The rise of AI isn’t just a technological revolution—it’s a catalyst for philosophical debate.
In a casual conversation in a WhatsApp group, some humans explore how AI challenges our beliefs about intelligence, free will, and the essence of being human.
That text is a transcription of that conversation, along with some of my own thoughts.
It is not intended to convince you, the reader, of anything.
Its aim is to present different points of view and encourage you to think about the impact AI might have on your life and what free will truly is.
Let’s explore how AI might force us not only to redefine intelligence but also to rediscover what it means to live and feel.
And why wait a decade to think about it? By then, your reality will have already completely changed… Why not think about it now and be prepared?
Reflecting now could be important as you go through this process, helping you understand your role and purpose—or at least find a path to follow—instead of suddenly realizing you are completely lost.
Midjourney: A photorealistic image of a human looking at a robot, with detailed facial features and clothing of the human clearly recognizable, and the robot standing in front of him in the ocean by Banksy free will soul determinism high contrast abstract psychedelic hazy lighting blue --chaos 25 --stylize 400 --weird 1900
Weighing in on the AI discussion a little late here, I think one thing overlooked in many of the discussions is just how insecure it makes many people that what we regard as intelligence/sentience may be in some ways just some very complicated Markov tree style logic at work. Humans will struggle very hard to maintain a sense of ego and their ideas of being an independent free will being (sometimes a bit illogically).
I think the closer AI / ML is getting to mimicking what we previously only thought of as human endeavors we're going to have some deep philosophical questions to grapple with and probably a re-adjustment of how we think of ourselves. The closest equivalent might be Western Europe's adjustment to Darwin's or Galileo's theories clashing with previous (usually religious) ideas of what being a human is / was .
Midjourney: Galileo’s telescope alongside a cross, suggesting a dialogue between observation and faith by Banksy free will soul determinism high contrast abstract psychedelic hazy lighting blue --chaos 25 --stylize 400 --weird 1900