AI Will Force Us to Be More Human

What was the last book you read?

It sounds like a nice conversation starter on a first date or networking meeting, but it's more important now than ever, especially if you're afraid your job is going to be taken over by AI robots.

I mention this because hear a lot of conversation about how AI is going to take over ... everything. It's going to take over all our jobs and we'll have nothing to do except scavenge for edible weeds to stay alive. Eventually, the most dour predictions say, we'll be reduced to human squirrels; occupying our time by fighting, scavenging for food and mating while robots run the world. At least until they decide we are a pest and destroy us all.

Are we really human squirrels?

Next time you hear a conversation like that, I would encourage you to ask yourself a question:

Which one of us, humans or robots, is made in the image of God?

Whether you believe in God or not, whether you've read the Hebrew Bible or not, you know the answer. You know it in your bones. There is an impermeable barrier between humans and AI that can never be breached by machines, no matter how sophisticated they get.

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Not convinced? Here are five things you can do that AI cannot.

Prediction: AI will force us to Be More Human

As you may have guessed, I don't believe that AI will turn us into human squirrels. Instead, I think it will force us to be more human.

"And what makes human," you might ask?

Excellent question! Ultimately, you'll have to answer that question for yourself, but here are some thoughts:

Empathy

Unless you are a psychopath, you have the gift of empathy. You can put yourself in the shoes of another human being. We can act like an AI and just parrot the right words to say when confronted with someone else's suffering, but that's not our only option. We can also choose to feel what that person feels.

Joy

Have you ever danced around the house for no reason or crowed with delight about about an accomplishment, yours or someone else's? AI will never be able to do this. It can mimic joy, but it has no capacity for feeling. Even if we give AI a body, it will still just be an imitator of humans.

Even better, your joy is infectious and can be felt among groups. Try this thought experiment to see my point. Imagine for a moment being blindfolded at a festival. All around you, you hear people talking together and children laughing. You feel contentment, belonging, and even hope for the future. Suddenly, the blindfold is removed and you realize it was all fake. The "festival" is nothing more than an empty room with speakers.

How do you feel now? Alone? Disappointed?

Human joy matters.

Meaning and Resilience

Can an AI recover from a bad experience? Sure! It doesn't even have feelings to care about the past or its mistakes. Can it find meaning in the experience?

It cannot, but you can. I wrote an entire book about finding meaning and resilience from the experience of being widowed and I've heard similar stories from many widows (though mine is a bit unusual in that it involves a flock of chickens).

We often find the best of ourselves in the worst parts of our lives. We derive hope, love and gratitude from those times and many of us do our best to pass those lessons on to others. We write poetry, books and give talks that move other humans to tears. Can an AI do that?

It can mimic the experience. But it will never have your ability to discover the meaning in your life.

Drive

How does the person you see in the mirror compare with the person in your mind's eye? Do you wish you could speak another language? Do you want to write a book? Do you want to see a person who is a better friend or knows how to fix a car?

Your drive to do something new and be something more is something AI will never have. Robots are neither content not discontented. They will never try to make the world better (or worse) on their own. Only humans can do that.

We Humans are in Charge of the Humans

My point is simple. We the Humans must direct our search for knowledge and meaning. We must never forget that we are in charge of our own lives and we do not have to let the mindless scrolling algorithms push us down the path of passivity. Robots are not the boss of us. We may need to wrest our focus away from the robots from time to time and refocus ourselves on the things that only humans can do, but it's always in our hands.

Perhaps now, more than ever, is a good time to put down the phone (or get out the library app) and pick up Austin's Sense and Sensibility or Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Read about the humanness of others and feel the empathy and joy, find the meaning of life (the characters and your own).

Use the tools to be better at being human. Don't let the tools use you.

Because after all, who wants to be a human squirrel?

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