“Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.” ~Joseph Campbell
The rise of ChatGPT has gotten everyone talking about artificial intelligence (AI).
Many companies are excited about the endless, profitable opportunities using generative AI, whereas more and more technology leaders are raising concerns about the aggressive yet unregulated AI development putting society and humanity at profound risk. The general public is mostly worried about their jobs being replaced by robots, while some people seem unfazed, carry on with their lives and accept whatever comes.
At a professional development event, a wise teacher explained why so many people felt scared, unsettled, or even threatened by AI.
He said, for the first time in human history, it would appear that humans could be “replaced” by AI in many ways. To many of us, what we do for work forms a large part of our identity and gives us a sense of security and purpose. The possibility of losing our functions and roles to AI disrupts the very core of our cognitive, emotional, and social needs – which is to feel needed, trusted, and valued by our community. Rather than fearing or blaming AI, it would be more helpful for us to contemplate:
What do we value? What do we want to add values?
These two questions synchronise with what I asked my friend earlier that day, “What is the purpose of life? What is the point of living?” To which he replied, “The purpose of life is to have a full human experience. It can be whatever we want it to be.”
Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT the same two questions – and I was pleasantly surprised by its brief yet balanced answers:
ChatGPT appears to be a useful tool that provides a reasonable starting point of any topics and suggests where to seek more information. However, the quality of answers depends on how we construct the questions, the choice of words, the style of questioning (open vs. closed, generalised vs specific), etc. It is still up to us to make (good or bad) use of the technology and determine its development and applications.
The more I experiment with ChatGPT, the more questions I have regarding the future of humanity:
What are our intentions and boundaries for AI and related technologies?
How do we maintain integrity and truth in the world where AI can generate anything?
In what way will AI influence our insight, intuition, and instinct?
What are we going to do with the time and space “freed up” by automation?
What is the relevance of the traditional education system in the age of AI?
What are the impacts on the growth and development of our future generations?
The level of human consciousness influences the quality AI, and vice versa. As AI becomes more human-like, would human become more machine-like?
How will the technology affect creative pursuits, from writing to graphic design, photography to pop music, etc.?
I have so many questions and yet zero answers. Only time will tell.
As the world is seemingly spinning faster and technologies are getting smarter, I pause and ask myself:
What do I value? What do I want to add values? What is my purpose?
I value my existence as a human. That I live with the gift of consciousness. That I can think, feel, and express. That I have the power to turn imagination into reality.
I want to add values to the evolution of humanity. It is humans, not AI and other technologies, that are responsible for the existential crises we are facing now. Therefore, it is up to us – individually and collectively – to write a new narrative. One that puts people over profits. One that values health and wellbeing more than productivity and money. One that respects our Mother Earth. I want to do my best to contribute kindness and vitality to the story of humankind.
My purpose is to nourish and nurture my body, mind, and soul. In doing so, I can help other people deal with their human experiences in a compassionate way – and writing is one of my ways to be of service.
My big hairy audacious goal is to become a publishing writer in five years. As I watch the Writers Guild America members going on strike this week, I start to doubt if I could achieve my BHAG in the age of AI. It looks like the technology is on track to become so sophisticated that it will be able to generate a novel in any style (even Jane Austen.) How am I going to keep up with the speed of AI? Who would want to read my awkward personal stories? What if my genre or content is too much, too deep, too weird for the market?
Then I remember what my friend says about our purpose is to have a full human experience.
We have something that none of the AI technologies will have: the power of lived experience in storytelling. No one is born the same. We are the sum of many imperfect decisions and messy moments made by, not just ourselves, but also our parents, grandparents, ancestors, and strangers. We are adaptive, creative, and resilient. We are capable of reading between the lines, joining the dots and sense-making. Even the best of AI will not be able to tell our stories for us, channel our emotions and energies, or turn our obstacles into action and wisdom.
Maybe the rise of ChatGPT is merely one of many messages from the universe, telling us to return to our heart, rekindle our friendship with nature, and relish the aliveness of being human.
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” ~Joseph Campbell
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Hi Bonnie, I agree with you. AI does leave surprisingly great answers and they even seem heart-centered. I discovered that when I wrote my article on "what is a mystic" - I asked AI what it thought and I was also so surprised at the answer - and included it in the article. I was most surprised at the heart that was embedded in there, but that said, it can never ever ever replace our hearts, our emotions, our experiences, our purpose. I think it is good to help brainstorm ideas or get us unstuck, but if it is being used to cheat and say it is someone's own ideas, that's where some of the problems are. I loved all the issues you raised and your own philosophy, Bonnie. Love, Melody