Should we worry about the potential of AI?

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At the time when writing was primarily reserved for official and religious documents, philosophers polished their craft through meticulous oral arguments. The advent of papyrus expanded access to recorded knowledge, which raised concerns for Plato: "For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them." Plato feared that writing would supplant memorization, potentially leading to intellectual decline. Plato was right that writing made memorization of long passages redundant, but it preserved ancient knowledge, among them Plato's ideas.  

For a thousand years after Plato, writing remained the exclusive privilege of the aristocracy, priests, and clergy until Gutenberg invented the printing press. This marked a significant turning point in history, democratizing access to written knowledge and creating a demand for literacy. The widespread availability of the Bible fostered a new sense of brotherhood, equality, and human dignity, as expressed in the New Testament.

With the emergence of AI, we stand at the brink of another transformative era, with the potential to reshape society just as profoundly as the writing or the printing press did. AI offers myriad ways to expedite technological evolution, including task automation, data analysis, predictive modeling, revolutionary advancements in healthcare and drug discovery, optimization of manufacturing and supply chains, natural language processing, idea generation, simulation creation, and personalized user experiences on a global scale. 

On a personal level, the AI revolution promises to significantly increase our free time. How we use this opportunity to determine the future of society. My upcoming book, Emotional Reasoning: Insight into the Conscious Experience, discusses the nature of consciousness and other fascinating questions about human behavior and the anticipation of artificial consciousness. 

The book is slated for publication by CRC publisher in August of 2024.

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