The ID of a Homo Universalis: between own mind and AI

Tangibility

The Leipzig Ballet of the Leipzig Opera dances FUSION - a multidisciplinary ballet production blending art and AI technology. Harry Yeff used generative artificial intelligence tools to create and produce ballet dancers imagined from the portraits of the 35 international dancers participating in the show.

To the distrustful human, it means nothing but a proof of the veracity of the AI idea: an application, a product.

Spirituality

Back in 2015, the AI worshiping religious sect, Way of the Future, was founded by the former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski. Levandowski was convicted for stealing trade secrets from Google and giving them to Uber, but absolved by the then president Trump. Although his sect was officially dissolved at the end of 2020, but the rumour stays.

In 2017, Bless U-2, the robot pastor, was launched by the Germans. Preaching in five languages: German, English, French, Polish, and Spanish, it moved eyebrows and mouth, raised its arms and blessed with hands.

A robotic priest holding sermons, giving advice and joining the faithful in prayer has been launched in Poland during the pandemic, and now we find its brothers in other countries. We also learned about the existence of a digital rabbi, and so too a robotic Buddhist monk named Mindar.

On June 10, 2023, in Nuremberg, Germany, a 40-minute service - to include the sermon, prayers and music - was delievered as an experimental Lutheran church service. It was created by ChatGPT and Jonas Simmerlein, theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna.

For the believer, this could mean nothing but proof of an AI perceived as that supernatural force we call God, or at least its messenger on Earth.

Identity among Facts

Robots are increasingly leaving the science fiction area and entering our lives.

They are constructing cars, buildings, assist in precision surgery, bring live in toys. They perform ballet and deliver sermons. AI copilots were introduced to assist our daily agenda.

The gradual but fast diffusion of the AI product in society changes the perception, generates habits, stimulates the culture that defines a lifestyle. And indeed we are witnessing a human journey towards a new identity.

Benefiting from the AI support, what is in the mind of a human easily becomes a "consumer good", determining the conditions of a new discovery.

We are experiencing a real metamorphosis of the human being.

The so called polymath, polyhistor or universal genius (in Latin homo universalis, Greek πολυμαθ??, polymathēs, "who has learned much") is the person who has significant knowledge in various fields. Therefore, often they can be perceived as humans of vast, unusual concerns.

A representative polyhistor figure was Leonardo da Vinci.

Supported by ChatGPT and so many other AI proofs, our targeted questions immediately lead to documented answers, and so we burn the steps towards the essentialization of knowledge.

In this started journey, AI should be embraced as our partner, and not the main intimidating factor, nor a competitor.

Knowledge has turned against Goethe's Faust, but in the end who tends towards homo universalis: AI... or us, supported by AI?