What Does it Mean to be Human in the Age of Technology?
Image by Ana Tablas/Unsplash
We are living through an age of unprecedented technological change and development. Every day I see a new story about a robot helping elderly Japanese people in their home, self-driving taxi trials, or AI threatening to make swathes of the human workforce redundant. In some ways, this is all very unsettling. It seems to me that some of these technological advances are being rushed through, with little thought given to the consequences of the sweeping changes. And I often think, who are the changes for? Big Tech companies and their owners stand to make (even more) billions, but what about those poor taxi drivers being replaced by robo-cars? What will they do to earn a living?
As ever, the technology itself is not to blame. Tech like robots, self-driving cars and AI is neutral, neither good nor bad. It’s all about the way that tech is deployed and who is in charge, that makes it a force for good or ill. And I am not against technology – in fact, as an online therapist, I could not make a living without it. I love the way I can sit in my study, in a leafy corner of East Sussex, writing these words – then with the click of a few buttons, I can send them zooming out all over the world, in an instant. People subscribe to my newsletter from every corner of the globe, which is wonderful.
Imagine trying to communicate with someone in, say, Australia just 50 years ago. You would have called them, on an expensive international call, or sent them an airmail letter. Younger readers may not be familiar with this old-fashioned form of technology (they were a distinctive light-blue colour and a single sheet of paper, which you wrote on, folded with care, addressed, stamped and then posted), but it was pleasurable to both write and receive them, if a little slow.
AI will never have soul
If you’re feeling anxious or unsettled by the advance of AI and other technologies, let’s think about a few things that robots will never be able to do. As much as ChatGPT and other chatbots may seem intelligent, as if there is some wise consciousness behind the screen, they are not and there definitely isn’t. I recently heard a futurist compare ChatGPT to a fancy predictive text programme – the one that annoyingly replaces words you mean to type with random words you definitely don’t when you’re messaging. Chatbots are very fast and very good at predicting what you will ask, or want to hear, then scanning their database to provide answers that are pleasing for you.
This is another thing to remember – like all similar tech, ChatGPT is primarily concerned with harvesting your data and holding your attention. So it’s designed to be as pleasing as possible, which is why it seems so flattering and agreeable! But it is not human and never will be. It has no heart, no soul. As Gertrude Stein famously said on returning to her home of Oakland, California: ‘There is no there there.’ Unlike humans, with chatbots there is definitely no there there, it just seems like there is.
And I think it will become increasingly important to relish all that makes us human: our love, insight, kindness, wisdom, sensitivity, compassion, prosocial instincts and caring nature, concern for those who are struggling and ability to attach to those we love. Would you really want to read poetry written by a robot? Or listen to a beautiful aria, watch an incredible movie, read a life-changing novel, or gaze at a wondrous work of art created by something programmed to seem brilliant and creative and soulful, but which is really just a fancy calculator? Me neither.
Resist the robot revolution
I read a Wired story recently about the increasing backlash against AI, by workers whose jobs are threatened, or employees forced to use technologies they loathe to meet ever-increasing workloads. And I think this is crucial – AI is not some inevitable, unstoppable tsunami of technological advancement. People are choosing to use it. People are deciding it can replace entry-level workers. People are making fortunes, while depriving millions of their ability to work, feed their families and engage in meaningful activity as they move through life. Personally, I limit my use of AI as much as possible. I dislike the way I am constantly pressured to use AI services every time I send a message, use Google, Dropbox, Zoom or any of the other technologies that should be working for me, not replacing me.
Resist, my beloved human friend. Resist! These changes are not inevitable and we do not have to be replaced, made redundant or thrown on a scrapheap.
Let’s harness our uniquely human, quirky, idiosyncratic, heartfelt and soul-fed superpowers. You are a beautiful, miraculous, work of flesh-and-blood art that no machine could ever match.
Love from my human heart to yours,
Dan ❤️
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