Technologizing the Self

We exist in the era of big data. Every thing that supposedly makes or describes you is measured, collected, organized, and sold to advertising agencies, private companies, and other megalithic corporations. But are these metrics truly representative of you?

The self is a concept that philosophers have pondered for eons. Martin Heidegger, the polarizing and revolutionary philosopher of the 20th century, described the self as:

"It is impossible to understand Heidegger’s conception of the self without considering it as a phenomenon of Dasein, and so a very brief explication of this last concept will be now provided. In essence, Dasein is that mode of Being which is particular to humans. It is, to this extent, unique among forms of Being, having “a special distinctiveness as compared with other entities” (32)."

To Heidegger, the self is inextricably bound to being-in-the-world. In plain terms, we create ourselves by interacting with other beings. This is an intuitive understanding of the self that breaks from traditional Western philosophers such as Descartes, Hume, or Kant.

So, if the self is to be understood only within the world, then attempts at rationalizing and describing the self should be understood as incomplete and imperfect expressions of actual being. This argument is the basis of Hubert Dreyfus' critique of artificial intelligence in the mid to late 20th century.

The self simply cannot be reduced to empirical, logically arranged elements. Digital computers require computer programmers and data scientists to reduce human experience to empirical terms. Artificial intelligence is in fact a human expression that mirrors human intelligence, that in practice is wholly lacking the human essence of intelligence.

This does not mean that AI is completely useless, quite the contrary. Developments in AI over the past 75 years, especially over the past decade, have proven that AI is here to stay. So, what must be done now?

Technologizing the self is a feeble enterprise. Computer science is a feeble enterprise, even despite proponents warning of "the singularity". Technologizing the self lacks reflexivity, interpretation, and evolution of thought.

The field of linguistics shows that language is constantly evolving. Knowing this, if we continue to build large language models (LLM's) based on text found on the internet, what will happen in 50 years from now when our language and dialects are completely different? Can AI respond to this evolution?

Or worse, what of languages that exist outside the realm of the digital? Will AI push those languages onto the peripheries of existence?

If we are to adopt AI across industry, we must do so by treading carefully. Technologizing the self comes at the cost of reducing ourselves to 1's and 0's. We intuitively understand that we are much more than such.

Metrics that are used in big data broking only capture one snapshot of something that we give meaning to by logically explaining the metric post data collection. For example: variables that measure race/ethnicity are indeed much more than a collection of empirical elements that logically relate to each other. Race and ethnicity evolve throughout time, through human interaction.

Using AI and data analytics is a perilous activity that cannot be downplayed. Any organization that is considering the use of AI must consider the dangers associated with it. On that note, I will leave you all with a quote from Hubert Dreyfus:

“During the past two thousand years the importance of objectivity; the belief that actions are governed by fixed values; the notion that skills can be formalized; and in general that one can have a theory of practical activity, have gradually exerted their influence in psychology and in social science. People have begun to think of themselves as objects able to fit into the inflexible calculations of disembodied machines: machines for which the human-form-of-life must be analyzed into meaningless facts, rather than a field of concern organized by sensory-motor skills. Our risk is not the advent of superintelligent computers, but of subintelligent human beings,” (Dreyfus 1972: 280).

Technologizing the self staticizes the self.