Artificial intelligence and the pigeon
Is the problem AI or is it the environment in which it thrives?
I hate AI. AI is a technology that replaces human labour faster than any other automation and furthermore, it can replace tasks that were once the domain of human creativity. Although it may save some time, on the whole it flattens human expression so that they are better cogs in a consumerist machine. Beyond all other aspects of AI, there is no doubt that it is an affront to human dignity.
But here is something that may surprise you: the reason why I dislike AI doesn't have as much to do with its existence as it does with the reasons why it has become so prevalent, and why it will continue to become more entrenched in human society. What does this mean?
To explain, let's talk about the Rock Pigeon. Everyone knows the Rock Pigeon: it is the common pigeon that exists in many cities around the world. The distribution of the Rock Pigeon is truly vast. But why is it so prevalent?
That's not a difficult question to answer, at least in broad terms. The original habitat of the Rock Pigeon is rocky environment with cliffs and not much vegetation. But if you think about it a little, that's exactly what large cities are like. Large cities are filled with mainly rock and cliffs and hardly anything else save for the pitiful park or two. Thus, cities are very close the original habitat of the Rock Pigeon. The Rock Pigeon, being a specialist of this environment, thrives like no other species of bird.
The success of the Rock Pigeon gives us insight into artificial intelligence. Just like biological species, human inventions and cultural phenomena survive and thrive in the right environments. And what sort of environment have we created in this modern, global world?
It is an environment where the needs of local communities take a backseat to the needs of big business. It's a place where we have surrendered a large part of our identity in exchange for virtual internet communities. It's a place where the individual no longer matters beyond the product they create through their online activity.
Most importantly for our discussion, it is an environment where individual and idiosyncratic artistic pursuits are being replaced by content, a word that means anything that can attract more ad views for soulless big tech companies like Google.
In this sort of environment, it's no wonder that AI thrives, just like the Rock Dove thrives in cities. Without this environment, AI might be a curiosity to entertain or even a manifestation of black magic to be destroyed, but not something to be integrated into culture.
But slowly, the values of the past have been augmented or even replaced by the values of consumerism and global capitalism: the earth as a resource to be exploited, the universe to be tamed by science and rationality, intelligence as a slave to technology, and the human being as a cog in this machine.
So the dark force of artificial intelligence thrives. A lot of artists hate AI because it is trained upon their work and it is poised to replace them. I understand that as an artist myself. And if you're an artist, you should fight against AI. But fighting against AI and trying to maintain the world as it is by enacting laws to protect artists against AI is a losing battle, and the reason for that is rather obvious: AI is here because we have already built a world where AI can perfectly fill a niche. So although AI is deplorable, it is not AI itself that is the real problem.
Of course, we latch onto AI because its manifestations are concrete and easy to fathom. But its foundation is exactly the society that has sacrificed the human soul to the machine. If we really want to live in a world where machines aren't replacing artists, musicians, writers, photographers, and many others with its abominable creations, we have to build a better society where human beings and their existence matters beyond its contribution to further consumerism and technology.
We must build a better society where nature is respected and where human creativity serves not just to make content for ad views, but where creativity serves to transmit the very experience of existing as a being within a universe, which is the crucial component for a stable and healthy human society.
What should we do, then? Yes, we should still fight against AI. AI itself is an obvious thing to fight because people can grasp some idea of it. Even if AI is complex, it is still easier to talk about than the nature of human society and its interactions with technology.
At the same time, we must also fight to take down the forces that are shaping our society. These are the forces that are making us mindless drones whose only purpose is to further technology through consumerism. We must protect nature so that people can exist in a harmonious relationship with the rest of nature. We must take down consumerism by targeting big tech companies, large corporations, and those who further technology which in turn reinforces the global capitalistic machine. We must build strong, local communities that value the creative output of its members for the sake of its communicative purpose, rather than just for the purpose of furthering consumerism.
Once we do this, we will be on the road to creating a new society where nature and people are first, rather than technology and destruction. And in such a society, we won't have to worry about artificial intelligence, because it will simply be a stupid idea that has no place whatsoever.
Great reflection. I’m an English teacher, and while most in my profession seem unwilling to admit it, AI can spell little good for them future of our discipline. Rather, just a year after its launch, it seems students regularly turn to chat GPT for their writing assignments.
Recently I’ve been encouraged by the work of researchers demonstrating the adverse effects of smartphones. It’s something I’ve been preaching for ten years, and for the first time I feel hopeful that my children won’t be forced to don the shackles of smartphones. However, just as it seems we get a little light at the tunnel’s end on smartphones, AI swoops in and fills the vacuum, taking hold immensely more quickly than the smartphone did.
I’ve written about a kind of pulling back (and even out) of the technorat race that I’ve coined the “Amish Moment” and the value of Forbidden Knowledge. I’ve been on a brief hiatus since moving recently, but I got to try back to it soon. I’d love to have your feedback.
Excellent article! Indeed, AI is just a symptom of the tendency our society has of looking at everything that exists as a resource to be explored until it runs dry.