Michael's Corner

A fool’s paradise

There is a proverbial bridge that leads to a proverbial place. The place is commonly referred to as “Too Far,” accessible by the abovementioned bridge we just mindlessly crossed. And presently, we appear to be standing on Too Far’s threshold, preparing to get drawn into its vortex. Once in its grip, the journey would not have marked “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,” for “Too Far” is a world that threatens to drive a wedge between us and our humanness without us clearly understanding what the next iteration of “us” is.

What will this brave new world offer?

If you could avoid all the sweat, effort, and years of dedication required to become a third-degree black belt in Karate by simply having a chip implanted in your head, would you allow it? Moreover, would one derive any reward from acquiring a skill without experiencing the progressions of the journey and its rigors? One might reconcile the notion: I only have so many years to master so many disciplines, so why wouldn’t I welcome an artificial jolt to increase my repertoire? They wouldn’t be alone, for there are two kinds of people in the world: those who peek in the back of the book when doing crossword puzzles and those who don’t. The consequences? If half the world peeks, eventually, the rest must follow. AI may be the only pathway to achieve the egalitarian world, offering the equality of outcomes, that many foolishly seek. But at what cost? What are the tradeoffs of having the entire human race armed with unearned artificial skills?

The fake intelligence that ate our souls

Recently, I have listened to the praises that some have heaped on AIs ability to compose music. There are 24,576 possible scales in music. Octaves multiply scales. A pianist can press multiple keys simultaneously within a tonal range, adjusting 24,576 scale possibilities to melody/harmony combinations running to infinity. AI can readily access and arrange music’s machinations and components, but does that equal creativity? Can AI explore and capture the essence of Dmitri Shostakovich’s soul—a manic depressive struggling with Soviet authoritarianism—as it was when he composed his fourth symphony? Can AI create the sort of art that flowed from the pens of Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan when frustrated over a war and on mushrooms? There are too many variables that spark creativity. Thus, I would maintain that music is not the best domain to apply AI.

Oh no, not again!

In 1987, President Reagan uttered the impassioned plea, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Despite President Reagan’s entreaty echoing throughout the world, the wall didn’t come down the next day; it took a year or so. Along with the wall tumbled Soviet Communism and The Cold War. The long, dark night that had gripped two superpowers and a world fraught with anxiety had finally ended. But now begs the question, is AI the next iteration of the nuclear arms race? It would appear to be the case. What’s more, I’ve noticed something: Whenever humans lean into their paradoxical predilection for creating entities capable of threatening their existence, be it in the abstract or tactile, they don’t tend to “half-ass it,” it’s often “the full Monty.” I don’t know how vast the universe is, but we are, undoubtedly, its greatest irony.

Yeah, I’m a grumpy old man who doubts everything

If I sound like an AI apostate, it’s because I am. Presently, AI is an expensive toy that offers a bleak future. Were we to relegate its uses to such vital tasks as consumer price indexing, devising smarter methods and grids for distributing energy and clean water, and taking nuclear fusion from the stages of occasional testing to an applicable reality capable of solving problems like plastic in the ocean and atmospheric stressors, I would turn cartwheels. But instead, we have it gunning for the arts and humanities because we like to tinker and fascinate for the sake of markets and profit more than we like to solve problems.

Everyone, have a lovely weekend. And remember to take time breaking a sweat engaging in a discipline and listen to real music. And while you’re at it, plug into the wild, unconstrained passion of the Allman Brothers “The Whipping Post.” https://youtu.be/nfrSIUE3iAE?si=klYdZpsaPrVsCm Trust me, you’ll get the relevance. And when it’s over, you can tell AI to go f#%k itself.