The potential benefits of AI are as immense as they are mind-boggling, and may enable us to create a beautiful future if used wisely. AI systems predicting and mitigating natural disasters, diagnosing diseases with the accuracy of a world-class doctor (without poor bedside manner), or even solving complex mathematical problems. The possibilities are endless and exciting.
Moreover, the idea of AI as our "extended mind," I find fascinating. Discussed by Andy Clark and David Chalmers1, AI could open up new frontiers in human cognition and abilities. As AI improves, it will augment and accelerate our capabilities, expand our memory, and predict our needs. This could lead to a future where we are not just users of this technology, but integrated within it - a future where humanity merges with AI.
Merging with AI also comes with its own Pandora's box of existential dread and epistemological nightmares. As AI improves, outperforms, and outsmarts humans, the need for human input decreases, like a once-popular actor being slowly written out of their own show.
The implications are as profound as they are terrifying. If AI systems become the primary source of knowledge and decision-making, we might find ourselves in a world of intellectual AI dependency, where humans no longer trust their own judgment and instead rely solely on AI. Will we continue to value human-level knowledge, or will it become commonplace—even responsible—to defer to AI in most, if not all, matters?
For millions of years, we have been collectively captaining the ship of humanity in pursuit of a more beautiful future. It's been rough seas, but all things considered, we've been on course.
Now we just upgraded the ship with a shiny new AI cruise control, and we are about to turn it on. How might our path be diverted gradually and imperceptibly if we're not at the helm? Shuffleboard below deck might sound pretty good to some after all.
