Like last week, when I said it was time to imagine what an internet after Google Zero might look like, I think it’s also time to imagine what an AI bubble burst would actually mean. They are, effectively, the same thing, actually. A hard reset to an online wilderness period. And the closest analog from recent history we have for imagining an AI crash is either the dot com bubble of the early 2000s or, if things get really gnarly, the Great Recession. But let’s go with the dot com bubble because it’s a less terrifying prospect. If it ends up being the other one, I’ll find you at a campfire in the wasteland in a few years and tell you what I think.

I start piling logs next to the campfire in the wasteland knowing I will be joined later.

…

This is a question I keep asking myself about, well, the entire internet lately. “What if this all just doesn’t work this time?” What if AI companies can’t replace search? What if streaming video can’t replace Hollywood? What if short-form video apps can’t replace social media users? What if Silicon Valley can’t brute force their products — and ideology — onto the masses again? To take it even further, what if the dot com crash and the AI crash are actually part of the same 25 years epoch of technological stagnation? I’m not going to lie, I find this line of questioning exhilarating.

I raise my bottle of whiskey in the distance and yell something unintelligable in excitement shaking my arms about with emphasis.