The War for Reality: Artificial Intelligence, Human Agency, and the Collapse of Truth

The War for Reality: Artificial Intelligence, Human Agency, and the Collapse of Truth | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 4 March 2025 V1 Latest version Share on The War for Reality: Artificial Intelligence, Human Agency, and the Collapse of Truth Author : James Oliver 0009-0003-9912-095X [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174111198.81472772/v1 755 views 295 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Artificial intelligence is not an autonomous existential threat. Intelligence-the ability to solve problems-is distinct from agency, the ability to set and pursue goals. AI systems exhiabit superhuman intelligence but remain entirely devoid of intrinsic agency. The true existential risk does not come from AI itself, but from humans wielding AI to manipulate perception at unprecedented scale. AI's extraordinary capacity to distort reality enables mass behavioral modification, culminating in an inevitable epistemic collapse. As synthetic content proliferates exponentially, the ratio of authentic to synthetic information trends toward zero. Centralized verification systems cannot contain this flood. The only viable defense is decentralized collective verification, as demonstrated by Wikipedia, X's Community Notes, Reddit's moderation, Stack Overflow's peer-review, and the scientific method itself. Humanity's collective intelligence, acting as a distributed neural network, is the only force capable of distinguishing reality from illusion. The existential threat posed by AI is human-driven. Its solution must be as well. Supplementary Material File (the war for reality.pdf) Download 136.14 KB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 04 March 2025 Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Keywords artificial intelligence artificial intelligence (ai) collective intelligence decentralization deepfake disinformation generative ai perception social media synthetic media Authors Affiliations James Oliver 0009-0003-9912-095X [email protected] View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 755 views 295 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation James Oliver. The War for Reality: Artificial Intelligence, Human Agency, and the Collapse of Truth. Authorea . 04 March 2025. 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