Accelerated cancellation of the future

In AI research, mode collapse is a well-known failure mode. GANs famously struggled with it. But AI models are not unique—human beings follow this pattern as well. You can see it in endless live action Disney remakes, in Bruno Mars still making the same song, in romantasy dominating the novel. This is an aspect of what Mark Fisher called the slow cancellation of the future.

The negative prophecy is easy to imagine: humans that become more interdependent with AI become less creative, less imaginative. The positive vision is an AI that can consistently surprise—a catalyst for a new renaissance. This post explores both and what we need to get there.