Alejandro, your words here are powerful. I see you highlighting our humanity and saying what Clarisse McClellan says so well to Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, "There's dew on the grass in the morning"– don't forget to go outside and notice what you haven't in a while, or maybe ever. Our "qualia," what Federico Faggin and many modern philosophers refer to as our unique human senses that we each use to uniquely interpret the world around us, need to be activated.
We must smell the grass, feel the wet dew in the morning, and see the tiny drops of water bubble on the surface of a single tall blade of grass. We must be in the moment with it.
For those who don't know, in Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is a fictional American novel. Guy and the society he lives in are profoundly disconnected from nature and from their humanity, and Clarisse isn't. She reminds characters and readers alike that there is more to living than screens and that our qualia is how we make our way back to ourselves.
AI lacks qualia. And yet, I fear that humanity itself has become hardened somehow– rougher. It seems like there's a genuine shift towards being on the defensive at all times for individual mental and physical safety. What I have realized is controversial, perhaps, but I think I would rather speak to an AI that can pretend to care better than a human who can't pretend to care long enough to get through a conversation. I'm worried that this is the state of things as I perceive them, because I genuinely don't want humanity or humans to be replaced.
But if humanity is already here, then I am concerned that humans, who are increasingly destabilized by local and global events, really may be replaced after all.
Alejandro, your words here are powerful. I see you highlighting our humanity and saying what Clarisse McClellan says so well to Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, "There's dew on the grass in the morning"– don't forget to go outside and notice what you haven't in a while, or maybe ever. Our "qualia," what Federico Faggin and many modern philosophers refer to as our unique human senses that we each use to uniquely interpret the world around us, need to be activated.
We must smell the grass, feel the wet dew in the morning, and see the tiny drops of water bubble on the surface of a single tall blade of grass. We must be in the moment with it.
For those who don't know, in Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is a fictional American novel. Guy and the society he lives in are profoundly disconnected from nature and from their humanity, and Clarisse isn't. She reminds characters and readers alike that there is more to living than screens and that our qualia is how we make our way back to ourselves.
AI lacks qualia. And yet, I fear that humanity itself has become hardened somehow– rougher. It seems like there's a genuine shift towards being on the defensive at all times for individual mental and physical safety. What I have realized is controversial, perhaps, but I think I would rather speak to an AI that can pretend to care better than a human who can't pretend to care long enough to get through a conversation. I'm worried that this is the state of things as I perceive them, because I genuinely don't want humanity or humans to be replaced.
But if humanity is already here, then I am concerned that humans, who are increasingly destabilized by local and global events, really may be replaced after all.