Not long ago the phrase “artificial intelligence” was reserved for third rate science fiction movies, and denouncers who feared for the safety of future humanity were not yet dismissed as the tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. Fast forward to the present AI is a household term, and the fuel of daily exuberance of stock markets speculating on its potential and promise. While overconfident fanboys and pessimistic detractors alike await the opportunity to arrogantly proclaim “I told you so!” artificial intelligence is already affecting controversy in some less discussed ways. Case in point: my wife recently found herself both speechless and frustrated after reading an article that she easily identified as lacking the obvious heart and soul of human invention. In sharing her frustration that she felt deceived by AI, we both concluded an unfortunate reality of this new trend of diminishing original human creativity for mass-produced ad pods: many people simply aren’t bothered by the prospect of artificially generated stories. We also surmised that many of these same consumers also knew not or have somehow forgotten a not so distant past of a humanity less “connected” yet far more engaged.
Unapologetic Nostalgia
We who are old enough to remember school recess, playing outside with neighborhood kids, family movie nights courtesy of take-out pizza (and Blockbuster VHS tapes), holiday successes not measured by news outlet reporting on consumer spending, and life without private personal screens. Unlike the generation who was old enough to watch this transition to screens and social media, kids who were born immersed in them with the now added influence of AI populating the content therein don’t know the contrast. While in recent years to “resist” has carried a certain political implication, yet classic resistance, the kind needed to tame the appetite for artificial and restore the sacred and authentic, is actually far more. It’s standing firm in the conviction that human relationships matter most and the real, tangible, touchable, huggable, interactive connections available to us are perhaps the most precious gifts of the human experience, and even more central to marriages and families. In fact, the very opposite of these, isolation, is often used as a form of punishment and torture in prisons and war.
Embracing The Inefficient
Relationships are by nature inefficient. The communication of friends is not concerned primarily with putting in time or filling up word counts. It’s also not concerned with closing the deal or getting to the point. With this kind of communication comes a certain freedom from constraints of time and busyness and an overarching mutual desire to share life, risking vulnerability for the hope of an authentic self that’s safely known and loved. In a world where many spend their whole life conforming to societal norms, social pressures and the aspirations, styles and dreams of others, authenticity is like the removal of a massive weight that chains a person to monotonous ground. It’s powerfully experienced in friendship and even greater in the depth and intimacy close knit families and the bonds of marriage. The greater the level of disclosure and vulnerability, the greater the connection and trust, the very rewards of the risk taken to be authentically known.
Recovering Authenticity In A World Enamored With The Inauthentic
There is no app or shortcut for leaving artificially generated inauthenticity behind. There must simply be a recognition of its limitations and unwelcome intrusions, along with a call to reconnect with what’s real and what matters. While funerals, weddings, milestone events and family gatherings may serve as wake up calls to authenticity, they do not provide a frequent enough wake up call to battle the persistence of the artificial and inauthentic. Shortcuts would in fact diminish authenticity’s value and sacredness. The enemy, however, is not the artificial or its so-called intelligence. Rather, the true enemy is the apathy that would allow it full reign. In a carefully applied, critically thought-out context, artificial intelligence can no doubt provide incredible value and extensive enrichment to the human race, yet unlike the authentic connection our very souls crave, the human race can, in fact, live without it, stock traders notwithstanding.
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