I often think about this passage from drink historian David Wondrich’s book “Punch”—specifically in relation to social media, but also increasingly with regard to things like LLMs:

“Aqua vitae had begun its career as a drug, a medication, and as such, it followed the classic six stages through which euphoric drugs that is, the kind that make you feel better whether there's anything wrong with you or not-pass on their way to acceptance: Investigation, when their powers are determined; Prescription, when theory is put into practice; Self-Medication, when their use becomes preventative; Recreation, when Commerce shows Medicine the door; Repression, when too much of a good thing proves too much; and—a step that is only granted to a precious few—Transcendence, when repression fails and society's institutions are rebuilt to accommodate the troublesome element, since people have realized that it cannot be dispensed with.”

Wondrich is talking about how society was forced to come to terms with distilled spirits—first by attempting to prohibit them, then by figuring out how to integrate them into the culture while mitigating their worst effects (the advent of mixed drinks like punch to soften the impact being part of that effort). When I try imagine how things like social media and AI will play out long term in society, it occurs to me that it will probably go similarly.