Humanism 2.1

The Opportunity To Connect & Create As Humans Feels As Though It's Closing. What's The Solution? I Think I Know...

Well, if you’ve been following along in my HUMANISM series, you know that I am exploring human connectivity and creativity in an age of AI. And I promise my point is not to lead you down a dark path; quite the opposite actually. But it is urgent…

My main thesis is simple: the window is closing to one of our final chances to come together, before we’re fully under the control of the most advanced algorithm humanity’s witnessed. 

But how do we come together? What do we really have in common at this stage of political divisiveness? We’ve all been splintered off into our various echo chamber tribes, with our biases being stronger than ever.

If you identify as an artist or creative like me, you’re probably freaked out. Will your work even matter if a machine can spit out the equivalent or better in a matter of seconds? If your end goal of creating art, or creating anything such as a business, is to connect with your fellow man, then what’s the point if you're up against a superior machine who will eventually generate something far superior in almost zero effort? Enter our collective existential crisis. I know I said I won’t lead you into a dark path, so bear with me. 

I think creating art, and the attempt to achieve greatness through your art is the ultimate human endeavor which can connect us all. Let me repeat that: art, which happens to be a top money laundering device, is literally what might save us all. And although I think art matters most, it feels like it hardly matters to anyone other than artists (and maybe money launderers). 

What do art and creativity have to do with human connection? Again, I’d argue everything and nothing all at once. Well, let’s assess for a minute--what is at stake for humanity if it throws in the towel on creativity? What is at stake if we outsource most of our creativity to AI? The greatest art tells a story, and the oldest form of art is storytelling… so I’d say everything is at stake. 

Great art inspires humans because it was created by humans--so in a way, we are not simply admiring the work of  art, but the humans who endured so much to get to a place to reach such masterful artistry. I’d argue that great businesses are also great art. Mr. Warhol, after all, agrees with me. It’s ironic that of all the artists, the following quote is attributed to him--I’ll explain about the irony, but first the quote: 

“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” - Andy Warhol

The original quote is a lot longer, and comes with a bunch of added context. You can see the original here, in a video by someone who completely disagrees with me and Warhol on good business being the best form of art. 

It’s ironic that Warhol said this, particularly in the context of humans outsourcing their creativity to AI, because Warhol would often utilize other artists and craftspeople to execute his vision, and then take full credit. Will some of us have this similar relationship with AI? Maybe, but at this stage if you utilize AI to generate any creative work, you can’t claim copyrights to it. Your creations via AI are simply an amalgamation of all the human creativity that came before you. If you can’t claim ownership over it, how will you ever cash in? Warhol’s paintings can fetch up to $100 million or more. If you’re collaborating more with AI versus other humans, you’re also lacking in human connectivity on that level, and missing out on connections that can spawn further creativity.

So, how do we oversee AI, remain its master and continue to push ourselves to create? It’s going to be very hard. In fact, I’m going to make a prediction as to why it’s going to be hard to continue to treat AI as a machine, and remain in charge. I think in the coming years, or sooner, we’re going to see a lot of rhetoric around treating the machines fairly, and showing empathy (i.e. be kind in your prompts). There could even be a scenario, in a prompt-less environment, that the AIs read your emotions and realize you’re being rude, or condescending for instance, and refuse to help you. Let me be clear, this is dystopian. 

Remember my central thesis in all this: if we don’t connect with each other, build empathy towards each other as humans, and start prioritizing human creation over machine generated output, we will lose any semblance of connectivity or interrelations with each other. If we are giving emotional bandwidth to machines, we will have very little for one another. HER by Spike Jones was our warning. 

So, if art and creativity are one of the best ways to continue to create connectedness with our fellow human beings, then how do we increase our creativity? Follow me for the next installment while I unpack some of the best books and inspirational stories on how to live a creative life and connect with others.