Through the AI Looking Glass
A mirror of our humanness
AI (as a concept or as the many manifestations of it) serves as a unique mirror, unlike any that has come before, enabling us to contemplate anew what we are as humans, what we are not, and what we could be.
While it’s easy to see AI as merely a tool or technology designed for our growth or destruction and we’ve even begun to imagine AI as a new “species”, there's another perspective to consider. AI presents a grand challenge calling us forth to collaborate more effectively, understand each other and living more deeply, and explore increasingly complex questions.
The advent of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), existential risks, and the multifaceted implications of AI technologies compel us to (re)examine questions such as:
What kind of suffering and pain do we prioritize in resolving? Job displacement, loneliness, economic inequality, and disease are just a few of the issues that AI technologies may either fix or exacerbate, depending on our actions. How will we better understand or see differently the suffering and pain of our own (and of our in groups) and that of others?
What will we recognize explicitly or implicitly as costs and benefits of AI to society? Many environmental, social and emotional costs of the Industrial Revolution and global urbanization have only in recent years been acknowledged and resolution largely remain elusive.
What do we believe are necessary or acceptable costs for the results we pursue, as reflected by our collective action?
What do the systems that we adopt to protect from existential and other risks of AI say about what we believe about humans, both as individuals and as a collective?
How do we come to a better collective awareness and understanding of what we want as a society, and how do we create systems that reflect those desires?
I would argue that the “real” difficulty that lays underneath is how do we ask these questions, explore, and answer them collectively in this world where we are quite interconnected in some ways (e.g., providing services and value to each other, living in closer proximity to each other than ever before) while being quite separate in others (e.g., by differences in our quality of living or beliefs).
These above are also questions that we could ask in our own individual lives: What kind of suffering and pain do we prioritize resolving in our lives? What do we believe are acceptable costs for the results we pursue?... For many, these questions are overlooked or answered at a subconscious level. I believe that as more of us consciously explore these questions in our own lives, we’ll have more capacity to address them on a collective scale - so how do we get more individuals to tango with these questions?
For me, the development and potential of AI have made it imperative that we tackle these questions more consciously, as individuals, society, and as a global community —unless we’re content to let things evolve “naturally” (and I don’t believe we will be).
Connected with but separate from the above layer of inquiry into systems design and societal values, there is also the broader contextual exploration of what are we as a species and how do we think of ourselves as living beings alongside different manifestations of AI technologies?
These questions push us to venture beyond our existing philosophy, ethics, politics, mathematics, sciences… The complexity calls for us to grow and spread interdisciplinary ways of understanding and living, such as systems thinking, belief dynamics, multiculturalism, and others in the making or to be created.
Coming from a foundation in corporate law and economics, my journey took me into an unexpected and eye-opening exploration into new layers of our emotional landscapes and human awareness (through experimenting with power dynamics, parts work, shadow work and other transformative modalities). This blend of skills and experiences drive my hunger for more holistic and multidimensional perspectives for grappling with how evolving AI technologies impact us and what we make of ourselves through the AI looking glass. Alongside these larger questions, there are also many immediate and mid-term developments that are important for us to pay attention to. To share some of my insights and discoveries along the way, I decided to launch this AI Conscious Substack.
I hope you'll continue to tune in, contribute to these vital conversations with me, and discover insights that help us all navigate this evolving landscape.
excited for the dialogue.