Max Gladstone (@maxgladstone)

I think that "tool" is the correct frame—and more useful since it prompts people to think "well, how could this tool be used *right now*"—the sort of question that is more useful in the short term. I hope you're right that people will become more skeptical about anything they see online—though experience backstopping family forays into youtube wellness zones makes me worried about the less-savvy 90% of the population. I have a fun short story premised on this sort of future, of a useless-for-practical-purposes internet leading to a rebirth of the old-school private investigator—but it's been sitting in editorial limbo for over a year now, so I can't link to it. Someday!