The use of artificial intelligence is attractive with its quick and thought-out responses. It can create stories, art and now realistic video.
The Value of Human Creativity Throughout History
Over the thousands of years of human history great minds have worked tirelessly to hone their skills and knowledge to create priceless works of art, write beautiful stories, and develop deep and profound philosophical ideas. The gradual process of refining those skills and knowledge took time and effort. Blood, sweat and tears. Through that process people came to understand the world in a sophisticated way. Great works of art were created. It was through a process of self-cultivation, improving those skills and through that gruelling process the individuals also developed his or her character and became a stronger, wiser and more intelligent person.
Not only that but these works of art, literature, philosophy and spirituality resonate with our planet earth and the cosmos’ laws to a certain extent. The great work of renaissance artists such as Michelangelo depicted beautiful heavenly scenes which resemble a certain understanding of the universe that many cultures once understood through spiritual cultivation. The scientific work of Albert Einstein has also helped map out small parts of the inner workings of this grand cosmos.
To me it seems a little silly to assume that the profound human spirit and bodily system could somehow be superseded by a machine. It is an understanding that assumes that forward development comes about through the refinement of thought, logic and technology alone. Alternatively I'd offer that character, morals, virtue and goodness are a greater source of value and wisdom than the former. Many ancient beliefs point to a spiritual reality, one that is imbedded in the workings of the universe itself. That says that forward development, or spiritual refinement are cultivated through the improvement of character, morals and virtue. Meaning through the improvement of one’s character a being develops insight into the workings of matter and the universe itself. With figures like the Buddha, Jesus and Lao-Tzu being some noble examples.
AI's Current Abilities and Limitations
What makes these written and artistic works so valuable is precisely the human element, the immense effort, the years of refining the individual’s skills and character to create the master piece. It is these works of exceptional skill that provide a measuring stick for an entire culture to compare itself with and be in awe of the capabilities of mankind. On the other hand, with artificially generated content, it requires little to create something new, meaning the bar is now low. You can now generate an original visual art image with a few sentences. This creates an abundance of artificially generated content. It seems that rarity and scarcity are a factor that leads something to be valuable. So will what AI generates end up having a legacy that carries forward into the future? I personally don’t think so. While it may help refine menial work tasks and make certain jobs easier, I don’t believe it can truly inspire our culture.
In my limited understanding AI currently is a master of language, but in the instances I’ve seen cannot come up with a truly original piece of writing or art. As it is an amalgamation of the information sources it has access to. Which if given a library of wonderful traditional works, perhaps could create something quite good, it would still be a kind of copy. Where those original works were a product of a unique human experience and perspective. So would it matter? If on the surface the words of an AI can at least on the surface seem to be of a certain quality? I believe in certain writing there is a transcendent quality, which I think comes from the fact that the ideas formulated come from the collective experiences and lessons from the writers life. That isn’t something an AI could replicate, as it doesn’t have a true experience, in my understanding it guesses the best next word to write based on a wide range of factors. These are quite different.
It’s easy to get addicted to doing things the easy way. But I think it’s important to be wary of this habit particularly with AI. If we keep depending upon an external technology to perform a certain task, then we may lose the ability to do it ourselves. Let’s imagine an extreme example. For every thought we have, every question, we go to AI for the answer. We wouldn’t know the value of going through the process of learning, and growing through experience. Many older people say “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger”, sometimes things are difficult, but that’s also a fantastic opportunity to grow ourselves.
Alas artificial intelligence is here and we have to learn to live with it, like anything it can be used too much. Admittedly I asked AI to generate the title for this article. So it obviously has great benefits, but things that come easy aren't always what is best for us in the end. Hope this article was of some help! And check out our other content if you resonated with this article.