The Artificiality of Natural Intelligence with David Bates
Feb 1, 2024
auto_awesome
Discussion on human technology and the blurring line between artificial and natural intelligence. Delve into the relationship between human nature, technology, and the strangeness of the human. Exploring the failures of artificial intelligence and the distraction of contemporary AI. Discussion on eccentricity, disruption of norms, and the role of norms in decision-making. Importance of historical norms and social conditions in human survival. Focus on anticipation and decision making.
AI fails to capture the human mind's erancy, capacity for self-disruption, and productive invention.
Contemporary technological advances in AI fail to acknowledge the human mind's capacity for disruption and novelty.
Deep dives
Artificial Intelligence and the Human Way of Being
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises questions about the relationship between technology and the human condition. The human way of being is historical and marked by erancy, a constant deviation from established norms. The mind is the site of multiple systems, biological, socio-political, and technical, which intertwine and often conflict with each other. The mind's attempt to bring unity to these systems is an ongoing and failing effort. AI fails to capture the fundamental character of the human mind, its erancy, its capacity for self-disruption and productive invention. The industrialization of technology and the logic of capitalism have diminished this capacity and imposed their own norms. In the digital age, it is crucial to create spaces of clearing in our minds, dis-automatize ourselves, and be open to novelty and the indeterminate.
The Break from Nature and the Wrenching Out through Technology
The human way of being involves breaking from nature through the use of tools and technology, thus constructing our own world. The human mind is eccentric, always in a state of crisis, and capable of disrupting its own norms. The technological evolution, from stone tools to the digital revolution, has transformed and amplified this wrenching out of established ways of being. However, contemporary technological advances, particularly in artificial intelligence, fail to acknowledge the human mind's capacity for disruption and novelty. Technology's logic of predictability clashes with the human ability to envision and commit to a future not determined by the past.
The Importance of Disrupting Automatism and Embracing Essence
Technology, particularly digital technology, has led to an impoverished concept of intelligence and has distracted and imposed its logic on the human mind. The automatic behaviors conditioned by technology hinder the potential for genuine intelligence and erancy. Dis-automatizing becomes essential to extricating ourselves from dominant logics and oppressive norms, particularly within the digital infrastructure. The human mind's capacity for disruption, listening, and embracing essential indeterminacy allows us to go beyond predictable patterns and engage with the profundity of being.
From Contingency to Decision: The Role of Normativity
Normativity, the longing for stability and credible norms, stems from a human need for security and survival. However, norms should not be clung to when they no longer serve their purpose or hinder growth and resilience. The digital age challenges traditional norms in various fields, such as politics and international law, requiring us to rethink and create new norms that respond to contemporary global complexities. Decision-making, especially in moments of crisis, involves recognizing the contingency of norms, secure foundations, and creating a new norm through anticipation and commitment to an unprecedented future.
In this philosophy-heavy episode, Professor Robert Harrison and David Bates, Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley, discuss the “unnatural” origins of human technology and the difficulty of drawing sharp distinctions between artificial and natural intelligence. Songs in this episode: “Bourée” by Jethro Tull and “Ghost” by Fleetwood Mac.
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.
