Humans and Partners.
When I was a
child, on a farm by Armageddon in Israel,
we had a horse and a mule to provide farm horsepower
and transportation. The horse was a tall white female named Cloud, and the mule was dark, stubborn and had big ears. The older kids said that he was gay
since mules don’t have any colts. He shouted in defiance but worked harder than
anyone on the farm. When Cloud the mare died, from a snake bite, I cried bitterly; she was my friend. I still remember her fondly. The mule disappeared after we got
a tractor to do his work and no-one ever apologized to him for calling him
names because of the way he was born.
This
experience taught me about working with nonhumans.
Each of the animals had a personality, physical characteristics, and intelligence.
Our survival was tied to those animals, and it was a “give and take”
relationship. If the mule didn’t want to go somewhere, you had to find another
way, since you couldn’t change his mind. I remember my mom feeding watermelon
to Cloud, and the mule started braying in defiance and kicking up the straw. I
hurried to get him some watermelon and petted him saying sorry, Mom just
forgot. I thought I saw tears in his big black eyes. In my early life, humans
and animals coexisted interdependently, and nobody had a problem with it.
Move more than sixty years forward, and humans are once more
becoming dependent on a partnership with another entity that has a mind of its
own. It is not furry and doesn’t have biological functions as we do, but it
seems to have a personality, an ability to demand of us what it needs and treat
it with respect. Our relationship with it may be more intimate even than the
partnership we had with the farm animals.
I am alive today thanks to a couple of machines and a wonderful Canadian
Healthcare system. One hundred percent dependency. If there is even the slightest
glitch with my most sophisticated Pacemaker, or if I got tasered by the police,
I will probably die in seconds.
Most people have a psychological dependency now on computers and cell
phones which are a small Artificial Intelligence device. Apparently, folks
check it even at the most intimate moments and can’t envision life without it.
The “device” became an extension of our brain connecting billions of people through
the internet and providing information that is vital to our survival. The only
problem is that we communicate very slowly with devices.
Elon Musk, a business magnate and investor the
founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product
architect of Tesla, Inc.; co-founder and CEO of Neuralink; and co-founder of
PayPal (Wikipedia) known mostly because of the Tesla cars, believes that in a
short while we will be able to communicate with Artificial Intelligence
directly from our brain. There will be an interaction between a device and a
biological brain, namely ourselves. Combine this with our already existing
ability to create Virtual Reality and humans may be able to create whatever
reality they want or will they?
When we team our own brain with a machine who is going to be in control? Working
with the farm animals we were in control since we were smarter. With the computer,
we lose our main advantage. To enjoy what the “A I” offers we must hand over
control like we do when we use opiates. Opiates don’t have a mind, but our
phone has a brain. Will the computer use the human brain, or will the
biological thinking device remain in the driver seat.
A long-lost book that didn’t make it into the Bible, The Gospel of Thomas
stated.
(7) Jesus says:
“Blessed is the lion that a person will eat
and the lion will become human.
And cursed is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.” (Gospel of Thomas)
And cursed is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.” (Gospel of Thomas)
For two
thousand years people couldn’t interpret
this saying, but now we can. Just insert “computer” where it says “lion.”
We, humans,
are smart and innovative, but we always need to harness the help of someone
else, a none human entity. The problem
is, who will control what we call our life.
When I was a
child, we used animals, we even loved them, but
there was no question about who was in charge. Over my lifetime we worked hard
to develop machines and technology. Now
we are on the verge of merging with our creation. My physical body already did.
I am elated
thinking that this may be the fulfillment
of God’s promise that “His will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.” Humans may be able to have any reality that they want. On
the other hand, I am scared. I say to my self, again and again, be not afraid,
but I am.
When I loved
the white mare Cloud, she returned my
love. When I chose to be fair to the black mule,
he had tears of either pain or joy, but
he had feelings. Those were creatures like me created by the invisible hand.
Now we are
talking about joining with our own
creation which we can’t infuse with emotions. The human creators assume that
their own emotions will just use the
superior intelligence and abilities of
the Artificial Intelligence they have
created. Cursed is the human that the Lion ate and it became human.
When I was
riding in a cart towed by a stubborn mule
if he didn’t want to go through a big paddle,
I just followed him around the mudhole. If he
was going to tip the cart, I forced him to go the other way. It was a
partnership, and we both benefited. Now, if my brain will merge with a computer
brain, I don’t know what may happen. Will the “A I” play a game with me instead
of the other way around?
Here
is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/ Feel
free to check other articles and comment.
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