Artificial Ignorance, that is, which seems to me to be a more accurate description of the craze currently raging called AI. The dangers of this technology highlighted by many experts all point to the fact that the technology is, essentially, ignorant.
I do not see how intelligence can be developed without the physicality which until recently characterised human beings.
Two steps on our evolutionary journey impress me:
Firstly, we lost the ability to synthesise vitamin C, a characteristic we share with our closest relatives among the primates. This freed up internal resources and allowed us to develop other areas, like our brains.
Secondly, we developed the group of muscles collectively known as the glutes, which allow us to stand upright and so experience the world in an entirely new way. No wonder our prefrontal cortex is the most developed of all the species.
This has led to what we call intelligence; “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” On the face of it, AI is on its way to achieving a semblance of this. Some say that General Artificial Intelligence is possible – an AI with the ability to equal human intelligence in all aspects.
Human intelligence is capable of thinking clearly as well as critically. Clear thinking, to me, is the most important way to think; it frames a problem or situation in a way that it can be understood and analysed using a variety of tools (some scientific, others based on lived experience), creates options and most importantly, allows us to choose and act. Critical thinking is usually promoted as the highest form of thinking, but it ignores the emotional aspects, the biases which we all have (some of which need to be maintained) and the lessons of history that may be applicable.
With AI’s capability to reference billions of data points and make countless calculations in milli-seconds and the relentless march of processing power constantly getting faster and smaller, I can see AI arriving at something akin to critical thinking. But clear? For that you need imagination and emotion. How you get to that with AI, I am interested to hear.
There is no doubt that AI will change just about everything in the near future and you need to prepare yourself. All the conversations are about the jobs and industries to be lost. Change is constant; you need to think about finding the opportunities in it.
Leverage the AI for your own advantage. There will be a lot of Apps and gadgets driven by AI which you can use to improve your own performance. Keep a lookout for these and use them for your purpose and advantage.
Jobs and industries are going to go – try not to get trapped in one of these areas. Look for careers and occupations which will flourish and enter those. A clue I can share is to seek activities that need imagination, emotion and physicality.
Opportunities will open up for the disadvantaged. For example, the large trucks used for mining in the remote mines in Australia used to be driven exclusively by men spending weeks on a stretch in remote areas. Now with remote control made practical by AI, women are able to do this job from a control centre, returning home to bed every night.
I recently applied for a contract which I thought was ideal for my skill set. I soon realised I was dealing with an AI which kept turning me down. Convinced that if I had a chance to speak to a person I would be ok, I tried in vain and eventually gave up. There are coaches who specialise in navigating the AI screen, do not be afraid to use them.
Stanislav Petrov, a Colonel in the Russian Air Defence Force was on duty on the 26, September 1983. His computer systems alerted him of a nuclear missile attack just launched from the United States of America. Operating procedure required him to report this immediately up the chain of command so that his superiors would authorise retaliation. Petrov paused and thought through the situation. He considered a number of factors, including the recently installed computer and the number of missiles deployed and concluded this must be an error. He did not alert his superiors, and some minutes later the computer corrected itself. Had he sent the alert on and generals and politicians were abruptly woken from their sleep and given 2 minutes to decide, things could have been much different. His actions are the definition of intelligence.
