AI See You

Artificial intelligence has been occupying a large part of my mind-share of late. While a great deal of it is through my work in fintech, a large involuntary part is through the constant information bludgeoning delivery mechanism that is my phone. Just like the cookie monster, I calmly told myself that I need to be rational and coherent about this. Inevitably this was followed by the whole "cookie cookie cookie!" phase. Moments later, caution was thrown to the wind and I decided that this noise needs more flavour. This followed:

I love the questions that emerge during the course of a trek in the mountains. More so when one secretly hopes to prolong a break using the rather potent cover fire provided by the subject of 'life and other mysteries'. A scientific writer and friend posed the question, "Since when did intelligence become the prime measure of our existence?". 

While I felt the premise to be on shaky ground, the question nevertheless got me thinking about intelligence itself without delving into its nature, artificial or otherwise. Intelligence on steroids is still intelligence. Its purpose, if any, is debatable though its impact on the known universe is observable to a fair extent. Intelligence seems to manipulate the transformation of matter and energy beyond the inherent laws governing natural phenomena. 

With that as one possible starting point, let's get back to AI. Let's skip past when AI is done with human torture and is now looking at black mirror episodes for fresh ideas. Fast forwarding to a happy scenario where we magically managed to survive the self-obliterating tendencies we as a species like to live on the edge of. The story line may include Skynet getting bored, lazy and lonely after taking over the earth terminator style and subsequently decides to create more jobs for humans. It may also include Neo being given an extra cookie by the oracle (given its his 6th attempt) to open the other door when he meets the architect to conquer machine city and all. I think you get the picture. So we skip all that messiness and go straight to some pseudo version of utopia.

Imagine, if you will, a world we are born into where our willful thoughts could manipulate all of the physical universe; moulding and remoulding it effortlessly and where resource poses little constraint. In short, Aladdin's magic lamp plus plus with an infinite wishes add on. (This version of the magic lamp is powered by a deeply advanced Awesome Universe Bending AI ofcourse.. AUBI for short)

I wonder what this world would be like? Who would we be in relation to this world? A universe where our needs exceed the ability gained even from the universe being the equivalent of space-time play-doh. Everthing is possible here, no death, no disease, no crime, no inequality, etc. A world in which survival is made trivial, vestigial. How would we anchor our identities and our relation to each other and everything that exists? Would we move from the distraction of basing who we are on what we do to what our nature is? At the very edge of this thought, beyond the thick smokescreen of complex distraction, I find the borders of my simple mindedness. 

Thankfully, there are beacons that speak to something deeper perhaps. We've all had the experience of people in our lives who expressed their being fully; so much so that they were inseparable from a force of nature. They expressed paradigms transcending intelligence and many virtues we espouse. Where their awareness of their 'being'ness does not take away from their grace. Neither intelligence nor the lack of it, neither education nor the lack of it, neither health nor the lack of it, neither money nor the lack of it, neither power nor the lack of it; Neither constraints nor the lack of them bound them. They were who they were and it radiated from the core of their being. Where their silence brought forth more than an ocean of words. This is not about the challenges that they overcame but rather who they were in relation to that challenge. Its not about the human centred view in the struggle for maintaining relevance subtly camouflaged. It is more. In fact, in the absence of relevance, who would we be?

As we gaze on this tsunami of flux that AI heralds, I am hopeful for us. I am hopeful that there will come a time when science becomes indistinguishable from magic and that this would bring with it the questions of old. I am filled with a hope that these questions would unearth roots that go to the very centre of our own being. As intelligence births its own amplification to change our universe, birthing demi God's and Demons in its wake, beyond this play of distraction, who are we? Better yet, 'What' are we? There my mind dwells.

And with that ladies and gentlemen, we come to the end of this rabbit hole. In true Calvin & Hobbes style, post deep-contemplation-on-the-mysteries-of-the-universe, I shall devolve back into making fintech work better, fully satisfied in the reverse bludgeoning I have doled out. Ill leave you with a lazy mind Meme: AI .. why you be no more 'magic'y quickly? (You pictured it didn't you). Have a good day!