Hello Human, I’m Another Human

What is it to be human? These days our humanity is called into question. We are feeding the machines with our data, fuel and water. Why? We were doing fine without them. In fact, we’ve survived for millions of years in one form or another without any machines. Now it’s as if life can’t go on without them.

An AI robot is made and trained on human data by humans. Why? To replace us? That’s anti-human; anti-social. Such behaviour continues to increase, and is the opposite of what it is to be human. We are a social species. We are also mortal, while robots, obviously, aren’t, although they aren’t invincible as they would have a power source. But if robots “survive” and humans go extinct, in one possible version of the future, robots don’t experience life, so it’s pointless for them to “exist” in our place. Life is not about infinity; it’s about living. You’re born randomly and get to experience life. It isn’t always easy. It can be incredibly difficult and cruel, often due to humans themselves. But it’s life; existence. Machines don’t exist like life does. Although life isn’t all about humans, it certainly isn’t about robots. Life is about all natural things, alive and moving, and still.

As they say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Why change to use AI when you’re doing well? Just because everyone else is doing it? Is that a strategy? Maybe, to compete on the same level. But does it provide a new level? Is it better than humans? It depends on the application, in all honesty. I can’t say that it’s entirely useless, because that would be untrue. But it’s proven to not be useful for everything, and, aside from usability, we should put ethics first; we shouldn’t use technology to harm humanity by taking people’s jobs, for example. That’s unkind, unethical, and inhumane. We should help humanity (and the environment) with technology, improving how people work, not replacing employees with robots and such. We’re living in a world full of humans – our own species. We are “us”, not “I”. “Me, me, me!”… you’ll end up alone on an island, with no one to talk to but your robots.

What does it mean to be a writer?

Writing is about thoughts, feelings, experiences, observations, and stories. There must be a point. What is your voice? What do you have to say and how are you going to say it? What’s within you? To be a writer, you must be a thinker. Using AI to “write” for you will destroy your voice. Authenticity is so important in art. It must be genuine and come from the heart. AI is the opposite – fake! Even if a computer program becomes super [artificially] intelligent, it will always be fake.

Working in the AI-era

At work, if asked to use AI, you have to comply. The other option is quitting. But you need a salary, so you have to comply and hope that compliance doesn’t result in you losing your job to the thing you’ve been asked (told) to comply with. That isn’t a pleasant work environment. It’s very stressful. But in your personal life, you don’t have to comply. 

Is prompting a skill?

Prompting is not a skill. Some people disagree with this and argue as to why they believe it is a skill. Different people have different opinions as well as different uses of AI and other technology. But is prompting skilful? Getting it right, and doing so more quickly, takes a little practice, but it doesn’t require much effort. Prompting is like asking an assistant to do something for you. It’s an aspect of management, not really a skill in itself. It’s like delegating. “Draw a tree.” “Make the leaves greener.” “Add shadow.” Those are examples of instructions for an assistant, or prompts. Is that skilful? I don’t think so. Skills take great effort to achieve. Providing instructions does not.

I think it’s important to be open-minded, but I also think it’s important to stand up for what you believe, to be assertive, decisive, and think critically. You need to think for yourself. Don’t outsource your brain. In martial arts, it’s important to not be lazy. Idleness leads to misfortune; ie, being slack results in things going wrong and a lack of preparedness. At some point, sooner or later, there will be a need to survive, such as in another ice age. At such time, only those with the right skills will survive. Prompting is not a survival skill. Human skills include communication, strategic hunting, farming, finding and making shelter, lighting a fire, making clothes, and more. 

Final thoughts

Better to differentiate rather than just do what everyone else is doing. Better to lead rather than follow. Better to think and decide rather than automate. Better to stand out from the crowd rather than be in the crowd.

Whose side are you on? Your own species or robots? Because it’s sounding to me like you’re against your own species. 

I am not a resource! I’m a human being. There’s a growing group of people who are anti-AI and pro-human. That is, anti-fake and pro-real. Which side are you on?