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AIBU?

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Original poster

Technology is making us less human

32 replies

Arseulaundress · 03/01/2024 11:26

I think we are becoming more and more like machines. The poor manners often described on here are a product of an increasing enmeshment with technology that is helping to isolate people, and is breaking down the connections that keep societies civil. People interact less and less, and they see and/or contribute to the nastiness online that comes from not being face to face. That sort of discourse is becoming normalised.

AI is going to make humanity obsolete - and far quicker than you think. We are sleepwalking into this, as with so much else.

Are any of you, like me, thinking about how to detach from technology? What are you thinking of doing? What might help us love our humanity more, instead of seeing it as a bug that needs fixing? What is behind this race to deny our humanity?

AIBU?

OP posts:
KrisAkabusi · 03/01/2024 13:33

To truly understand the implications of the creation of a supercomputer, have a read of this - a two parter - but it isn't for the faint-hearted
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html?utmsource=bento&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=automation&bento_uuid=7059f5d1-6b72-4079-a0a0-4d0cb1e1b8f1

Ok, I've read that now.
Firstly, when at the start you use the argument "You're going to say I'm wrong, but I'm not, you are" you must know you're on shaky ground!

Also, the main argument against seems to be:
"If our meager brains were able to invent wifi, then something 100 or 1,000 or 1 billion times smarter than we are should have no problem controlling the positioning of each and every atom in the world in any way it likes, at any time—everything we consider magic, every power we imagine a supreme God to have will be as mundane an activity for the ASI as flipping on a light switch is for us"

No. Even if such an ai was to ever exist, it would still be bound by the laws of physics. It would still require physical mechanisms to interact with the real world. The speed of light would still restrict how quickly and how far it would be able to affect things. It's a good article, but it's just a scary story.

The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Part 1 - Wait But Why

Part 1 of 2: "The Road to Superintelligence". Artificial Intelligence — the topic everyone in the world should be talking about.

https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html?bento_uuid=7059f5d1-6b72-4079-a0a0-4d0cb1e1b8f1*&utmsource=bento

Original poster
Arseulaundress · 03/01/2024 12:59

People decried the wax-cylinder record player as being the death of the music industry, which only existed in sheet-music or live forms. Technology marches on and people adapt.

Ah, but the difference between the record player and a supercomputer is that the record player didn't threaten to eradicate humanity. To truly understand the implications of the creation of a supercomputer, have a read of this - a two parter - but it isn't for the faint-hearted: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html?utmsource=bento&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=automation&bento_uuid=7059f5d1-6b72-4079-a0a0-4d0cb1e1b8f1

I don't know whether it's an AI thing or a Covid thing. What I have definately noticed is that young people age range 17-20, who missed a lot of school due to the lockdown, have got awful manners and social skills.

You make a good point. I think we don't really know how badly covid messed things up yet. One thing I think was clear about covid - it shows how quickly humans give up their freedoms out of fear. It certainly moved us closer to technology, with the vaccine passports etc.

On the contrary - technology is revealing the worst of human nature by removing the barriers to behaving that way.

I think humanity is a mixture of good and bad, yes, and technology seems to be ushering us towards a nastier version of ourselves. This is what I meant in the OP. Because we interact less and less with actual humans (who might punch us in the face if we throw an insult) we are forgetting how to rub along with other humans. The polarised communities that hang out online do not reflect normal human community. If I am a rabid rightwinger with racist views, I can now hang out with others and my echo chamber helps me to feel my views are normal. I can avoid ever being challenged because I don't say them aloud at the PTA or down the pub. So, the tribalism is being magnified.

I have been heartened by the efforts of organisations to encourage civil speech online, such as this one.

OP posts:
NotSuchASmugMarriedAnymore · 03/01/2024 12:03

I agree with everything you say.

I always try to interact with a human rather than AI at say, the bank or the supermarket and I have taken to shopping in person in the high street, for insurance as well as other things.

I think we can fight back but yes you are absolutely right about society becoming more unpleasant. However, I don't know whether it's an AI thing or a Covid thing. What I have definately noticed is that young people age range 17-20, who missed a lot of school due to the lockdown, have got awful manners and social skills. Lots of them work in fast food outlets and seem to struggle with the most basic of things. It's sad.

ntmdino · 03/01/2024 12:01

On the contrary - technology is revealing the worst of human nature by removing the barriers to behaving that way.

To treat "humanity" as some sort of ideal, gentle, nice way of existing is a conceit only borne by...privileged humans. The reality is somewhat different, otherwise we wouldn't be embracing the absolute worst of our impulses; as soon as there are no immediate, physical consequences to behaving poorly, tens of millions of humans do exactly that.

Far from making us less human, technology is showing us what "being human" really is - nasty, messy, dirty, tribal behaviour free of empathy for anybody we see as "other".

KrisAkabusi · 03/01/2024 11:56

People decried the wax-cylinder record player as being the death of the music industry, which only existed in sheet-music or live forms. Technology marches on and people adapt.

ComtesseDeSpair · 03/01/2024 11:52

I think it’s more likely that e.g. social media simply provides us with more exposure to the sorts of people who struggle with social skills and appropriate behaviour, who we usually wouldn’t engage very deeply with in day to day life because of their difficulties and isolation.

In terms of AI taking over, tbh I’m not terribly bothered about becoming obsolete. I’ll be obsolete so I won’t know about it.

yellowsmileyface · 03/01/2024 11:41

What is it that makes us human? Is it manners? Social interaction? I'd say there's an argument to be made that technology enables interaction. Perhaps it's a different form of interaction, but that's how humans evolve.

I've recently been writing a paper on the origins of spoken language, and I read a paper which suggested that there may be three stages in the evolution of language. The first being a proto-language which was used by our early hominid ancestors, the second stage being where we're at now and how we currently use language, and the third stage is AI. So maybe the advancement in technology is just natural human progression and evolution?

Having said that I do share some of your concerns with AI. I'm a bit of a technophobe so an increasingly technologically dependant society does intimidate me a bit, but I also believe this is just evolution.