One of my favorite parts of being a philosophy professor is having the opportunity to get into interesting conversations and/or debates with my students. I get to challenge them and I invite them to challenge me. Philosophy has many topics which invite a deep dive into numerous perspectives, but my favorite topic year after year comes from studying Aristotle. The question I posit for the class to discuss is this: What is the essence of humanity?
We explore a variety of possible answers, from the physical, to the intellectual, to the emotional, to the genetic and several additional areas. Usually, my students initially walk away from the conversation with more questions than answers which is exactly what I’m seeking.
I give them a week to consider the topic further and have conversations with friends, family, coworkers and anyone else who may be interested in doing some deep thinking.
As I have been watching the Olympics this Summer, we have all been bombarded by ads for “AI” technology. Google, Salesforce, Meta…they’ve all been touting how their version of this technology is capable of helping us become a better version of ourselves.
A couple examples:
Meta shows a woman lying on a couch who asks for a plan to run a marathon. Her screen fills with some information and she gets up, already fully geared up to run and takes off our of her house, leaving her front door open as she goes. As a runner myself, this one makes me laugh every time. The idea that this woman has the correct clothes and shoes already on and only needed motivation which Meta gives her is insane. It’s like asking Meta for a plan to write a book and immediately turning out pages and pages after being given instructions. Or someone asking for how to be a woodworker, getting a couple paragraphs and then making a table in your completely equipped woodworking shed. The idea of technology creating motivation with information is so hilariously stupid. If this was the case, people would have stopped smoking cigarettes when warning labels were added to the package.
In a more insidious ad (which has since been pulled from rotation), Google shows a young girl admiring an Olympic runner and her father in the voice-over asking Google to “help” her write a letter to Olympian. The ad then shows the text of this letter which clearly didn’t need to help the young girl, as it can generate the letter by itself. (And as a professor I know all about students using AI to avoid doing any of the work themselves.) A father helping the daughter write a letter would be a bonding experience and great developmentally for the young girl. Google wants us to skip all that pesky junk and just use their app.
Fast forward this a couple decades: people are unable to craft their own messages, because they’ve learned to rely on Google for grammar and critical thinking and empathy and creativity. Google makes money from showing ads to people who are dependent on tech companies. How do people who can’t even write a letter eventually write books and songs? Or does these companies want to own those industries too? The way this technology is being offered, the only thing it will increase is laziness. Meta won’t help anyone run a marathon. That requires tremendous grit, but these products outsource activities which can help develop that inner strength.
However, these offerings may stop people from reading and doing research on their own. They want you to outsource your thinking to them, so they can own you.
(Honorable mention, btw for Uber Eats as they imply their service is a valid replacement for having any sort of community. Not AI focused, but similar in that they claim technology can replace human needs…for a fee, of course.)
The bottom line is that none of these companies care. Their employees delude themselves into the idea that they are on a mission to make the world a better place because that is what the owners of these companies sell to their own employees. But the real goal is to make money. Zuckerberg wants to be richer. Musk wants to be richer. Bezos wants to be richer. The owners of Google want to be richer.
In Winners Take All, Anand Giridharadas expertly explores this false “win-win” approach of Big Tech claiming to want to make the world better while also getting richer.
Tech companies do not care about making the world a better place. Some employees may genuinely care, but they have failed constantly. Today, we can easily say that social media came with hugely negative consequences. Why? Because in addition to a seemingly weak grasp on what makes us human, silicon valley does not seem to understand the negative impulses within humanity which have led to war and genocide and crime for as long as humanity has existed.
Big Tech cannot solve human greed with an app.
Big Tech cannot end hate with AI.
Big Tech cannot fix anxiety and depression with social media.
These are human issues which tech will only amplify, not resolve. AI will make what is broken even more broken.
In addition to being a philosophy professor, I’m also a trained theologian. I spend a great deal of time thinking about, exploring, and trying to address these dark aspects of humanity. Technology has some tools which I find useful to maintain my calendar and communicate with people, but I have never found an answer to a deep question because of a tool. When I got to see the marble statues in the Louvre, I did not beg to see the hammers and chisels which made them. I admired the people who molded the marble in such astounding ways.
When commercials say they have a tool which can change the world, don’t believe them. And be very careful with tools which seem to do as much damage as good.
If you’ve ever studied Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (or the divided line, which is the underlying concept Plato created the story to illustrate), these companies are simple trying to convince you to come into their cave. The Gemini Cave. Or the Einstein Cave. Or the OpenAI cave. But make no mistake, they are all simply places the company is cultivating to control your outlook.
Plato implored us to break free from such dead ends. His mentor, Socrates, told us that the unexamined life is not worth living. Kierkegaard told us that life is given meaning by choices and actions. As these companies try to replicate humanity in their computer programs, focus on fulfilling your purpose, on finding your essence. I assure you, it is a journey worth taking and one which AI can never replace.