On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men : Part Eight

[ellyssian]

On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men
By Everett A Warren
March 14, 2004

Presented as part eight of sixteen

~ ~ ~

Part One
Previous

~ ~ ~

"We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity;"

Humanity. What an interesting concept.

Self-improvement is often looked down upon. In a society of progress and competition, improving your skills is understood, but improving your self is a fringe activity for those who aren't already perfect specimens – and for those who aren't afraid of admitting they're outcasts. We focus on bigger, better, faster. We focus outside of ourselves, leaving hollow shells behind, swathing our lives in artificiality and superficial appearances. We focus, as the author of this speech mentions, on machines. Machines will resolve our problems, machinery will make things better; and all the time we lose sight of the humanity at our core. We need to focus on self-improvement.

We need to bring about a change in ourselves.

For some, the use of machines is what separates us from the apes or other animal of choice, and perhaps it does, but not in the sense they intend. It does not make us better people, more humane. If anything, it has helped elevate our own self-importance – and self-importance is quite different from self-improvement. Consider man as the Ultimate Machine, and why worry about improving it? Perhaps we'll take the "Man as God" Hollywood simplification (as seen in Frankenstein and Jurassic Park, two pieces from very different eras, explained quite well in Stephen Jay Gould's essay "The Monster's Human Nature"⁶),and now our goal as the Ultimate would be to create life – another Ultimate Machine, subservient to the Original Ultimate Machine, naturally.

Or perhaps nature has little to do with it.

~ ~ ~

Reference Links

6. Stephen Jay Gould – "The Monster's Human Nature" from Dinosaur in a Haystack

Next

~ Questions and discussion welcome! ~

~ ~ ~