Àlex Gómez-Marín writes:

In 1963 there was an exhibition at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. It was entitled “The Most Dangerous Animal in the World”. In it, next to a window with bars, the following text could be read: “You are looking at the most dangerous animal in the world. It alone of all the animals that ever lived can exterminate (and has) entire species of animals. Now it has the power to wipe out all life on earth.” Behind the bars and next to such words of warning, there was a mirror where humans could see their own reflection… We are indeed the most dangerous species we know of.

Not much has changed since then, except that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is our current dark mirror. A hall of mirrors indeed. In a secular age dominated by quasi-religious promises articulated by means of a techno-scientific rhetoric, it is thus urgent to pause and reflect upon our way forward as species. AI is a tool, some might say. Of course it is. But is it just a tool? We seem to be facing an Algorithmic Invasion of fascinating dangerous bullshit. How does the future human look like in the age of AI?

Let us start with transhumanism, the movement that advocates for the ideological possibility (we wish), technical feasibility (we can), and moral imperative (we must) to tinker with the human condition in order to “enhance”, so they say, our species, biologically and cognitively. What is really meant by enhancing? Is it a quantitative extension of our capabilities or a qualitative elevation? Or, paradoxically, perhaps a diminishment (or an eradication) of them? We are not talking about progressive lenses or last-generation non-stick frying pans here. To make a long story short, transhumanists want to copy life, edit humanity, and delete death. This is their “Stairway to transhumanist heaven”. Their proposal is “techno-califragilisticexpialidocious” (even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious). Such an ultimate ontological sleight of hand treats doing as being (“as if” as “is”) and pretends that simulation is instantiation. Counterfeit and mimicry are the new authenticity.

By pursuing the so-called technological singularity, transhumanists want to become more-than-human. Triumphantly pledging our transcendence via the machines, they seem to also want to make humanity obsolete. Or worse: to extinguish our animal species into the machine. They are indeed convinced they can solve the problem of life, the universe, and everything. But one wonders: Is language an autocomplete process? Is thought simply problem-solving? What is intelligence, after all? Is creativity automatable? Is life mechanizable? Is consciousness digitizable? Is reality a simulation? Really!? [Continue reading…]