Prototyped imagination
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Algorithmic souls
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Prompted minds
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Mediocrity-per-token
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Prototyped imagination • Algorithmic souls • Prompted minds • Mediocrity-per-token •
GENERATIVE AI
Mapping Media Effects
2025
“New media are new languages, their grammar and syntax yet unknown”
— Marshall McLuhan
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AI is everywhere. Terrifying. Promising. Useful. Misleading.
All at once.
But are we missing something bigger?
Hi! My name is Alex, and I’m working on my master’s thesis at Arcada University in Helsinki.
I’ve gone through 100+ industry reports and scientific articles to uncover the trade-offs and side effects we face when we use generative AI to create, to research, and to understand.
We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.
My research explores this idea in the context of AI: What kind of world is it creating? And how might it change us?
I’m inviting you to take part in a short, anonymous 5-minute survey to explore possible answers.
I’d be happy to share the final results — just follow me on LinkedIn after completing the survey.
Thank you so much for your time and contribution.
What is Tetrad?
What is Tetrad?
Media are not just conduits of information.
They’re powerful forces that shape our perceptions, our societies, and our very being.
The Tetrad model is a framework that reveals media’s deeper effects by asking four questions:
🚀 What does it enhance or intensify? Example: The printing press intensified the spread of knowledge.
🗑️ What does it render obsolete or displace? Example: Digital photography displaced film processing.
🔄 What does it retrieve from the past? Example: Radio retrieved the oral traditions of storytelling.
⚠️ What does it reverse into when pushed to extremes? Example: Television reversed into a source of social isolation.
SCROLL TO JOIN THE SURVEY
AI is a metaphor. So, its effects can be illuminated through metaphor as well.
In my survey, each metaphor is paired with a brief description of the AI effect it represents.
There are no wrong answers — just an exploration.
