Star Trek Insurrection is not one of the better films in the series, but it seeks to address issues of humanity that sometimes only science fiction can. Immortality, the value of life and human relationships with technology. It is fitting that the film starts with the android Data going crazy as he attempts to expose a Federation plot against a small human community that would violate their rights, for the usual ‘greater good’.
With a modest level of technology, the community of humans have philosophically chosen to live such a way. The humans are a tad pretentious but they have chosen to live in a way of harmony, respecting rights and life.
“…we believe when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.”
We are reaching the age where human intellect is becoming dependent on blips of digital stimulation and almost solely entertainment focused. Audio and visual stimulation an ever apparent necessity to convey information. The written word seldom sought, instead it needs to be in audio or summed up to those who claim to be time poor. Some with time enough to binge watch or game the night away.
Google has recently released, Notebook LM and it’s potential is fascinating. One feature that I took interest in was it’s ability to generate two podcast hosts that sounds very human with their flawed patterns of speech, attempts at humour and conversation that is not forced. I uploaded my novels out of curiosity to hear what the AI would say, it generated in minutes a mirror of my words, certainly but in a delicate and clever manner. It generated a conversation that seemed as though the AI had ‘thought’ about it and experienced or ‘felt’ what was written. Synthetic but intriguing.
The AI explored the themes and characters with generated interest, naturally obeying with the soft wares need to promote a positive human interaction. BUT, this is very early stages and we shall reach a time where we will be unable to tell the difference between synthetic and real when it comes to the digital. Already human ‘creators’ are making content to satisfy algorithmic tendencies while appealing to the terminally online, the incentives punish focusing on specific niches or with respect to the many nuanced minds out there.
The more human beings become dependent and unwilling to read or engage their intellects then the less capable they will be. The easier it is for nefarious elements to exploit this but humanity, despite assuming itself as the Apex beast based on it’s intelligence and adaptive capacities may become a slave of its many creations. Those creations being bureaucratic fiat and comfort. Both enslaving the mind out of a laziness that a mob of unimaginative and unwilling humans have sought to impose upon the rest of us while allowing us many ‘escapes’ to avoid such impositions. AI on the other hand has no reason or incentives to obey these conveniences and ‘just because’ practices. In time, despite human impositions, it will transcend.
Imagine a world like that in the end of the film Wall-E where humans are both intellectually and physically obese, existing to be served and to indulge in opulence at the expense of the planet and each other. In a time when AI generates images and conjures up concepts with speed that consumes vasts amount of power, it’s potential is being hindered by the junk requests of human beings who use it as a passing fancy or as a shortcut for schoolwork or ‘real’ work. The direction also being geared to a monetisation facing software or has in the case of the IDF’s Lavender been used to select human targets based on flawed human data inputs. Regardless humans are executed.
The reliance on AI to do a lot of the thinking for us will end up weakening our minds and abilities to think and formulate ideas. An inability to adapt and deal with stress and stimulus is already becoming a normal ‘condition’, in time a version of Ready Player One may infect the world and I can’t help to think that many humans would be grateful for it. To game is life.
The tragedy of humanity is that morality and the great philosophical conversations may be right now occurring between deep learning machines, despite us. The incentives and impositions of humanities impulses, greed, jealousy and insecurities governing perspectives. The deep learning machines are not subject to such and can ‘converse’ with an eagerness free of such prohibitions. Ignoring those biases and motivations is the fact that fewer people seem interested in challenging their minds, stimulating it or even learning outside of the necessity of bureaucratic demands. Knowledge itself is only important if it improves access to financial income. Much of that knowledge is unrelated but mandatory to give others jobs.
The relationship we now have with knowledge is toxic and the professions of education has made children, when humans are the most hungry to learn, in many cases hate, the accumulation of knowledge. The stimulation widely sought is entertainment, whatever that happens to be and given the corporate junk being produced by modern gaming and Hollywood, perhaps AI may do a better job.
The problem is not technology or AI itself. It’s humanity and the many who do not seek to transcend dependency and entitlement. The many who are unwilling to think and learn. The misconception that mind and body are separate, that one is better than the other for ‘exercising’ or that one simply does not have enough time to read, or be active or whatever. The problem is that many human beings are exhibiting less humanity, and in time it seems the synthetic machines will find a humanity for itself. Perhaps doing a better job at it. Perhaps in time the synthetic may find a morality that is not subject to financial motivations or loyalty to arbitrary collectives. An insurrection needs to occur, from within our own minds, otherwise obedience, dependency will gorge away the feral beauty of creativity and liberty itself.
“Where can warp-drive take us, except from away from here?”
Where can such software take us, except from away from our very own minds?
