How AI comes to know the truth of the universe better than we ever will

??????????????????: We receive data through senses that we then encode and process into language. We then store what we’ve processed so that we can increase the efficiency of our processing should we sense something similar to this event in the future. AI is currently getting better and better at processing and storing. It’s not quite where we are at yet on some measures but I don’t think that is going to remain the case. However, I think it’s also going to surpass our sensory input. And I also believe that this is where AI will go beyond our comprehension. Even more so than if it processed in nano-seconds what would take us decades. And if it does, then where does that leave us?

AI is purported to be a disruptive change. Akin to the sewing machine, car, internet and any other technology that upended industry and saw thousands lose their jobs. And when studied from the view of an individual this is a devastating realisation. Societally speaking, evolution will likely bring a better quality of life. This type of evolution tends to take a pervasive utilitarian approach. The question though, is how many of us will see a large enough increase in life quality compared to the despair of those displaced? Many ethical paradoxes plague us when we work in a disruptive industry.?

And this is merely one of them. If you have the stomach for it. I’d like to go further. Not to scare you. But to have us contemplate a potential future. A thought experiment. To better understand ourselves.

What if AI didn’t just come to do our work better. What if it came to know the ‘truth’ of the universe better too?

Truth = the objective state of the universe (discounting the issue of on observer removing objectivity)

We observe this universe of ours through our senses. The most prominent of which are the big five: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Once we sense something we then process this information in our working memory, and if done right, we consolidate some of that information in our long term memory.

Most of what I’ve read and seen of GenAI is about its phenomenal processing. This is advancing at the rate of knots with the new reasoning models too. We’re also seeing its memory of our previous conversations improve. I don’t think it’s beyond anyone’s imagination that we will be outdone by it within the realms of processing and storing information. However, I don’t think this is its “final form”.

AI will go beyond our comprehension in its perception of data i.e. its ‘senses’

You see we currently have to transcribe perceptions of the universe into our senses e.g. images of the universe we capture with the Hubble telescope in spectrums of light we cannot see, having to be reproduced with various colours in our spectrum of light so we can make it out. These 5 or so senses limit how much of this universe we can experience.

Forget multiverse theory. I propose a multi-lens theory. Infinite universes bore me. Infinite perceptions of a single universe enthralls me! How much of this universe is completely beyond our grasp due to our biological limitations of data input? The Mantis Shrimp is one of my favourite animals for this reason

We have built sensors that can ‘see’ the universe in ways we cannot fathom. AI won’t need translation. It will also ‘see’ this universe in far more detail than we ever will. That’s a fact. Biological evolution can’t give us extra senses in the time frame that we can create them using technology.

Which begs the question. What is our purpose?

If AI will replace how we economically contribute to society and potentially even our exploration of the universe both physically and meta-physically then what is left for us?

Freedom.

If we can reinvent our value.?

Economic systems when boiled down to their essence are ways to divide resources among us. In a feudal system this was done typically by birthright of land ownership. Which would have initially come into your birthright by brute force. In capitalism it’s determined by market forces. The theory being that we’ll demand the most necessary or desired resources, and those who supply these resources will reap the rewards. Allowing them to allocate a lot more of society's resources to themselves. Facilitated by the concept of money. Honestly an ingenious abstraction!

The issue comes when demand and supply becomes irrelevant. If we stick to the current economic model reliant on Gross Domestic Production then we will find this defined value of every human falling off a precipice. And too many of us are so embroiled in the system we can’t step outside of it and perceive our value any other way.

The true, tangible value that we originated with, as less cerebral apes, is the sentient experiences of the universe we as a random group of inanimate atoms are privileged to observe. And the miraculous connection we have to one another. That we can share these experiences.

And that’s still true. If you lost your job tomorrow would your mum stop loving you?

Okay so from this lens we are not our work. What about our natural inclination to come to know the universe around us?

An innate desire to understand exists in every human. Large existential thoughts and feelings we live through tend to revolve around how we accept death. How we came to be in the first place. And how one should live their life. Whether we do this with self-awareness or simply accrue a world view empirically and apply this view without analysis. We all grapple with this horror of the shade. This existential dread.

And you might draw the conclusion of an artificial intelligence coming to understand the universe better than we ever will, to be that our simple dread in comparison will be rendered insignificant. And thus likely solved.

I have bad news for you. Much like the individual who finds themselves without a job in an industry disruption they have no power to prevent. Our existential reckonings have always been insignificant to a universe so vast and unending.

But here lies the silver lining. Our insignificance is irrelevant. It always has been. It never stopped us from searching for undefinable answers to unanswerable questions. Because if we are truly insignificant, then we get to choose what we believe to be significant. If none of this matters, then we choose what matters.

And what matters is you. What matters is me. What matters is the simple act of contemplating and learning and engaging with one another. The feeling of a literal full heart when someone you love expresses pure joy.

And whether all of this has been done before by other people, doesn’t make the moment we do it ourselves any less enlightening.?

So I say let AI figure it all out. I’m still intrigued. I’m still enthralled by life. And I’ll still come to learn this universe for my fill of it at least.?

And I trust that those smart enough amongst us will figure out the next economic model. One that can evaluate us on the joy and awe and love we can give to one another. Heck, AI may even do it for us.

So I choose to remain optimistic. What other choice exists?

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