Becoming Human in an AI World
Did you notice the title? If you think about it, you might ask, “Hey Paul, shouldn’t it be Remaining Human in an AI World?” I’d like to say so, but before we can remain human, we have to become human. I’ll get to that below.
The Value of Machines and AI
First let’s have a very simple discussion about Artificial Intelligence. I can probably assume you know what AI is ultimately about — machines running the world. Perhaps that sounds fine at first, and if we object to the idea, certainly there is nothing we can do to stop it. People will always look for the easiest way to complete a task. How can we blame them? What would those people who built the pyramids have given for a forklift, or an excavator, or a crane? I’m not sure how they would have used them specifically, but can you imagine? “Hey Pepe! Those Sumerians just came out with some big yellow thingamajig that moves objects. You know, objects like stones?!” You think Pepe would be excited? There is nothing wrong with building and making things to help us. It’s what humans do.
Dangers
Yet AI presents all kinds of issues. E.M. Forster in 1909 wrote a story called The Machine Stops where machines give people so much freedom that the decline of humanity sets in. Ironically, the freedom the machine gives ends up taking people’s freedom away…
