“The Hidden Danger!”

I have been reading a very interesting book, “The Librarian of Auschwitz,” by Antonio Iturbe. It is based on the true story of Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. You might be wondering what this book has to do with anything technology, science, math, or engineering related, but trust me, you will understand by the end of the article. There are a couple of quotes from the book that link closely to what is happening today with our reliance on AI and technology in general that should cause some of us to at least pause and take a close look at the possible goals of these technology companies.
The first quote is about the importance of books in a society. “Throughout history, all dictators, tyrants, and oppressors, whatever their ideology—whether Aryan, African, Asian, Arab, Slav, or any other racial background; whether defenders of popular revolutions, or the privileges of the upper classes, or God’s mandate, or martial law—have had one thing in common: the vicious persecution of the written word. Books are extremely dangerous; they make people think.” – “The Librarian of Auschwitz,” Antonio Iturbe
On August 17, 2026, ARS Technica published an article, “Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI.” In the article, they expose Amazon for buying rare and out-of-print books that are then shipped to an AI training facility in Las Vegas. Here the bindings are cut and the pages fed into scanners. Upon further investigation by 404 Media, they found a logo outside the team’s warehouse showing a Tyrannosaurus Rex preparing to devour a book. While this might seem like a good way of preserving the books for future generations, there is a hidden risk here. While many may never get the opportunity to hold a rare book in their hands and read the content without such extreme measures, there is a risk that the digital content was modified.
I have a strong feeling with the number of fake news articles and false information reported by Artificial Intelligence that the scanning and destruction of these old books has more to do with changing history than with training an AI, and we have seen it before. In fact, we have seen it throughout history. During World War II we saw Germany remove access to books from the Jewish people in an attempt to destroy not only the people, but their history and culture. We saw the same with the settlement of the United States where we have lost the culture and language of indigenous people in much the same manner. Maybe AI is not taking away our access to literature, but controlling the story the literature has to tell. If they can purchase, destroy and then erase or change these books from the past, they can control the effect they have on our culture. Books are dangerous when it comes to controlling people.
“That man was useless. Adults are corrupted. That’s why young people are so important. You can still shape them, improve them.” – “The Librarian of Auschwitz.” Later in the war, Germany began to realize that if they could get the children isolated from their culture, they could still be trained to follow the regime and even be used to help destroy their own people. The Jewish people, of course, realized the same. They had to train their children to resist the regime or all would be lost. We are facing a time in our society where the next generation is vulnerable to the musing of the Technocrats. They are being led to believe that technology is good, and the advancement of AI will allow them to live without work.
More than 90 percent of people under the age of 30 get all their news from social media and online sources. They rarely read a book unless it is on a screen, and they likely have never picked up a newspaper. The printed word is dying and along with it our influence on the next generation is weakening. You see, the two main things that Nazi Germany used against the Jews, the technocratic society and AI is using against humanity—the removal of our history and culture and the indoctrination of our children. If our generation does not stand and fight against it and train our children to do the same, our society will not be recognizable in twenty years. We have a hidden dangerous enemy in the technology we use and rely on every day. Maybe the Amish are on to something important.
Until next time, stay safe and learn something new and I hope you will see me online at https://www.techshepherd.org.
Scott Hamilton is an Expert in Emerging Technologies at ATOS and can be reached with questions and comments via email to shamilton@techshepherd.org or through his website at https://www.techshepherd.org.