Being Human in a World of Artificial Intelligence (Quest for Fusions of Sangam)

The rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence raises profound questions about being human. Although it appears to compete with us and even outperforms us in several areas, it can never replace us. It does have several benefits to bestow on us yet we cannot get enslaved by it and mindlessly allow it to control our lives. This transformative technology certainly offers us extraordinary promises but all of it is going to come not without perils that will disrupt our very being humans in the world. This book discusses these challenges and opens ethical ways of facing them. Artificial Intelligence is addressing us in several ways and calls us into being. Our response to it has to be integral and integrating us all. This is why this book turns back to Artificial Intelligence and addresses it: 'Hey You!" and attempts to direct it towards common human flourishing.

Victor Ferrao holds Doctorate in Philosophy of Science with specialization in Science Religion Dialogue from Philosophy Department of Jnana- Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. He is the Dean of the Department of Philosophy and Co-ordinator of the Special Study Centre of IGNOU at Rachol Seminary. He has authored five books and has edited a book of the proceedings of annual conference of Association of Christian Philosophers of India. He has several research papers published in peer reviewed journals as well as edited books. He is the Founder Director of Science Religion Sangam, Goa and is actively involved in Science and Religion Dialogue. He has also organized National and International conferences and presented research papers in several National and International conferences. He is a regular columnist in Newspapers and Magazines in Goa.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology of tomorrow that is driving us today. Al can be simply seen as a problem-solving intelligent machine. Mostly it is said to be performing what may be called search problem. Thus, for instance, a driverless car is a good search problem or a face recognition algorithm is a search problem. Every search problem has an initial state. This is a state of the intelligent machine before it begins its operation to do a particular intelligent task. Thus, it is the state of the car before it is about to go on a driverless journey. Think about driving directions that we access through Google Maps. But, the driverless car has to perform harder tasks of negotiating turns, slopes, climbs, and other traffic on the road. These are the tasks of an intelligent human driver. Today, AI has taken them over and we will soon have driverless cars crowding our roads. Thus, from an initial position from one point, the car can move to another point by taking some set of actions.

Our world is fast changing with AI. We are already using direct applications of AI as we Google search, access Facebook, use email, Siri of Apple, Alexa of Amazon and the like. Al sorts out our mail and sends some of it to the spam, as well as mark those that are read from those that are yet to be read or suggests friends for us on Facebook, etc. Al has entered our lives. In the power of Al, we have internet of things that connects our lights, TV, air conditioners, etc. Al can sort information and large chunks of data. Today, data analytics has become very vital for business, politics and even to fight the pandemic. Even as we are waging a global war against COVID-19, data analytics alongside face recognition techniques and data mining of our movements based on the mobile have become handy to understand the spread of infection and the human vectors that carry it. There are several other applications of Al. We are all fast forward into the world of tomorrow. This progressive forward movement is good but there are several No forward movement can be blind. We need to critically analyze and come up with the cost and benefits of calculus. Al is a smart technology that may outsmart humans. It will take away human jobs, Joblessness will increase we take adequate steps to change our education system. Besides, it has the power to manipulate our minds and leads us to buy things that we do not really need. Data analytics studies our vulnerabilities and can assist those that will prey on them. This is why Al is said to be a good servant and a bad master.

I think that Al is a welcome forward movement but humans have to be in control of the steering wheel and the gearbox otherwise it can damage our society and democracy. We may be locked into our own echo-chambers oblivious of the state of the world beyond it. This is why I welcome the work of Rev. Dr. Victor Ferrao who is a friend and guide to me. I admire this work as well as other things that he does. He seems to have an ability to be always one step ahead of things. This book on Al is very important and will provide us a deep understanding of this technology so that it can be fruitfully harnessed for human good and the good of our common home, the earth. Indeed, Al challenges our way of being human in several ways. We in Goa welcome this reflection as it becomes a great opportunity to move forward and join the global community with deep reflection as we step into tomorrow that is already part of our today. Like the Al that always remains in a goal state to give us the desired outcome, I think that this book puts us into a state that enables us to embrace Al and harness its benefits for a better, Goa, India and a global community. This book having been written after consulting several scholars in the field has the advantage of minimizing a path cost and adds value for us as we do not have to consult them.

Change is coming faster than we can anticipate and respond to. It seems that we have put both our feet into the future and are indeed living a revolution. The revolution is led by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Al is a world of intelligent machines that can perceive their environments through sensors and act upon them through effectors. The machines are steadily becoming intelligent agents.' A machine/ computer that passes the Turing test is regarded as intelligent and such machines are fast becoming pervasive and are set to dominate our future. The great powers in the world are waking up to this very knowledge that great corporations have known for some time now. Even as the hunt for a supremely intelligent AI is becoming intense, we have already seen dramatic advances in the field of AI that not only mimic human intelligence but outperform it by several miles. Machines now do not just match, but exceed human capacities. Like any other great technology, AI is a good servant but a bad master. As long as it can assist us to achieve humane human goals, it may be thought to be beneficial to us. Objectives are in each of us humans in our glorious diversity and not in the machines. Therefore, there is an essential human dimension in the designing and use of AI. Being in the hands of humanity, these machines will be switched into action and put to silence by humans. Therefore, humans have a great responsibility in the designing as well as in the use of this technology. But, we may reach a point where we may not be able to control Al, and we have to factor in these dangers too. Besides, Al collectively is fast changing our human experience and therefore is shaping us although it is shaped by us.

Today, a networking and multi-tasking self is rising on the wings of Al. The Cartesian solitary self is fast dying and an entangled self of a network has begun to appear. The industrial revolution assisted us to overcome the limitation of our muscle power and with the coming of Al we are overcoming the limitations of our mind by amplifying its powers. But, it seems that the self is becoming more artificial and less intelligent in the world of artificial intelligence. This is because Al is fundamentally replacing our cognitive process. What we need is, to be more intelligent and less artificial. It will not just disrupt labour force which is most feared thing about Al, it will disrupt the stand-alone solitary self and we see the larvae/ avtaras of a networking self and in a society of networks. Productivity will increase by robotization guided by AI and human labourers will be laid off. This condition may compel the dislocated humans to escape into the several networks developed by Al-enabled society of networks. Often the self of network society is self-married to the algorithm. Algorithms have steadily begun to make big decisions for our lives. In other words, algorithms rule our lives. Unfortunately, several of these algorithms appeal to lower human emotions like fear and anger and we can see how these emotions enjoy greater traction leading to the worst stand out of the self of the network society. Such a scenario can get a beast out of us and mainstream monstrosity in a network society.

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