𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥

 

It seems from the news reporting that we are rushing headlong into the world of artificial intelligence. AI. Like kids with a new toy. Playing in the street. Parents admonishing us to be careful. Who said, "How ya' gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree"? Kids can sometimes end run the Old Folks and sneak out the bedroom window. Shit happens.

Guardrails and guidelines we'll have. Plenty. Endless potential for argument and discussion right there. Maybe we'll use AI itself to come up with the rules? 

Even with the best of intentions, some malevolent asshole will find a way around. Even, a well-intentioned one too. Oh, you say, what's the difference? Since Adam and Eve decided back there in the Garden that they could do it themselves, study your history. Blind leading the blind. Mishap upon mishap. Oh, we have progress. Smartphones are a thing now. Hot water on tap is great. Like we're becoming so strapped to our devices, imagine how strapped we'll be when AI is there to always and in every way tell us what is the best thing to do? Heck, why not go all the way, and just plug in and be a robot acting at the will of a god-like intelligence. 

And, let's not even go into how Human error, regardless of good or bad intentions inevitably shows up in the mix. Unintended consequences. Failure to see down the road. If you're inclined to see a Nation of Sheep now, AI will be the slaughterhouse. AI and robots will make life a dream. Work? Does anyone even remember what that is?

Oh, sure, there are clearly benefits. Speedy access to information. Purchasing streamlining. MD makes housecalls right through your smartphone. Whatever you can imagine. 

But, inspiration and virtue. Not so much. If any, at all.

If you want to know the future, just extrapolate what's so and what's happening to its logical end point. Not to change the subject, but the wars going on now should give us a clue about what could easily be in our future. We always have the option to choose again. So choose. What kind of world do you choose to live in? Then, start living into it. You want peace? Become peaceful. Not like some politician, serving up just lip service to being peaceful. Real soulful peaceful. It is our birthright after all. 

How? Turn inside. Get acquainted with what's there. In fact, the truth is that meditating like that will give you access to the wellspring of creativity and knowledge. Makes AI look like the slutty pussy it really is. Don't get me wrong. A little strange is always appealing. But, as a regular feature of life, that stinks. No pun intended. Not.

Oh, you say, we have God on our side. The better question is, do we have God on our inside. Like a living relationship. Or, or is our best take on a higher power artificial intelligence? Just another Apple for Adam and Eve to chew on. Funny, huh? "Apple." [BTW I hear the new iphone is the shizz. With Apple Intelligence. The battle for AI dominance among the purveyors is on. Beta vs. VHS vs. CD vs. Steaming; you may recall.]   

You might guess the point. The antidote to AI is religion. Which one? Your choice. Like Pope Francis has stated, they all lead to God. If you don't wanna do religion, make generating loving compassion in your own heart your "religion". Come to think of it, if generating loving compassion isn't part of a religion, then that ain't no religion. 

The promise of AI seems to be based on the idea that information, and the right information put together in the right way will be our salvation. Or, at least it'll be a good way to make a buck. And, don't you know, keep the powerful in power. Global mass population management is what I would call it. Propaganda. Narrative control. 

So imagine a Brave New World where Alexa and those other smart machine bitches not only have all the answers, but know you and me down to such a granular level that they'll know what's good for us; what's best for us. Then we can be corralled into relying on them unquestioningly. Brave New World indeed. Did you think 1984 was gonna show up just like in the book.

Or, how about this. "Alexa, send a nice complimentary note to so-and-so thanking them for the wonderful dinner party last night." Alexa: "Done." How easy and convenient was that. It get you out of the rut of emoji's and heart icons in your text messages. Adds that creative flair. And, best of all, you don't need to really communicate personally. Pretty soon the whole social fabric can be managed by AI and all's we hoi polloi have to do is build popsicle stick lampshades and solve paper puzzles. Or, your choice, whatever distraction you prefer which helps while away the hours.

I have to add here amid all this pessimism that the human spirit is in the end indominable. Waking up in our own time, in our own way. There is Truth. Not for me to say; or you. Or, anyone. The truth that can be told is not the Truth. The mark of Truth is that it is self-evident. Not by my say so; or yours. Or someone else's. Just so. That.

Like in the above cartoon. Heck, Alexa will know if you want more salt already so you won't even have to ask. And, since we want to be healthy, how much Sodium, if you can have any at all. Maybe mix in a robot or two, and the wife won't even have to lift a finger. 

Really consider the prospect. Then factor in the tendency to invest huge amounts of energy and cash in how the narrative the populace is living in is manufactured. I don't trust that any sets of guidelines and guardrails will keep greedy, power-hungry assholes from using AI for their own purposes. And — OY! — that some of the best intentioned will see the opportunity to see to it that their best intentions will cloak us all in their best intentioned embrace. Pols already are pretty good at that. But, with AI mixed into the mix, the world is your Oyster. And, as easy to gobble up too. Press of a button. Problem solved. The masters of the future will be the nerds who developed AI from the start. Like electronic behind the curtain wizards, playing the tune we all dance to on their keyboards.

But, big BUT ... who defines the problem, and who defines the solution? AI is a machine. Someone's got to give it its marching orders. And, if you think that AI will somehow sort it all out in its smart-as-all-fuck wonderfulness, just remember that the foundation is man-made. What could go wrong?

Like, somewhere in all that computational power some mofo or other had to put in the parameters. The basic definitions. Call it the "devil" if you want. Works out to the same thing, name aside. Don't they say, "The devil is in the details"? AI is all about details. Chew on that.

The interesting irony, in our time of global warming, now there's the need to solve the problem of the heating up due to all that computing chip power. So, what is really the progress? All us hoi polloi working to make a living shoveling coal into a raging furnace cooled down by the collected sweat of our brows? Nothing new there. Rise of the Machine. Don't say you weren't told.

If you've made it this far, then maybe there is something in this that resonates. Here's a read that adds immeasurably to the subject.