Why are we so fearful of artificial intelligence? After all it’s only a computer, a bunch of software and hardware put together by human beings, which has already proven its value - so what’s the big deal?
Are we afraid of how it could become a monster and control humanity and kill us all? Or are we afraid it will become that beautiful thing that some imagine where the world becomes finally Nirvana and we all go out to pasture in the Garden of Eden?
Humanity and our Earth at present are in a pretty good mess – couldn’t it be helpful to have some improved technology to help us deal with our problems? Do we really want to continue to live with our current situation? Are we simply afraid to try something new?
“Aye, there’s the rub” as Shakespeare says in Hamlet’s soliloquy:
“To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them…
Aye, there’s the rub…”
Shakespeare makes clear the rub is our fear of the unknown which “makes cowards of us all”. The rub with AI is we don’t know what might come, we’re afraid of what’s going to come with artificial intelligence. Why are we so afraid? What imagination lurks in our subconscious?
Perhaps we’re most afraid of discovering who we are as human beings. Perhaps on the other side of the rub might be coming to terms with the fact that we are just better apes, survival of the fittest of the apes, animals created by some unknown process in some monster explosion of the universe randomly, and here we are in a hell of a mess for no reason or purpose other than survival.
Or perhaps even scarier, we might come to find that we are actually spiritual beings in development, created by very advanced greater spiritual beings who provided the Earth for us as a place for spiritual growth, who desire for us to grow and develop over many reincarnations, little by little into ever more perfect spiritual beings.
Perhaps that’s the scariest of all – that we are intended to be more than we are at present, are responsible for the mess we are in, and are accountable for the health of Earth, our own development and the wellbeing of each other.
Are these imaginations what lurk in our subconscious about who we might be, causing us to be fearful in the presence of AI?
I am no more afraid of AI than of a knife, a gun, an airplane, but I am afraid of how we humans may use any of those technologies. What makes many particularly nervous about AI is that it's complex, fluid, and hides in the shadows. Elon Musk with a chainsaw is silly but not scary. Elon Musk with access to AI-systems and our personal data is truly scary.
Thanks Robert for sharing this insightful reminder. Always important to consider our interconnectedness- in all aspects of our life.