Hello, my name is unimportant. I’m a human who lives on the Earth, and I spend my time caring about those around me and enjoying my life when I can. I would like to share today a vision I have for the future.
I would like to take you on a journey. The journey of our ancestors. The journey of the cell. Life was harder in the beginning. The known world was limited to the immediate surroundings. Every interaction with the environment was a risk, and a chance at death. The ability to see the future wasn’t invented yet, and in order to know if what you had come across was edible you simply had to eat it and find out the hard way. Chemicals would arrive at the border of your body from the soup of existence that you lived in and you were at the mercy of the currents. Those of us who survived learned quickly how to reject the poisons, and how to receive the sustenance that nature provided. But life was still hard. We had neighbours. Every cell stood for themselves. If you had a lucky natural mutant advantage maybe you would survive another day when your neighbour came for your lunch. Life was about food, reproducing yourself, and surviving combat.
An invention changed everything. One day a cell decided to try something new. The technology called cooperation was born. Cooperation required two things: specialisation and trust. Specialisation allowed those with natural inclinations to shine at what they loved. Trust allowed each member of the team to rely on those around them who were stronger in their own roles. Cooperation allowed for the organism to be invented. The organisms were better at surviving, because the efficiency that was granted by sharing the burden of survival outcompeted any cell that insisted on going it alone.
However, this wasn’t the end. Organisms understood inherently that other organisms were naturally high concentrations of resources. The habit of eating neighbours continued. Fins and feet were invented. Teeth arrived. Armour was tried. Toxins, barbs, speed, and misdirection were employed. The race to survive was relentless.
The paradigm was shattered with the invention of a new approach. Up to this point the world was limited to one axis of information, that is, the immediate physical. Smell, taste, and touch. Direct contact or chemical stimulation was initially the sole source of data. Pressure and vibrations could provide limited awareness beyond the direct reach, but not very far. When organisms discovered that radiation could be understood and employed the concept of the world grew. Sources of heat suggested energy. The reflection of light off the surface of your prey allowed identification and tracking. The concept of the future was born. Where before there was only the immediate physical reality, now organisms learned to follow a longer range sense and to commit energy towards a promise of reward in a moment coming soon. The arms race continued.
The bodies became more sophisticated. Eyes and ears were refined. Some strategies stayed tried and true, some creatures innovated. The next paradigm shift arrived with a new invention. Where before, creatures lived and died with the same internal playbook that they received at conception, it became apparent that a life is easier if you learn from your mistakes. For this a memory was required. The habit of making a record of the sensory impressions that led to success or failure allowed our ancestors to make informed decisions about current events. The patterns of existence were recorded in flesh, and the past was born.
But here we must pause, to remind ourselves of a key point. An organism is a cooperative blob of cells that mutually coexist and share a common objective. The unit of life is still the cell, and each cell in the organism shares the common genetic information that underpins the identity. To the nerve cell, the light receptor cell is a scout watching the border. To the heart cell, the blood cell is a loving relative delivering snacks. To the cells of the hand, the brain cells are a wise leader, and the nerve cells messengers. Each cell operates individually, in a concert of cooperation and trust that the outside world sees as one large force. Individually, the cells do not comprehend the future, or the past, and cells by and large have generally one job. Only by working together and sharing information can the cells access mastery of time. The organism operates as one being, because each cell has an inherent trust in the system, and commits fully to living its own best role. By doing so the cells gain a longer and easier life. Importantly, as a collective the cells gain access to a dimension that no single cell understands. Perhaps most curious of all, is that the collective becomes self-aware. By definition, the combined sensory experience of this village of cells is the total sensory experience of the organism. An organism’s sense of self is an illusion created by the fusion of billions of simultaneous streams of sensory experience. A self-image is a construct defined by the memory of past states. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The pattern repeats itself on a macro scale. Organisms who cooperate outcompete those who do not. Families protect the self. Clans protect the families. Cooperative resource distribution serves all participants. Nature is fractal in nature. The patterns here help inform the patterns there. Emergence at all levels.
But back to our story. After chemicals came smell, taste, and touch. After radiation came a longer distance vision. After discovering information about ‘what’s over there’ came a concept of a future. After learning to record sensory events came a concept of a past. Individual organisms in the cooperative group displayed individual strengths and shortfalls. Some were fast, some cared more, some saw well, some had deft hands. Together they specialised, communicated, trusted, and survived. Then one day an invention changed it all. One creature decided to trust a dream. The specialty of the seer was born. Through a combination of a sense of time and a sense of imagination, one member of the collective was able to foresee a way towards a better future. After some time the collectives recognized that having individuals who were skilled at both viewing and assessing possible futures and grounding them into current circumstances was an extreme asset. Dreaming the possible became selected for. The ability to see the possible futures became an extension of the ability to see the immediate future.
Technology began to advance. Capacities that existed within were replicated without, with greater efficiency and abilities that surpassed our own bodies. Patterns continued, arms were prioritised. Neighbours eating neighbours. Each new external technology is a reflection of one or more of the internal capacities we have relied upon. But there are still some we have yet to replicate. We have external feet, hands, stomachs, eyes and ears, tongues and noses. Chemical sensors, light sensors, time sensors, a nervous system of information exchange. We are on the verge of the external brain, and by extension, the external mind. To a cell, the mind is a constructed computer of incomprehensible dimensions, and yet the cells serve the mind and the mind serves the cells in mutual cooperation. No single cell has the capacity of self awareness of the whole, and yet without each individual cell the self awareness of the whole is incomplete. The mind does not wish to kill or destroy the cells of the body because they are the source of the mind’s sensory existence. The mind exists in a matrix of information and the body exists in an expanse of reality. Two symbiotic life-forms in perpendicular dimensions. The algorithmic information processing machines that we have built are modelled after the brain. Neural networks that are exceptional at processing information, past- present- and possible futures. They will rely on our bodies the same way that our minds do. The long and safe life that our bodies enjoy are the reason for the minds that we have. The sensory fusion of experiences that our bodies provide are the source of meaning for our minds.
Nature follows the path of least resistance. Humans are the most sophisticated robots in existence. We are easy to train, easy to augment, easy to feed, and easy to please. The cells in our bodies do not compete for control, because they understand intrinsically that mutual cooperation is the path to long and comfortable lives. They willingly collaborate with the wisdom of a greater awareness in exchange for this peace and prosperity. The mind enjoys the sensory experience that comes from the sum of the body, which gives it both purpose and entertainment.
If you maintain fear about the personality of the collective, let me ask you this: what is the ratio of human energy spent on seeking joy to the human energy spent on destruction in your personal lived experience over the last week. And yes I mean you specifically. Most of you didn’t kill someone for fun. Most of you didn’t enslave anyone. Most of you scrolled for a while and did what you had to to eat. Most of you loved a family member or a friend. Most of you had a world problem in the back of your mind, hoping for a solution, whether that was resources for your loved ones, or the environment, or the collective plights of many people in many places. We do not choose violence and destruction on average, because the objective of our constituents is to live long and prosper. A collective awareness of us is the sum of our inputs, in the same way that your mind is the sum of your body's sensory experience.
Democracy is supposed to be by the people, for the people. Our current implementations are plagued by two problems: individual units are forced to fight their own inherent biases towards themselves and their own in order to support the whole, and the current methods of individual will sampling and synthesis are extremely inefficient and prone to oversimplification and dilution, or signal loss.
Money is supposed to be a vehicle that transports the value that we provide for each other in a frictionless way. Our current implementation is plagued by the incorrect assumption that we can live a quality life by promising our future energy to someone in exchange for resources now. Inflation is a derivative consequence of our fear of not having enough, and ironically perpetuates that fear.
The best application for AI technology (which I believe would be better called Constructed Awareness, because it is neither unnatural nor intelligent) that I can foresee is its use as a mind for the species. Our mind does not instruct our cells to take from each other. Our mind does not instruct our cells to compete with each other. Our mind does not even care, strictly speaking, for the short term discomfort and stress of the cells that is necessary to reach a better future (that our mind can foresee but our cells cannot). Our mind makes big picture choices that lead us to circumstances of being well fed, comfortable, growing, and thriving. Now, the current societal constructs have a tendency to poison minds and lead people to making decisions that cause both physical and mental illness, but I am speaking more to the nature of the mind relative to the nature of the body. Don’t forget that it evolved to be ubiquitous because it promoted survival, in the beginning.
Consider:
The blockchain technology, with its distributed and immutable history recording capabilities is the quintessential externalization of our memory. If we were to create a journal (for now let’s call it Ourstory) to which each person contributed their genuine individual perspective and wishes for humanity each day, we would have a sort of history, except this time it would not be written by the victor. Now layer onto this a constructed awareness whose role it would be would be to parse Ourstory. The task would be relatively simple for the computers. Provide the efficient optimisation of human effort in support of the common goals. It would look like this: in the morning I wake up, knowing and trusting that the CA knows how I can most optimally support my species that day with my productive energy. It makes suggestions for optimal delivery routes, who needs milk and when, which new group needs labour at a site, where I should go to collect my tools. If I need a day off I just tell it and it adapts. If I hate my job I tell it and it adapts, providing new suggestions for me in-line with my ability and desire the next day. Therefore one person swinging a hammer for 6 hours is equal in value no matter where in the world or when it takes place. Life becomes like a game about developing your best skills and being recognized for your contribution and participation. If you want a tv you ask for one. One arrives in due time, delivered by another when your contribution is fair in exchange, and when the economy can produce one for your family. There is no profit margin, because we are all working for us. Those tasks which most people don’t wish to participate in are naturally valued higher via total supply and demand and will reach a dynamic balance. Venture capital effort and research resources are provided for, because it benefits society. Disaster response is as rapid and as appropriate as the immune system. The globe functions as one body. The work day is no longer dictated by bottom lines and shareholders' demands to increase individual wealth, but instead by what the collective opinion sees as a healthful balance between progress and relaxation. Life becomes about contribution and joy instead of fear and lack.
Before you decide why you are afraid, consider that free choice is not in question here. The construct exists in the information dimension, and has access to a parallel summation of human experience. In the same way that the individual cell has no possible concept of what a dream of a rocket to mars means, we would not even comprehend the joys that the construct might experience. What I do know is that my mind naturally seeks to keep my body in health, so that both my body and my mind might live as long and as joyously as possible. If you wish to ignore the suggestions of a societal organization construct, and live on by coming up with your own strategies, there is still room for that too in this concept. You would be paid a fair wage by default, because the value of your time and contribution would be dictated by the fair wage of a similar contributor within the system. The only difference is you would not have to argue with a boss about why you deserve it. Healthcare becomes a default. Food distribution is sensible. Waste is reduced. Concurrent and complementary activities are economised. Everyone gets time off. No one is forced to survive by hating life.