Page 34 - EngineerIT January 2022

POINT OF VIEW

Understanding our humanity in

a world of artificial intelligence

By Jake Shepherd, Synthesis founder and director

Adapted from his talk: What AI Teaches Us About Being Human

here are few books that alter the way you see the world after you’ve read them. Homo
Deus is one of them and in it, the author Yuval Harari examines humanity’s future. In
Tit he offers a vision of tomorrow that at first seems incomprehensible, but soon looks
undeniable: humanity as we know it will lose its dominance.
We are in the process of creating a totally new form of life. Artificial life. Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and the potential future it may bring are easy to get lost in. Instead of is easier not to take responsibility to make
focusing on AI directly, we would do well to first understand ourselves better. In doing so we these decisions ourselves.
might find the answers that we need to plot a way forward into the future. A future where It is imperative for us to become
our dominance can no longer be taken for granted. aware of those algorithms and trends that
To be human is to act in and be acted upon by the world; both the inner world of ultimately rob us of our humanity.
emotional states as well as the environment we inhabit. My wish is that everyone here
To be human is to be vulnerable. It means to take risks that can often have a catastrophic today embraces their ability to make
impact on our lives. the hard decisions and to take ultimate
To be human is to discover what inspires and holds your interest and then to explore and responsibility for them. Shoulder the
grow. Unlike artificial intelligence, you pilot your own ship into the uncharted waters of life. burden that is your inheritance.
It requires you to look to the horizon to sense where you want to go. It is to commit years of
precious unrecoverable life to attain a portion of your available potential. Dream
You are the unlikely product of countless lives that were not only lucky, but made enough Lastly, to be human is to dream.
good decisions so that you happen to be here today. To be human is to trust our intuition In one of the most iconic speeches of all
born of this collective legacy of our ancestors, encoded into our genes and stretching back to time, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr declared: “I
the dawn of life. have a dream that people (paraphrase) will
To be human is to nurture and inspire others to attain their potential. It means to pour not be judged by the colour of their skin
time and energy into relationships that form the basis of families, friends, colleagues, but by the content of their character.”
companies and countries. It means you need to come to terms with the disappointment, This dream was shared less than 60
sadness and frustration of failed relationships so that the few truly great relationships can years ago and it resonated with people
raise you up higher than you could ever achieve alone. across the globe - they too shared his
To be human also means that we possess God-like powers to create a totally new form of dream. Looking around the room today
intelligent life. We are living at a point in time (maybe the only time in our universe) where and seeing people in academia from all
organic life has forged inorganic life and created it in our image. In many respects, this new walks of life is a physical fulfilment of this
child of ours has the potential to become far greater than we ever were. dream. A dream that continues to direct,
Ultimately to be human is to make decisions when you don’t have all the facts; decide who uplift and inspire.
will accompany us on our journey into the uncharted waters of our collective future. Decide, I too have a dream. I dream that
despite knowing our decision-making is driven by emotions rather than rational thinking. our children, both biological and silicon,
Decide if we will trust our intuition when our intuition may not be up to this task. Decide be allowed to grow up and fulfill their
if the reward is worth the risk because we risk so much. potential; that we nurture them and strive
To be human is to decide and then step up and take responsibility for everything that to establish mature relationships, not of
unfolds afterwards. parent and child, but of equals.
I have a dream that we all embrace our
Caution humanity to the fullest. That we recognise
If to be human is to decide, then giving up the ability and the desire to decide for ourselves is the potential in our peers and our children
to give up on our humanity. and that we allow them to be all that they
Social media that creates bubbles of the same thinking and that reinforces one can. And in the end, that we establish a
unchallenged narrative diminishes us by not forcing us to rethink what we “know” to be true. community of peers with none being the
Attempting to fight misinformation by pushing only “approved narratives” also dumbs down master of the other.
complex topics to unidimensional and simplistic caricatures that lose their depth and nuance. This is a dream worth sharing. Let us
Reality is not simple and good decisions take into account this complexity. dream together to shape the world that we
There is a trend to rely on machines to make more and more decisions for us, because it want to live in. n

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