The Right Not to Know

The family she wants spared

Near the end of an interview with Palisade Research, Mary Phuong, who works on the safety team at Google DeepMind and spoke in a personal capacity, is asked what she wishes her family understood about AI. Her answer is that she would rather they did not have to. Her family uses ChatGPT and knows little about her work. What she wants is for them to go on living their lives without thinking about AI, and she sees that as the responsibility of those, herself included, who have a chance to shape the technology (Palisade Research, 2026).

I feel the same. I want my wife and my kids to be unaware of the danger. Not only the danger from AI, but from the geopolitics, the economy and the wars. I want them to be free to not know. I do not want them learning these things as a survival tactic.

When it was optional to care

Suddenly everyone has to be their own expert: in AI, in preparedness, in politics. I grew up in the years between the analog and the digital, and none of that was a requirement then. It was optional to give a damn. It was optional to worry, at least to some extent. Not giving a fuck, to put it plainly, was a choice you were allowed to make.

That choice is getting harder to make. As everything grows more confusing, the signal is drowning in the noise, and soon we will all need to be experts just to tell one from the other. Maybe the signal drowns completely, and we have to redefine what we call truth.

One week in October

Take one week. On 10 October, Elon Musk wrote on X that “Zelensky has gone too far”, after Donald Trump criticised Ukraine’s strikes on Russian fuel facilities (CNN, 2026). The next day he replied to a post quoting Trump’s call for a new Ukrainian leader: “I agree, time for Ukraine to get a new leader” (Musk, 2026). In the night to 14 October, SpaceX restricted Starshield, the military version of Starlink, on terminals that move at speed, the kind fitted to Ukraine’s interceptor and strike drones. The cap was reportedly about 160 km/h, and some units lost connection well below it. Ukraine got no warning, and its officials say several missions were disrupted (Kyiv Independent, 2026; Reuters, 2026). SpaceX has not explained it. Musk says the military terminals belong to the US government, and that the US military and the president decide their limits (CNN, 2026; Kyiv Independent, 2026). Nobody has shown that his posts and the restriction are connected.

That is the point. To understand that week, an ordinary person would need to know what Starlink is, that a country at war runs much of its frontline on it (France 24, 2026), that Poland pays for most of the civilian service while the military terminals run on a Pentagon contract (The New Republic, 2026; SatNews, 2026), that the limit was set at speed, and who said what on which platform a few days earlier. Then they would have to decide for themselves whether it was policy, politics or coincidence, because the people responsible point at each other.

A frontline now depends on a network run by a company one man controls, and he posts his opinions of the people using it (Musk, 2026; France 24, 2026). The single point of failure has a personality. Most people should never have to know that. Some of us carry it, so the people we love do not have to.

The step outside

I stepped away from the screens for a couple of minutes to catch my breath. A glittering, starlit sky. An icy north wind. The trees brushing against it.

What is behind the screens feels like bad fiction. Sprinkle in the UAP and disclosure noise and you have a full Wednesday night of Stephen King on public television, the way it was in the late nineties. A badly woven science fiction story that does not quite add up or make sense.

But it is real. There are real lives and real futures at stake. Families, friends, communities.

Can’t humanity help itself?

References

CNN (2026) Ukraine says some military-grade Starlink services restricted, disrupting operations as Russian attacks continue, 14 October. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/14/europe/russia-ukraine-energy-strike-early-warning-intl-hnk (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

France 24 (2026) Restrictions expose Ukraine’s Starlink dependency in Russia war: observers, 14 October. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20261014-restrictions-expose-ukraine-s-starlink-dependency-in-russia-war-observers (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

Kyiv Independent (2026) ‘This cannot be a coincidence’: Ukraine’s Starlink access restricted without warning, Zelensky adviser says, 14 October. Available at: https://kyivindependent.com/this-cannot-be-a-coincidence-ukraines-starlink-access-restricted-without-warning-zelensky-adviser-says/ (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

Musk, E. [@elonmusk] (2026) I agree, time for Ukraine to get a new leader [X], 11 October. Available at: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2109147413344584047 (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

Palisade Research (2026) Google DeepMind AI Researcher: I’m not saying that extinction is inevitable [YouTube], 29 September. Interview with Mary Phuong for frominside.ai. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32wdCuXeqvI (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

SatNews (2026) SpaceX restricts military Starshield speeds in Ukraine, disrupting Pentagon-funded tactical drone operations, 14 October. Available at: https://satnews.com/2026/10/14/spacex-restricts-military-starshield-speeds-in-ukraine-disrupting-pentagon-funded-tactical-drone-operations/ (Accessed: 14 October 2026).

Reuters (2026) Ukraine says SpaceX limits Starlink operations, disrupting military, 14 October. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spacex-limits-starlink-operations-ukraine-disrupting-military-missions-2026-10-14/ (Accessed: 14 October 2026). Reprinted by The Moscow Times: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/14/ukraine-says-spacex-limits-starlink-operations-disrupting-military-a93970

The New Republic (2026) Ukraine loses Starlink access as Musk says Zelenskiy went “too far”, 14 October. Available at: https://newrepublic.com/post/216600/ukraine-loses-starlink-access-musk-zelenskiy-too-far (Accessed: 14 October 2026).