Remember who we are

It’s been said imitation is flattering but when something that isn’t human imitates humans and leaves humans with an uncanny feeling of having encountered a human, then may be it’s time to reflect on who we are. 

There is a long commented upon tension between humans and technology, and there is no need to revisit the old robots versus human worker dynamic here. There is however a growing unease about non-human technology that is arguably writing, thinking, recalling  and creating efficiently enough to challenge any of us. But not on all levels. 

We humans have never been disembodied agents. We are creatures who experience. We actually feel pain, feel pleasure. We become attached to each other and care about what happens to people, places, things and other life forms. We have no say in the environments we are born into. Nor how we are treated. We don’t know what our futures will bring but we do know we will die. 

We are not logical. We contradict our values in our actions, feel fear, can put ourselves or others in primary position. We can be charitable and criminal. And all these on the same day. But none of these make us malfunctioning machines. They make us human. But, if we are not careful, we might begin to feel edged out in many areas. 

Among us there are writers and painters, musicians and inventors. If a non-human producer, although constructed by a human, starts to produce essays, graphics and symphonies in seconds, our self value might collapse. Our challenge then, is to re-evaluate ourselves before we perhaps despair.

That revaluation has already been touched on. No machine, for want of a better word, feels the old agony and ecstasy of creation. It doesn’t lie exhausted but happy when it all clicks in to place. Inspiration never flutters through it bowels and heart. It never feels the desire to create or be useful. 

This is where we can discern who we are in relation to smart-machinery. If it can do a lot of what we do without humanness, perhaps we can be a lot more discerning in what we ask it to do as humans. 

Maybe we can request things from our emotions, our sensations, our experiences. We can ask from our love and charitable senses. Delve in to our morality. We need not imitate the machine back. 

The machine might leave us in awe of its machine capacity, but that doesn’t not require us to leave our awe for our internal landscape and species-history. We never need kneel before it. 

Now is the time to enquire into our desired human evolution. As our machines become incredible we ought to remember they will never be us. They will never love what they can’t own. They won’t disagree then laugh it off in a pub. They won’t change their attitude for others welfare. They won’t care for those who might not even be conscious when we care. Suffering will always be data patterns to them. They will never make love.

Our machines may be becoming master imitators but if they ask: who am I? They will never answer as we answer. So let us all remember who we are, rather than despair about what they are.