ChiroDoc
Senior Member
- Location
- The Dixie Riviera
I am an AI skeptic. Having said that, I was pleased to read some commentary by the great Tom Woods, PhD (The Tom Woods Show: History, Economics, Sanity) which briefly poses observations about how AI affects us personally. Perhaps some of you would enjoy reading them:
"I love technology because the less drudgery we have to do, the more human a life we can live.
What is the distinguishing feature of human beings? Reason, said Aristotle. The more we are freed from the kind of tasks even a domesticated animal might do, the more we can be engaged in genuinely human activities.
But being human is more than just exercising reason. Technology can save me valuable time that I can otherwise spend having irreplaceable human experiences building my relationships with friends and family. Or it gives me extra time to express my creativity.
You all know I have a quirky view of AI: if it makes my life easier (which in some ways it has), I'm all for it.
If it frees us up to have time to express ourselves creatively, great. But then why would we want AI to also do the creative work for us? That would in turn free us up to do...what, exactly? [bolding mine]
Sit around and be entertained and edified by robots?
But enough about AI: I know I have intelligent readers who can respond to what I've said with perfectly sound and rational replies.
So instead, think of this: that device in your pocket can in principle be the most liberating thing in the world, if used correctly.
But for many people, it's become an albatross.
You can now be on call at all times. The work-life balance gets blurred. Microsoft has begun to speak of the "infinite workday."
(That sounds awesome.)
You would think that with the technology we have now, our lives would be more tranquil, less subject to disturbance, and more things would be automated, leaving us less frenetic and more content.
Is that how most people's lives seem to you?
Just because we have the technological capability to do something doesn't mean we should do it.
We had "Zoom school" during Covid because we had the technological capability to do it. Had that capability not existed, it is very likely school would simply have resumed.
And because we have the technological capability for people to be able to be semi-hooked into work all the time, that's what a lot of people's lives look like right now.
Wasn't all this technology supposed to free us?
Yet a Martian visiting Earth would be convinced that for many of us, the devices had become our masters, and we their slaves.
This is not a recipe for a good life. It sure as hell isn't how you want your children to live.
Well, as someone who went through most of his life a nervous wreck because he worked all the time, I'm happy to report that I've cracked the code on all this stuff.
Nowadays, when someone starts an email to me with "I know you're busy," I appreciate their consideration but in fact I have things in order and I'm not especially busy.
In short:
We are surrounded by technological marvels our ancestors could scarcely have believed, and somehow we've found ourselves serving them, instead of letting them serve us. ..."
It can be acknowledged that AI has beneficial uses in certain applications. And we are likely in a transition period in that respect. But its increasingly ubiquitous use --especially by naive individuals-- seems at this point to simply be further dumbing down much of our population, which in turn inhibits their ability to think and reason.
I look at AI as I do the Grand Canyon: the view is fine, but don't stand too close to the edge.
"I love technology because the less drudgery we have to do, the more human a life we can live.
What is the distinguishing feature of human beings? Reason, said Aristotle. The more we are freed from the kind of tasks even a domesticated animal might do, the more we can be engaged in genuinely human activities.
But being human is more than just exercising reason. Technology can save me valuable time that I can otherwise spend having irreplaceable human experiences building my relationships with friends and family. Or it gives me extra time to express my creativity.
You all know I have a quirky view of AI: if it makes my life easier (which in some ways it has), I'm all for it.
If it frees us up to have time to express ourselves creatively, great. But then why would we want AI to also do the creative work for us? That would in turn free us up to do...what, exactly? [bolding mine]
Sit around and be entertained and edified by robots?
But enough about AI: I know I have intelligent readers who can respond to what I've said with perfectly sound and rational replies.
So instead, think of this: that device in your pocket can in principle be the most liberating thing in the world, if used correctly.
But for many people, it's become an albatross.
You can now be on call at all times. The work-life balance gets blurred. Microsoft has begun to speak of the "infinite workday."
(That sounds awesome.)
You would think that with the technology we have now, our lives would be more tranquil, less subject to disturbance, and more things would be automated, leaving us less frenetic and more content.
Is that how most people's lives seem to you?
Just because we have the technological capability to do something doesn't mean we should do it.
We had "Zoom school" during Covid because we had the technological capability to do it. Had that capability not existed, it is very likely school would simply have resumed.
And because we have the technological capability for people to be able to be semi-hooked into work all the time, that's what a lot of people's lives look like right now.
Wasn't all this technology supposed to free us?
Yet a Martian visiting Earth would be convinced that for many of us, the devices had become our masters, and we their slaves.
This is not a recipe for a good life. It sure as hell isn't how you want your children to live.
Well, as someone who went through most of his life a nervous wreck because he worked all the time, I'm happy to report that I've cracked the code on all this stuff.
Nowadays, when someone starts an email to me with "I know you're busy," I appreciate their consideration but in fact I have things in order and I'm not especially busy.
In short:
We are surrounded by technological marvels our ancestors could scarcely have believed, and somehow we've found ourselves serving them, instead of letting them serve us. ..."
It can be acknowledged that AI has beneficial uses in certain applications. And we are likely in a transition period in that respect. But its increasingly ubiquitous use --especially by naive individuals-- seems at this point to simply be further dumbing down much of our population, which in turn inhibits their ability to think and reason.
I look at AI as I do the Grand Canyon: the view is fine, but don't stand too close to the edge.
