Grand places help me get proper context — when juxtaposed against the vastness and timeliness of the planet we call home, the human construct is merely just that – an edifice, a reflection of our selfish need to scream: I am!
And nothing prays louder to this narcissism is the current obsession with AI, a technology generating as much fear as it inspires fabulous. In our world where hype trumps deliberations, we forget that technology is there to augment us — and if we want to obliterate us. A wheel takes us afar, and it runs us over. Telephone connects, and it makes us vulnerable to proverbial Jordan Belforts. Atomic bomb kills at an inhuman scale, yet the same technology can be harnessed to produce energy to power our world.
Intelligence can be artificial. Or it can be a tool to help humans survive a more complex, more connected world that is moving ever so faster. I have said this and will say it again; we have to stop fearing AI. After decades of being a tech watcher, I believe we need optimism to move forward. But we don’t have to be blind to its problems. A bit of skepticism is good because we humans have our fallacies, like technology.
My two columns on AI for:
The New Yorker: The hype and hope – of Artificial Intelligence. (2016)
The Spectator: We should stop worrying and learn to love AI. (2022)
Originally published on February 28, 2023, as part of my twice-a-month newsletter, A Letter From Om. Read the latest issue, and if you like it, please sign-up.