Bravo, Alistair! Thank you for writing this. I LOVE Monika's question: What is my relationship to AI? When my health insurance company and doctors’ offices started using AIs, I got dangerously hostile--with hostility that only affected me. I still don't know how to relate sanely with an AI. Two other comments. First, as Toni Morrison famously said, "I write the books that I want to read." But in an AI-world, my curiosity and commitment to discovering inner truths...become much harder to hold. Second, we need awareness of what AI takes from the Earth. What every ChatGpT request means for water use, extractions, smelting, fossil fuels, intercontinental shipping, electromagnetic radiation emissions, laborers working in slavery or similar conditions, toxic waste, fire hazards, etcetera. Whether or not we're aware of these things, they affected our collective human soul. Thank you again.
Love your point on the quest(ion) of inner truth, as well as yes, the consequences, or rather the interconnectedness for good and bad, of relating to AI. Thank you for this thoughtful comment to this insightful piece!
thanks so much - and i would also say that your first point about our your - and our - relatisonship is inextricably connected to your later point - on the immense planetary impact - incidentally i recently met with: https://aiplanetaryjustice.com/ - and i hope to work with them more soon on these topic ..
Near the beginning, you wrote, "I do not believe AI will not destroy us." Did you intend this double-negative? It confused me for a moment, until I read the rest of your article.
I totally agree with you on the need to pledge "100% AI-free" writing--also art, music, and any other creative endeavor. And AI-free spaces. I am encouraged by the failure to adopt Google Glass, since that indicates most people really do not want to live within a technological interface with the world. It's my hope that the spiritual emptiness of AI production--its technical skill but complete lack of heart or soul--will be increasingly obvious to people and they will reject it.
I also think the very disturbing adoption of AI as companion (which has already put 12 people in the hospital with psychic breaks) is a direct result of the basic alienation of society, and that as the collapse continues, more will reject the values that underpin the anti-human and anti-life structures of (global) civilization. This could lead to different values becoming prominent and more community-mindedness, and people who have lost all connection with other humans and with communities of support and love will find that again.
Thank you for your deeply meaningful inquiry and discussion, Alistair! And for including some of our notes during the gathering — we shall keep the conversation going, as there are no easy quick answers to any of these questions. 🙏 Looking forward to continuing and reading more from you!
Bravo, Alistair! Thank you for writing this. I LOVE Monika's question: What is my relationship to AI? When my health insurance company and doctors’ offices started using AIs, I got dangerously hostile--with hostility that only affected me. I still don't know how to relate sanely with an AI. Two other comments. First, as Toni Morrison famously said, "I write the books that I want to read." But in an AI-world, my curiosity and commitment to discovering inner truths...become much harder to hold. Second, we need awareness of what AI takes from the Earth. What every ChatGpT request means for water use, extractions, smelting, fossil fuels, intercontinental shipping, electromagnetic radiation emissions, laborers working in slavery or similar conditions, toxic waste, fire hazards, etcetera. Whether or not we're aware of these things, they affected our collective human soul. Thank you again.
Love your point on the quest(ion) of inner truth, as well as yes, the consequences, or rather the interconnectedness for good and bad, of relating to AI. Thank you for this thoughtful comment to this insightful piece!
thanks so much - and i would also say that your first point about our your - and our - relatisonship is inextricably connected to your later point - on the immense planetary impact - incidentally i recently met with: https://aiplanetaryjustice.com/ - and i hope to work with them more soon on these topic ..
Near the beginning, you wrote, "I do not believe AI will not destroy us." Did you intend this double-negative? It confused me for a moment, until I read the rest of your article.
I totally agree with you on the need to pledge "100% AI-free" writing--also art, music, and any other creative endeavor. And AI-free spaces. I am encouraged by the failure to adopt Google Glass, since that indicates most people really do not want to live within a technological interface with the world. It's my hope that the spiritual emptiness of AI production--its technical skill but complete lack of heart or soul--will be increasingly obvious to people and they will reject it.
I also think the very disturbing adoption of AI as companion (which has already put 12 people in the hospital with psychic breaks) is a direct result of the basic alienation of society, and that as the collapse continues, more will reject the values that underpin the anti-human and anti-life structures of (global) civilization. This could lead to different values becoming prominent and more community-mindedness, and people who have lost all connection with other humans and with communities of support and love will find that again.
Thank you for your deeply meaningful inquiry and discussion, Alistair! And for including some of our notes during the gathering — we shall keep the conversation going, as there are no easy quick answers to any of these questions. 🙏 Looking forward to continuing and reading more from you!