, and all of them ended up woven into ordinary life. Maybe today’s backlash is the normal price of a technology that’s changing everything at once, not proof that tech lost anyone. If you think this moment looks like those earlier ones, or think it’s actually different, tell me which precedent fits best.
-
Make another argument, fill a gap, or flag a correction.
Questions coming soon
The questions for this episode will appear here when they’re ready.
Questions coming soon
The questions for this episode will appear here when they’re ready.
Thanks for your counterpoint.
Your response has been sent to NLW.
What happens next
NLW reviews the submissions and brings the strongest arguments into the follow-up episode, alongside his own counterarguments.
Counterpoint usually follows the main episode by about a week. If you’re listening later, you can still respond to an older episode.
Free to submit. Free to listen.