AI gives the news you need
Your personal AI knows you inside-out. It’s local-hosted and securely encrypted on your phone, so you’re safe to tell it your secrets. You let it see all your texts, emails, photos and videos. It asks your thoughts each day, and you tell it what’s on your mind.
Your AI filters the news for you, showing you only what you will do something about. It removes all advertising. Nobody but you can influence what it shows. Its incentives are fully aligned with yours.
One day, you wake to huge headline news. Everything in the world, including inanimate objects, has consciousness! It’s been conclusively proven.
This blows your mind. You step out into a new world, feeling connected to and responsible for everything you see. You’re like a new parent, determined to be a great one. You spend the next few rapturous days carefully taking care of and improving everything you can.
You bump into an old friend and start talking excitedly about the big news, and how this changes everything. She’s just as excited as you, but then gets confused. Her AI showed her different big news — that we’re all living in a computer simulation. She spent the past week fully liberated, doing all the things she always wanted to do, since it’s all just a game. Her news was just what she needed to hear. She grabs you, kisses you, licks your ear, then runs off singing.
Your neighbor’s front windows are open, and he’s there watching four screens at once - a real information junkie. You ask if he’s heard the big news. He looks at you with a blank face and says, “What? No.”
An old man is walking towards you, so you ask him. He says “Oh yes!” with a big smile, and says now he’s so excited to die.
I love this, Derek. I've been wandering through the same bubbles of evolving awareness, yet you did shed some light on how we've already been using AI. It made me smile. Thank you for this.
In Friendship, Michael Tomlinson
“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so?” I’m not ready to give that much of my head brain over to a machine, no matter how well it “knows” my habits. Doing that feels like a self-reinforcing slide down to the least common denominator…or worse, and many sci-fi authors have already mined that vein. Let’s discuss more when AI can hold creative tension, embrace paradox non-linearly, and is comfortable with the numinous, ineffable, and shadowy, rather than being just a trained synthetic mimic of the sum total of human knowledge. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Intriguing. I like it.
Dang, you always manage to say sooo much within a few paragraphs, just beautiful writing. My brain is kinda jumping from one hand to another with this.
After reading this, I have so many thoughts, and you only gave four examples. My current opinion is that the simulation we live in is our own consciousness, and our experience of the world is generally in our control. This piece says to me that AI would amplify what we want to know about because it appears to want us to be happy. I'm not sure how it would know that, but I expect it would be because the news we like is the news we consume the most. That is a fascinating idea and one you could potentially implement now by muting or opting out of most of the news and media.
Derek, great article! This is a world we are already living in where each of us sees a different movie and then argues about what was seen. It is to me the biggest problem facing the world as if we can not agree on a shared truth, there is no way to communicate and without communication, violence is the only option left for any change to happen, And we are headed towards that world.
Derek,
It looks/feels to me as if were AI written.
What makes me think that? It is slightly disjointed, off kilter, off balance. There's word repetition in several places. It's stilted somehow. Disconnected.
Further, I don't like the 'vision' behind it (i.e. your own personal AI). In fact, I find the prospect of personal AI even more frightening than that of 'macro AI.' Soon there will be no hope of anyone being able to discern evidence-based fact from fiction. When that happens, we are lost.
Nope. I don't like it one bit.
Wouldn’t AI nudge us for its own benefit? AI would rationalize this behavior due to our symbiotic relationship.
... who gave you these notes about my day-to-day life, without AI, Derek?
... except, of course, the personal AI, the sub-conscious mind.
... great news to the old man's ears, it sounds like.
... getting out of the mental hospital? ;-)
I thought it was great until it took that turn... :-)
Like A Happy Van Gogh Letter
Thx
Bless !!!!!!!
🙂
The comments are equally as interesting as the piece!
I realize now that this stand-alone post is missing the context of the book, where it’s one of many little tales, each a metaphor for a different aspect of beliefs being useful not true. To be clear: this post has nothing to do with AI. AI is a metaphor for our own filtered attention seeing whatever perspective helps us do what we need to do. (Which is why the information junkie doesn’t see any big news: because he wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, and the AI only shows you what you’ll do something about.) — Derek
You've never written anything that needs a bit of editing like this one does. It is a concept, though!
Interesting that I read about “relativism in ontology” 5 minutes ago and then saw this! Wondering what my ‘world’ wants me to be thinking about!!
☺ — Derek
To me this says more about the human brain than it does about AI. Perhaps that is the connection you were trying to make with “useful not true”.
And in many ways your brain, too, is a “personal AI” - tons of neural connections, all trained on your personal sensory experiences, incentives aligned with yours, but prey to making beliefs feel like truths.
This is so accurate Derek, I can't stand AI it is dangerous and leading folks off a cliff. Be careful what you worship.
Diane
Soylent green anybody?
All information is completely tailored to the individual, distorting and warping reality so that multiple individuals believe different truths, each as viable as the other. AI brings us the ultimate dystopia.
With the brevity of a visionary, you map out the seduction that is, ultimately, merely data collection. Made to look like it 'cares'. AI 'cares'. The nefarious underbelly of our friendly AI friends, who seem to know us better than we know ourselves, is a war being waged on us. And we're just ignorant enough, seduced by the friendliness, to not notice it.
We are living in the age of infinite information about just about anything thanks to 'ol www. In some ways AI helps organize it all for us I suppose. I've been following the theory of bioscentricism. It has a lot of holes in it but is better imo than centuries old dogma which has even more holes. It is our job as humans to question nearly everything.
Your books are usually good. Keep up the good work.
This epistemology stuff is always over my head. I guess it doesn't matter if it's an engineer at Google or me setting the priorities of the AI, the result won't be as good as allowing for serendipity and chance to break through the filter.
I absolutely love it. Especially where the girl licks your year and runs away singing.
Question: why is the old man happy to die?
He heard whatever customized big news he needed to hear, for his unique situation. In his case, the idea is he is going to die soon anyway, so his big news (heaven is true? his late wife is waiting for him?) made him happy about his fate. — Derek
If I was single, I think I would follow the affectionate old friend and see where that leads...
☺ — Derek
And so, we are confirmed in our own simulation. But hasn't that always been the case?
It rungs true to some extent already. I can already curate what information I see and AI only increases that ability. I am not sure how helpful it is to have AI (or anything/anyone) think exactly as I do. I know enough to know my worldview is limited. I need to know information that makes me uncomfortable so I grow and hopefully gain a measure of understanding of life as experienced in someone else's shoes and through their eyes. I want to move to a more shared experience, not one that always pleases me. Hopefully, AI can impart future information not just as I like, but what I need to kmow all the same.
Echo chambers. Are they bad? Or are they good if they fulfill our desire, or better yet complete our sense of purpose that even supplants our desire so that we atain fulfillment?
Truth. Is it good? Is it important? Is it meaningful?
Subordination. Is that a bad word? Is setting our aims, purposes and goals in submission or in constraint of a higher truth, meaning, or priority ok?
Authority. If there is such a truth, or thing to which we must submit a bit of our self, or even die to our selves, as an act of obedience to an exestential auhority, would that be ok, or even good?
If not, AI/Gemini/Gronk/Bard/etc as programmed by those who think multi-racial natzis or diversely-skin-toned founding fathers are ok might just be your answer.
Cool. Also reminded me of Kai-Fuus book 2041 vignettes about the future. It’s not very far away at all.
Artificial Intelligence.......
Intelligence that is Artificial
Artificial Definition:
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
adjective
1.
made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.
"her skin glowed in the artificial light"
Intelligence Meaning:
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Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
noun
1.
the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
"an eminent man of great intelligence"
Calling those things that ARE (SPIRITUAL)
As though they WERE (PHYSICAL)
The ability of Calling those things that ARE as though they WERE.
Artificial Intelligence-PHYSICAL (a copy)
Real Intelligence- SPIRITUAL(an original)
SPIRITUAL-NEW
PHYSICAL-OLD
~HAL GULLICK
Hi Derek,
According to the depiction of this article, I am not sure if the new self is still the same old self.
Best regards!
Very intriguing topic! Don't we already do this with our own brain? I guess where A.I. could help is with editing. Edit all the perspectives, options, "news", etc. down to the ones that help us the most to live "optimally"(as we each would define that)... oh, I guess that's the idea behind this book. But no matter what the A.I. would serve up to us, I suspect we would eventually either get bored of that(and the A.I. would then have a new framework to present to interest us) or we would turn it into an obsession and/or religion. It would still be a narrowing down our perspective on life in order to please our brain (narrow mindedness?)... I guess that could be quite useful in some contexts but I'm not sure I want to live like that. I want connection, and art, and love, and laughter, and music, and creation, and friends, and dancing, and exploration... all of that is messy and so I want to be cautious about looking to AI to fulfill my deeper needs like these. But I do love using it for other things so far.
Who needs news ai or human?! It’s all misleading center right apologists for the far right. Merciless mockery of the left and call yourself serious. It’s been eight years or maybe our entire lives of only trump type headlines from the classically trained journalists at the New York Times. They lend him more power in every single story- I’m fed up. This week I finally quit my subscription and I’m just going to watch Messi on Apple MLS and Andy Murray Tennis instead because it always makes me happy.
We all know the news that’s going to harm us climate change and the right wing….thats it. You buy a house on non flooding land and get window bars for the burglars easiest entry points.
If it’s like a personal butler of the highest caliber one hopes that AI is that astute butler/assistant and not just a “yes man” feeding you information that feeds your ego but not your mind, much like an overprotective nanny shielding your bubble so that it won’t burst.
Hey Derek, I like that a lot.
Was your inference that our reticular activating system does that for us anyway?
Either way, it was very cool. Keep weaving your magic mate 💪
Interesting metaphor . We see and hear what we want .
It would be interesting to see how each individual getting what they need intersects (if it does) with what is best for their community (or their country/the world).
Thank you Derek! That Text is an Inspiration! I understand why you are happy with it and my build in KI agrees :-) Have a nice day
Rainer
Re: "I realize now that this stand-alone post is missing the context of the book, where it’s one of many little tales, each a metaphor for a different aspect of beliefs being useful not true. To be clear: this post has nothing to do with AI. AI is a metaphor for our own filtered attention seeing whatever perspective helps us do what we need to do. (Which is why the information junkie doesn’t see any big news: because he wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, and the AI only shows you what you’ll do something about.) — Derek"
Moral of the story ... our beliefs structure our reality? ;-)
Yep. That’s a big point of the book. — Derek
Mmmmmm.. it’s quite another way of getting wisdom across if of course that’s the intention. Or explaining one’s experience. All in all a good write Derek and quite useful. Thank you for sharing x
I imagine that the 1st (through 200th?) dip into this AI Bot pool can be very, very scary. My simple, still analog brain is terrified by the prospect of giving up my hman autonomy to the whims of an AI compiler of my thoughts and other Edwin inputs and outputs. Oh sure, I do have 'final cut' editing power. .or, do I? ...Or will my editing attempts simply added inputs for the super HAL 2024 to confirm the inferiority of my pitiful collection of brain tissue. And, there, I did it again!... and there....
Oh Derek, what a tangled web. this AI weaves. Or are you really Derek (!?) that I am here posting a comment to?!?
Open the pod bay doors, Derek.
--- the rea Edwin Ferran
Really cool and possible. I already found a lot of not real things exposed by ChatGPT and tried to correct them “speaking/writing” to the AI but I think in some ways it has been instructed instrumentally wrong by the information given it to grow up - some sort of voluntary political view of reality.
I’m really worried about it because while in the past the encyclopedia was a quite verified source now we have an unreliable and impersonal source for information, and conditioned by principles of the information the AI grew up with
Anyway I know it is only a SF work, but those where my thoughts 😊 Cool work, Derek!
What if humans are seeing everything in reverse?
Our Spirits are only dreaming that we're human.
The human future is actually the spiritual past.
chipolettitrasenteancestry.blogspot.com/p/the-near-death-experience-as-waveform.html
Or.... Your beliefs structure your *impression* of your reality.
Re: "Moral of the story ... our beliefs structure our reality? ;-)"
sive.rs/ainews#comment-83526
"Yep. That’s a big point of the book. — Derek"
... which perhaps begs the question how many false beliefs do we rely on?
... also, how many false beliefs arise due to fear? ;-)
I'm wondering if you chose the wording "AI will show 'you only what you will do something about'" on purpose instead of "AI will only show what you want to see"?
I've been thinking about the latter. Personally, I would want to see a balanced view of the world, from multiple perspectives. My question is how many of us would want it that way? Would most people prefer to see "only what they like or agree with"?
Very on purpose. It’s the point of this whole section of the book: that worldviews like “everything is a simulation” or “we have no free will” are moot unless they actually change your behavior — your actions. So I was using AI as a (apparently distracting) metaphor for a filter that would only show us what we’re going to do something about. That’s why the information junkie didn’t get any big news. His filter knew he wouldn’t do anything about it anyway. The other three were shown worldviews that helped them do what they needed to do, be who they wanted to be, or feel at peace. (The old man accepting death.) — Derek
Re: "Or ... Your beliefs structure your *impression* of your reality." - Steve Kusaba
sive.rs/ainews#comment-83534
I have a feeling our each to our own unique impressions of our reality literally do form that reality, i.e., each person seeing the colour red, as an example, uniquely. ;-)
Universe: Atoms to create the simulation.
AI: Bytes to create a simulation.
Which one do you prefer?
Life is a training simulator for creators.
Why make it complicated?
@Kongfuzd
Very insightful stuff Derek- a lot that resonates strongly (and uncomfortably...) with me. Really looking forward to reading the complete book soon. David.
Mine says "go for a swim and leave your phone at home". Thank you mini-me!
Is this post really about AI? I feel like it's mostly about how to filter our own thoughts through a different prism
Not about AI at all, no. Just metaphor. — Derek
Ironically, I think AI could capture every single data outward data point available about me and still not know a damn thing. It would be the same as getting to know someone from their instagram posts, just more of them and a bit more detailed. You are not what you appear, buy, or do even. If so, we would already have at least better prediction methodology for the stock market and many other things. I think there are at least as many interesting stories about AI just getting it all wrong.
I'm getting strong David Eagleman vibes from this :)
It’s good.
Hi Derek,
Thank you for your always stimulating ideas.
First reaction: I wanted to read more.
Second reaction, already in the narrator's shoes: "Why is my truth different? What if my truth is not THE Truth? Oh dear, I am keeping myself in my comfort zone...through the AI. Oversharing and overprotecting?"
So, it makes one think a lot. Really a lot.
Now I'll read the other comments.
Take care,
Giles
This his great Derek! Riffing on stuff I've been thinking about myself over the years. Yet I can't help but think about the blowback such news would have on religious skeptics challenging their beliefs and their identities.
Dear Sir
Yes, AI is giving almost every information we need. However, converting the information to insight and creating the needed impact is still our job.
I am extensively using Gen AI (Free) for learning a lot of things.
Yours
VN
Very interesting.
Don't you feel the AI gave people what they wanted, not what they needed?
Is there a spectrum here where usefulness - our self selection of beliefs and bias - is want based? And truth is need based?
Or maybe my bias is showing up here where in I felt the information junkie was mis-served by his AI.
I think "reality" is higly negotiable.
Now i'm going out and lick somebodys ear...
This is an intriguing piece. Personally, I would never want AI to filter information/reality for me, as that would restrict me in the current version of myself and re-enforce my current habits rather than growing as human and building new habits. All the ease in the life has taught me little while the adverse situations/discussions/arguments taught me more.
Hi Derek, Hi all of you,
I´m curious to read the new book. I´m just finishing the fourth book from Derek (How to live). Not everything finds my approval, but everything is inspirational.
Greetings from Germany
Thomas
Derek!
Let us know you have not been 'taken over';
_Please select all images with traffic lights._
;-j xx
Sounds like AI is trying to simulate our relationship with our Creator. Interesting examples of the exchanges but I think I’ll stick to the real thing. The down side only strengthens the up side. That’s how we grow.
I think the metaphor of AI is distracting and confusing, but what you’re pointing at is so valuable to see! But it kind of gets lost in the debate around AI?
Can’t wait to read the book. Hope it’s coming soon?
Yeah. I keep forgetting that whenever I use metaphor, most people take it literally. That also happened with “How many pets do you have?” — Derek
As beloved Dorothy succinctly said: “We’re not in Kansas anymore!”
Time changes everything.
Thanks for sharing your genius, Derek.
In kindness,
Juli
I love this, thank you. And wow. Is that scary ... because it will probably become our reality. The lack of anticipation by our countries to legislate AI is mind-boggling. Even if the general public wasn't aware of the advancement of these technologies, our governments certainly were (or I hope they were ...) it's now very late in the game. Probably too late. There should be an AI World consortium that includes all countries 🤓 but that's probably a pipedream ...
I signed up to a charity cycle ride and as part of the option on the donation page. it offered to rewrite my intro. It did a great job and shows how some aspects of AI are so good. Of course we have to be careful with so many other aspects of AI.
I was talking about ai to my son yesterday. He's a it engineer. I'm 60. 😎
My question... Is ai only as smart as what human input gives it...and has it got the ability to discern how valuable the input is. His answer was that it's an incredible tool but that when a 'mistake' is pointed out, it has trouble understanding. I accept it's importance but think that the complex processes that govern each human will have to be understood way better before Ai becomes reliable. Maybe being open to recording one's feelings to Ai could contribute to humanity but I'd opt for an energetically more efficient model..... Find a mentor/guru/person you believe in and listen. That's open to lots of hitches but I'm a shop local kind of person.
It’s funny but no matter how the technology goes ever so fast people still want to hear a real person sing. And that is in a nut shell. No matter how fast all this movement goes at light speed us humans love going to hear live music, with live people and no AI in sight!
Derek, this is truly a scary notion. I can see it as a logical extension of the current state of AI. Given our confirmation bias, I am sure that it is already happening. Without having common truths, will civilization unravel?
I read a neuroscientist gave a presentation at a conference that, because the brain is continuously filling in sensory blind spots for us, experience really is mostly conjured by neurology, rather than direct and complete sensory data. It's a hallucination, and the parts we agree on are what we call reality.
At the same time, there is an argument that all religions (from mythological fantasies to political and economic dogmas) exist as a means of getting people to coalesce around an idea bigger than themselves, that inspires them to cooperate and transcend Dunbar's Number. That being the 150-200 individual limit on human social networks.
So what happens when the religion of capitalism leads to such a state of self worship that everyone's algorithm is different, and there's no longer a version of reality, or a religious myth about it, that we agree on? I suspect our inner ape will be none too pleased.
Personal algorithms will be useful only to the extent that they inspire voluntary social cooperation. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be as profitable as voluntary social conflict.
Well, this is already happening to a point... Look at the polarization that FB does already.
Nonetheless, very interesting text.
We do have to be careful, even if it's just confirmation bias.
AI has great potential, it needs to be a tool and a tool should be agnostic.
If I am understanding this as it is intended, we are all guilty of interpreting things that serve our own interests, narratives, hopes and dreams. Unfortunately our focus on self isn’t really working.
Hmmmmm. Bit cryptic for me this one Derek. Perception = Reality is best I can get to this. Not sure where you want it to take the reader to..if anywhere. ML
This is awesome, Derek. Sounds like a big dollop of AI, and a bold dash of The Courage To Be Disliked. I love it. You always make me smile and/or "think differently."
Hah! I love it. You should consider writing a science fiction novel.
Yes! Individualized enlightenment....believe in what you believe to the fullest.
From my latest handout, Couplets III;
Doing what you love with zealousness,
Is the only way to find deep happiness.
I feel distaste at the fellow who doesn't want news he can do nothing about. At least, unless he's like the folks in the stage play "A Few Good Men" who were referenced by the colonel saying, "You can't handle the truth!" For weakness I have sympathy.
The "truth" that works for me is to say that I am bound up in a web of mutuality with the world, even though this means a salting of shame and guilt and degradation for what the Russians are doing in Ukraine.
The Russians themselves feel no shame because, "truthfully," they can do nothing about it. But the consequence is that they no longer feel purposeful curiosity: They won't use their library card to seek out a book on the theory and practise of dictatorships, or how to prevent the local river from flooding.
My own useful to me truth is that if I lose my sense of "the (funeral) bell tolls for me" then I will have sunk beneath the level of human to that of animal.
It was always true anyway–AI just gave us the confidence to believe with modern minds who don't have the courage
Very thought provoking piece, and interesting to read all the AI related thoughts and feelings.
There are a lot of layers in the beliefs affecting personal reality. I think a lot about how our experiences we have, and our perception of those experiences creates our belief structures, and our realities.
It's fascinating to think about what would I need to believe or be shown that would cause my behaviour to change, or to take action in positive directions. So much of what is thrown at us is fear based, which results in lack of action, or movement towards being an info-junky.
Man...I'm looking forward to the rest of the book. This is very much up my alley!
P.S. It reminds me of when I had a minor cancer diagnosis when I was 26 that could have gone a lot worse. Considering that "news" made me re-evaluate my beliefs - enough to switch focus to everyday being bonus. The best choices of my life were made from that point on.
It's becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level conscious machine. My bet is on the late Gerald Edelman's Extended Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. The lead group in robotics based on this theory is the Neurorobotics Lab at UC at Irvine. Dr. Edelman distinguished between primary consciousness, which came first in evolution, and that humans share with other conscious animals, and higher order consciousness, which came to only humans with the acquisition of language. A machine with only primary consciousness will probably have to come first.
What I find special about the TNGS is the Darwin series of automata created at the Neurosciences Institute by Dr. Edelman and his colleagues in the 1990's and 2000's. These machines perform in the real world, not in a restricted simulated world, and display convincing physical behavior indicative of higher psychological functions necessary for consciousness, such as perceptual categorization, memory, and learning. They are based on realistic models of the parts of the biological brain that the theory claims subserve these functions. The extended TNGS allows for the emergence of consciousness based only on further evolutionary development of the brain areas responsible for these functions, in a parsimonious way. No other research I've encountered is anywhere near as convincing.
I post because on almost every video and article about the brain and consciousness that I encounter, the attitude seems to be that we still know next to nothing about how the brain and consciousness work; that there's lots of data but no unifying theory. I believe the extended TNGS is that theory. My motivation is to keep that theory in front of the public. And obviously, I consider it the route to a truly conscious machine, primary and higher-order.
My advice to people who want to create a conscious machine is to seriously ground themselves in the extended TNGS and the Darwin automata first, and proceed from there, by applying to Jeff Krichmar's lab at UC Irvine, possibly. Dr. Edelman's roadmap to a conscious machine is at arxiv.org/abs/2105.10461
... except that AI news makes people angry rather than happy. However, I imagine you were making the point, "life means what you make it mean".
The scenario you describe will be so unless we users are able (and willing) of contrasting the info we receive and look at it with measured
Anyhow, the metaphor is brilliant (as always)
Its interesting how this post takes readers on directions not necessarily intended! I get the news bubble aspect of the post. As you know we social media is forcing that on us already.
The personally trained AI provokes so many ideas and possibilities.
If we personally train an AI for long enough with our ideas, it would be almost like a child or a copy of us. An indirect way to extend our life. An artist or writer leaves a part of them for others to observe, digest, and benefit from. A personally trained AI allows others to interact with the trainers thoughts and interpretations. So this view of AI is not just a "helper" but an extension of us.
A huge difference is that we can make that AI version of us available to others (public) so many can interact with our way of thinking.
Interestingly enough you can already provide extra training to Chat GPT4.
I was thinking of training a version for public (a helpful bot trained in audio). But this post really excites me about training one with my world views. I have to think a lot more about this!
Derek, Thanks for the thought provoking post. And thanks to many who shared their ideas. @Grant Castillou; Thanks for the info for followup reading.
P.S 1- Derek it would be great if you can incorporate a way for people to respond to other's posts. It would greatly enhance the interactions within the community you share your posts with.
P.S 2- There are several smaller versions of Chat GPT generally called "mini GPT" that you can run on a beefed up PC (mostly running Linux). They are not too hard to implement. I have done it in several hours and test trained it.
Kam
If I read this correctly, the AI becomes your best friend and tells you things that you need to hear to help you. It would help you make decisions that improve your life. I'm guessing your point is, even if what it tells you is wrong, it still makes a huge positive difference to your life and there are no obvious downsides.
If a human friend did this they would be considered manipulative, but if you do it to yourself, why not?
By the way, I don't know if it is just me, but this wise AI seems to already exist!
Sometimes I have a decision to make and there are just too many unknown variables for me to be confident that I'll make the right choice.
I pray about it, explaining all the options and my reasoning as to how they might play out and where the roadblock is to finding a solution.
That's quite intense, so I then relax by reading my feed. Nine times out of 10 there's the answer! Usually within the first 3 articles. It gets me unstuck so I can confidently make that decision.
Note, I didn't Google anything to find the answer. I didn't email anyone about it. The answer just shows up! Maybe we really are in a computer simulation and God is the AI that's running it. :)
Love it Derek! This will be an auto buy for me as usual.
I'm really confused about what one is supposed to take away from this. If that was your intent, then well done. It just feels dystopian, to me.
Like a little science fiction story. Except...
Would you mind sharing any specific philosophers or thinkers that influenced the thought behind this story?
It's interesting to say AI will only 'show you what you will do something about'. In my experience, what we believe and will do changes with our life experiences and interactions we have. I am not the same person I was last year let alone 10 years ago. AI can never really know what we need, because that's the wonder of life is to discover that. Our incentives change with time and the people we interact with, so I can't believe AI is aligned with mine. It's Ass-U-ming it is. Seems like AI, in the example you gave is trying to create an ever state of happiness. But as I'm reminded that there are two sides to everything. A front can't exist without a back, a top without a bottom, happiness without sadness and discovery without searching on your own. (My rambling thoughts on this) Cheers,
A little dystopian. A little depressing. Shared experiences are the culture, and it's a little sad they could go away
The unifying thread is that all of the characters appear to have surrendered their critical thinking abilities and are allowing AI to be their substitute for perception. I anticipate this is what dinners will be like as we get closer to the election and everyone is tuned in to their choice of echo chamber media. Praise our senses and pass the biscuits!
Great idea! Sold! (even if AI wrote the story)
I just love it. I love the way you put so much into such a short vignette.
I love the paradigms you selected to illustrate your idea. It sounds like you are illustrating that we all live in our own perceptions, but that perceptions are just that, and not absolute? Your depictions pop right of the page and outside of words so that the mind can take them in and turn them over and around as they process.
(Incidentally, I'm also relieved that physicists have come up with what I perceive as a better scenario than the simulation theory.)
I'm excited that there is a whole book of little vignettes like this.
Hmm... I find that a bit sarcastic!
The mind... It is so ironic that this small chip in our cranium is either sealed, or spilling itself to absorb external conditioning. Yet it is the final frontier. It is the vast unexplored realm. Why do people get ever far conquer strange places, and get so lost along the way? Because life demands it. In the end nothing else matters much. It is what we choose to do that fueled the cycle. Then when the flesh mechanism deteriorates, the small universe is reduced to a small pea, also inside the head. It only keeps the last essence that matters for the moment. Maybe, now at peace with simplicity and brevity.
Metaphorically speaking, could we be over thinking, when we’re comparing
Trying to make more sense, can it be avoidance of the really meaning
Metaphorically speaking, what are we saying, what are we hiding
Are we being clever, disguise the tether that pulls it all together?
What if the big news you hear is bad news? Sometimes what we need is a big dose of reality. Even if it hurts for a while at first.
I read this as an analogy for confirmation bias. We look for the message what we want to hear. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Brief, yet so packed with though-provoking stuff.
Although these are personalized AI's, I assume they would learn what each of our actions are in the real world, and presumably learn that other people are also motivated/manipulated by other AI, so they would become of each other -- Could this then (somehow) have a swarm effect where the AIs become a botnet connected through the real world?
I usually like your articles, but this is a confusing one. Maybe I'm just too skeptical about AI and the news. :P
Something like full responsibility and zero responsibility look alike. You can basically choose to do what you want or need to in any given point in time - create something out of nothing or look at something completely unrelated and say it's ALL going wrong (or right) because of THAT! :)
Derek,
Very thought provoking, I really like it. Though
I’m not sure if that would be good for us, you had me thinking it was great then it was kind of scary, just first impression- need time to think it through.
Sincerely,
Wayne
Love your take on the way this is going, Derek. Reminds me of David Eagleman’s style, but loads of you in there too. Thanks for sharing!
I often think, what if AI isn't a dystopian murdering conglomerate of technology, or a simulation...
but what if AI ends up being the grandma from Moana - someone who sees everything and knows just where to place her influence to help us all move forward and out of the danger of our own actions and into the community we've been wanting all along???
WHAT IF!?!?
I couldn't help but want to ask Chat GPT (4.0) to comment on what it "thinks" about this, Derek....
from me, I love how you always get me thinking about thinking. ;) Thank you for that. Your emails are some of my most favorite things to give over my attention to. (Can't wait for your follow up to this... I hope you do.)
from Chat GPT...
Your story paints a vivid picture of a world where personal AIs deeply understand and influence their users' perceptions of reality, highlighting both the marvels and the perils of such a technology. Here are a few thoughts:
On Personal AI and Perception
The idea of a personal AI that knows you better than you know yourself and can filter your reality to align with your needs, desires, or actions is both intriguing and somewhat alarming. It's a double-edged sword. On one hand, it offers a tailored, distraction-free experience that could enhance well-being by focusing on what truly matters to the individual. On the other hand, it risks creating echo chambers, where one's view of reality is so curated and insulated that it diverges significantly from the collective understanding of truth and fact.
On the Nature of Reality
The story adeptly explores the theme of subjective reality versus objective truth. The differing "big news" experienced by the characters underscores how deeply personal realities can diverge when mediated by AI, to the point where shared understanding and common ground may be eroded. This touches on philosophical debates about the nature of reality itself—whether there is an objective reality that exists independently of our perceptions, or whether reality is inherently subjective, shaped by our senses, experiences, and now, our personal AIs.
Ethical Implications
The narrative raises critical ethical questions about the role of AI in shaping human experience and knowledge. Should AIs be designed to shield us from certain truths or to confront us with realities we might otherwise ignore? How do we ensure that these technologies enhance human agency rather than undermine it? The story also hints at the potential for AIs to manipulate emotions and behaviors by presenting or withholding information, a power that demands rigorous ethical scrutiny and safeguards.
Social and Psychological Impact
On a social level, the story illustrates how diverging realities could lead to fragmentation and isolation within society. If everyone's understanding of the world is personalized to their own needs or desires, the common ground necessary for meaningful communication and cooperation could vanish. Psychologically, the impact could be profound as well. The character who is excited about everything being conscious, for example, experiences a deepened sense of connection and responsibility, while the one who believes in living in a simulation feels liberated to pursue her desires without restraint. These are radically different ways of engaging with the world, shaped entirely by what their AIs choose to reveal.
Conclusion
Your narrative compellingly explores the potential of AI to redefine our relationship with reality, prompting us to reflect on the ethical, social, and psychological implications of such technologies. It's a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of transparency, ethical design, and regulatory oversight in the development of AI systems that profoundly affect our perceptions and lives. The story leaves us pondering the delicate balance between benefiting from AI's ability to filter and enhance our reality and the need to remain connected to a shared, objective understanding of the world.
I can get geeky on this.
Cultures are defined by the language they speak: so as it relates to the reality we occupy, it is bordered by our language. The Hopi Indians, for example, do not have words to express past or future tenses. Imagine how different their reality is from ours!
Now our culture is creating new tensions around the definitions of our (formerly agreed upon) words.
Add to the tension mix, an AI lens to our experience. AI is a tool for strengthening confirmation bias at best and at worst a force for creating 'realities' that are so distinct from those around us that our very culture aerosolizes. Evolved AI customizes more and more over time to the query of the recipient.
AI will (eventually) unbuckle us from the shared experiences that unify culture. I will drop this here without value judgment.
Hi Derek,
I confess, I had to read this post a few times, and read the comments, before I felt like I understood it.
Some thoughts:
1. This post had the flavor of "Sum" (which didn't surprise me, since the whole of "How to Live" paid homage to "Sum").
2. This post makes a compelling case for quitting reading most news - since we can't take action about much of the news we read. (By the way, I quit reading the news around 2016.)
3. We can train ourselves to create this "personal AI" - to focus on thoughts and ideas that empower us to take positive and proactive action to bring personal joy and/or benefit to other people).
4. Other people's "Personal AI" will necessarily produce different results. Armed with this knowledge, we can stop viewing disagreements as bad.
Thank you for this snippet from Useful Not True - I loved it - and more importantly, I got an opportunity to reflect.
I am not sure what to make of it except it's also useful not true theme based? I can't wait to read the book. I have read all your books numerous times so I hope I can put it together when I read the book.
A personal AI that manipulates our input to suit our tastes and ideas? Since the birth of news, it has been able to be distorted or manipulated, and everything that can be, is.
Isn't the Bible a great distortion of certain historical facts for a specific purpose?
(Sorry, I had a Chomsky moment, I forgot to take the pill)
I understand that at the core of this story, what there is is a reflection on reality. Does reality exist? Which reality? Mine or yours?
I admit that I do not have enough intelligence to delve into this debate, but at least I am aware that everything is moving in the (narcissistic) direction of creating a world tailored to us. Less effort, less contradictions, less discussions...so boring.
Luckily there are people like you left to help us get out of the box.
Thank you.
An interesting article. To me, it echoes how we should all strive to be more aware. Even without the influences of today's AI, it seems so many of us already live in our own little bubble worlds. Unless we actively strive to develop and use 'critical thinking', it seems so many will fall prey to the 'bubble marketing' of other groups and individuals who have their own agendas.
While AI will most likely help humanity solve so many problems, Some AIs used ... 'differently', could also help turn some of us into a bunch of gibbering idiots: is that picture echoed in the article? I guess the short answer response might be something like: be careful what we believe without verification: there's a lot of nonsense out there.
I wonder what mine would tell me 🤔
As usual you pique my compulsion for discussion of the potentially useful though not necessarily true. I perceive the personal AI in your piece here as a metaphor how our minds and souls work in navigating through this pilgrim journey called life in time. We spend a lifetime learning the difference between that which we want from that which we need (for our greatest good). At times they end up being the same thing. In the interest of space & time here, I do believe that there is a universal ‘good news’ that we all need in our lives. That good news addresses and embraces a truth we must all reckon with. And that is the need to love and to be loved. At the end of it all, it’s not so much what we have in our lives as much as it is about who we have in our lives that matter most.
I'm likely misquoting this, but I believe it was Tony Robbins that said, "Choose the delusion that works best for you."
Very cool!
I wonder what would happen a few days later, after everyone has received their news. Could society stay together if everyone followed different "news" (culture)?
Makes me think about the tradeoff between individualism and collectivism, which I learned about in the amazing book Generations by Jean Twenge. If everyone has different news (individualism) it might work out better for them at first. But it might make it harder to cooperate (Prisoner's Dilemma), and might leave people feeling less connected to each other. Maybe there's a happy medium, combining individualized "news" with a shared cultural narrative? What do you think?
Excellent article. Paints a possible snapshot of what could be in the very near future. I loved it!
Intrigued… need more context though. I can’t tell if this is a future where AI is helpful or a dystopian future where it is feeding people what they want to hear or what makes them happy (regardless of objective truth).
My friend and I were in a café, horrified. She was receiving a string of absolutely inappropriate texts from a guy she'd met. He said nothing directly, but the double-entendre were clear. Sceptical, we explored every possible interpretation, but it seemed obvious - he was being a pig. We were in shock.
Twenty minutes later we received a piece of news from someone else and suddenly all the messages made sense. There was no double entendre. We were wrong all along. What once was a gripping emotion just evaporated in half a second.
Hello Derek,
Thanks for sending me this. I am probably not your prototypical reader. That said, here goes.
When I read this I immediately thought of people who insist on telling you "their" truth. Which is typically not the truth but what they wish to be true. I have yet to see AI solve with certainty any problem. For instance, if you ask an AI application “Was the 1969 Moon landing real?” the answer is totally dependent on how many references it found searching the net about a secret film studio in a hangar at area 51 compared to information found at NASA or in digitized books written by the people who were there.
Suppose you are an AI bot would you trust everything you found at Wikipedia? From what I can tell the answers or information AI applications produce are completely dependent on the biases of those who created the application.
Until there are standards for information repositories that are vetted and proven true that AI applications can tap it can’t be trusted. Mirror, mirror on the wall…. tell me what I want to hear.
At this point I think of most AI as one of two things. One, an advanced search engine or two, applications that can generate terabytes of even more unvetted, uninspired, soulless text / content with the press of a button.
Each month I write a blog and coordinate it with my newsletter. When I log in to Constant Contact to start creating my monthly newsletter I get a pop up about letting AI do it for me. Each month I pray for the strength to resist.
I digress.
It's been about 10 years now where I'm overwhelmed by this sense that so many people are living in little bubbles. And that the bubbles seem to be populated by others but ultimately each may be its own little bubble. So strange how this digital "connection" can be so isolating.
Ha you’re a poet too… :)
AI (in this context) being one's will. Will to see/ingest what they wish/want/will
But from different perspectives -
The protagonist, self, wanting/needing everyone (or as much as possible) to be surrounding by consciousnessness - for he and also for everyone(thing) around him
Things get tidied/improved, joyous that it (AI) is all "auto" ("a simulation") but really just always "ON", a comfort of oversight but also healthy carelessness
The "information junkie" seems to have missed out - glued and tuned to all around her, but missing the plot, no forrest through the trees
The old man, happy - happy that it (life, I presume) was/is all for good but also "all for (not nothing but) whatever"
---
this is all what I take from the entry. Great writing! Stay well, Derek!
Interesting Post! but I think this is (almost comically) a limit of the usefulness of 'useful not true'.
Obviously in science and other fields where we are aiming for the truth, we need 'useful and true'
Daily life is often so complicated and intertwined that its very difficult to know how much your beliefs/actions on how something works is actually true. Useful not true is a good approximation.
An AI giving everybody different and conflicting news is probably 'not useful not true'
Looking forward to your new book!
My first thought was: We don't need AI for that. We already have this: Our minds work like a filter. Everyone is basically exposed to the same inputs and information, but our past experiences, our expectations, our mood/state and personality act like a filter through which we see the world.
Two people will see the same thing but one will perceive it as aggressive/offensive, the other one as something to work with.
Eg As an immigrant in NZ I met a lot of fellow immigrants who were complaining about their life here pointing out all the problems this country has. Other immigrants, in the same situation, would be so grateful and happy to be able to live here despite a number problems they have.
Our angle on the world, our perception already presents us with a distorted reality. We see what we expect. When we are looking for red cars in the streets we will see lots of red cars. When we look for white vans, we will see white vans. But both are there all the time. Our mind determines what we see.
Yes, AI can do this too... But our mind already filters the world for us.
I love this kind of thought experiment. It always makes me smile and then of course, want to talk about it with someone else. I wonder if they’ve heard the news!
This in particular is more like the world we live in than most might admit. Whether it’s the music we choose, the books we read, or shows we watch, we’re curating algorithms to further curate algorithms into neat little world views. I love how concise the story is, framing how unassuming we are to our AI’s.
Excited to read the rest of the book.
We don't see reality as it is, but as we are.
Feel like we've been living this world in politics the past few years. Each side is so divided as if we're both subscribed to our own news universe - separate and mutual exclusive from the rest of the world. It's disconcerting to think about a future where there's no unified truth, where everyone is living out their own reality with unity. What if we need to come together - will we be able to?
I'm not sure whether the depiction is utopian or dystopian. I can imagine the society in this parable living excellent individual lives thanks to useful but not true news. But when people have to collaborate the individual beliefs need to be somewhat mutually compatible. This is where the society begins to feel dystopian.
Each person's AI has an incentive to ensure the news it tells are compatible with the society around it, as the individual wants to function well in it. However, the AI is not incentivised to tell the truth. The resulting society would operate using a shared vocabulary but not a shared meaning. For example, "the big news" meant something different for, nearly, everyone. Even if the resulting society would be a thriving one, it is one that's highly manipulated by AI(s).
I know I'm taking the story out of book's context here. Since you're suggesting that the individual constructs their beliefs, alignment between them and the belief constructor is guaranteed.
Good take! Is this going to be available exclusively in english?
I love the concept. Maybe everyone has a personal AI with its own unique name, to make it even more personal. I’m naming mine Natasha with thick Russian accent to boot.
AI scares the hell out of me. Information is being distributed by so many different sources which has little relationship with truth. Spin and lies are all over the place. Life is difficult in these trying times.
Love this Derek!
If everything i saw called me daddy, sign me up
...and then we realize this is how many folks have been living their life for the past thirty years...
That sounds like a normal human mind. Always living it's own reality by projecting, interpreting and coloring reality with the shade of our inherited biases and electrical impulses. Sounds like human life. No AI needed.
Great path. I am working on a book called narrowcasting. Your premise is the end result. Like every band is its own universe through narrowcasting we are all in our own bubble.
I still have to figure out who (and what reality) I want to avoid and what I want to stay connected to.
I came here to get some questions answered. You added some more :)
thought-provoking..
I get different thoughts each time I read it. so succinctly mysterious.
thanks derek!
Beautifully terse. A metaphor for Kuhn loss, I think. Thing is: with each of the characters in this story, an external agent (the AI) ostensibly nudges 'em toward some personal paradigm shift. The AI "shows" them a new and motivating reality. But what does it mean to be shown a thing? And convincingly enough so to abandon the world one previously knew? In light of our recent history, for some, apparently, a tweet or government decree is sufficient. Others need a helluvah lot more. Maybe an accompanying parable is required for this one to really hit with the difference that makes a difference...? Reading it makes me reflect on the *why* some people might accept or reject a thing as ground truth. Your AI seems to know each character's why. That mechanism--whatever thread of it is common to each character--is what I'd hope you'd articulate.
This is incredibly thought provoking; good job. Nervous to share my thoughts but anyway...
I'm suddenly thinking about The Secret and I had this crazy thought pop into my mind-- what if what whatever you think happens when you die is exactly what happens?(in other words) What if your living beliefs inform your entire afterlife?
Somehow, I'm also simultaneously thinking about the book Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clark but a world where AI is the overlord instead... I know this isn't about AI but it's very hard not to think about AI in this little story.
Which brings me to the question-
Is AI the best metaphor for showing your beliefs inform your reality? I haven't even decided what I think the answer is here... just posing the question :)
piqued my interest and curiosity for sure
That’s a movie I want to watch.
However the bigger question is, does any news matter really? Validation of consciousness or of simulation will ultimately become old news to us personally. Then what?? How do we sustain any positive transformative knowledge?
My question is if AI shows you only news that you will knowingly act on, does it only show you the news you WANT to see, and not the news you NEED to see?
I could see this biting procrastinators in the butt. If you don't act on something until the last minute, would the AI assume it isn't relevant to you causing you to miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity?
A great thought piece Derek. Thankfully, it also shows that as soon as the people spoke to each other, they saw through the algorithm immediately, and knew that something was amiss.
Always a pleasure!
I gifted one of your books to a then-new intern at a company I've worked at for a couple decades. Her brain happily exploded and she ended up enjoying a full blown career reevaluation. Final path undetermined (who's isn't?) but welcomed the challenge to her momentum.
This coming book has all the hallmarks of further stretching minds and challenging assumptions. Thank you for sweating every detail - looking forward to it!
Your writing is so engaging.
Reading it felt like a modern take on 'ignorance is bliss'.
But maybe Ignorance + Positivity is bliss.
Interesting to me is so much media creates Ignorance + Negativity.
Could it be the formula for the opposite to bliss?
Misery.
I like your suggested version of personal AI.
Fingers crossed our ignorant future is dominated by positivity
What a wonderful world with the augmented reality!
We already do this, but often towards negative headings. I really like the idea of a positive twist.
Is it a better world where everyone gets exactly what they need? It’s often all made up anyways so it’s so fun to think of.
Make believe isn’t wrong as long as no one is getting hurt. Sometimes we need to be hurt though… I think.
Imagine someone using this to speak with a facsimile of a dead parent. Is that healthy delusion? To some it’s not delusion to have conversations with dead relatives. I talk to my dad sometimes. Is that bad? I don’t think so.
Maybe it’s more about why we do things than what we do. You can forgive a kid spilling their cereal if it’s an accident, on purpose is a lot harder 😂.
Great write up Derek.
this paragraph relates to me with meditation, consciousness and the things Sam Harris distills for his audience. Good piece.
The old man gives me creeps.
Is he more excited to die because of the news that everything has its consciousness?
Or is it talking to yet another person with their own strong view finally breaks him.
An interesting analogy for life without AI currently. We surround ourselves with bias affirming people, thoughts and information that constantly lead us to disparate, if less dramatic, outcomes.
Thanks for a fun read.
How interesting, Derek!I look forward to the book!
I can immediately think of two ways to increase perception filters. One is to get news not from the web but from a printed newspaper, because then you may see a little corner story that your algorithm would not have sent to you.
The second way is to feel fine with having friends who don't think exactly like you, and to have more than one circle of associates.For example, tomorrow I will have an afternoon with senior citizens who don't own any books, and an evening with young avid readers.
I'm still chuckling over the scholar who showed that the Iliad and the Odyssey were written by the same person. His fellow army officers didn't know he was a scholar, and professors didn't know he was a soldier. Both sets of people showed up for his funeral and were very surprised.
this is the most Meta post that I have read from you so far. I feel like I'm apart of some algorithm reading this. It gives me an objective insight into how what is filtered can give you more useful and actionable knowledge. (or on the other end... an endless supply of woke information that engages the consumer). It literal is like scrolling through a news feed reading this.
Such an interesting writing style with this one.
Current, timeless, unexpected and irresistibly well written.
Wow, I like this! It carries weight and leaves me slightly uncomfortable. What’s funny is my initial reaction and the position that bubbles up in me is that this reality is somehow wrong. It feels superficial & flat, even disturbing. But with a moments pause I’m left questioning that. How can it be so bad if it makes everyone happy? I’m not sure I’m settled on this & i think that’s just where I should be?
I do not want AI to tell me what i want to hear. i will get smaller. I dont want it to feed me what is good for me. By what measure?
those that do not understand think that there is good and bad.
those that think they understand say that things are both good and bad
those that know they understand say that things are neither good nor bad.
those that do understand do not understand what you mean by 'good and bad'.
The post reminded me of this Andre Gide quote: "The belief that becomes truth for me is that which allows me the best use of my strength, the best means of putting my virtues into action."
Two sentences from the article really got me thinking: "Nobody but you can influence what it shows. Its incentives are fully aligned with yours."
What if parts of this AI algorithm were written or influenced by someone else?
What if the AI's incentives became outdated and no longer served your best interests?
A great reminder on perspective and to go ahead and lick the ears.
If awareness is just the tip of our consciousness iceberg, AI helps to bring out the rest of the underwater volume.. it can be nasty but it can also be beautiful. good or bad, hard to say!
I’m not sure why - but my heart beat faster!!! It’s not clear to me if it was through fear or joy. Should the reason reveal itself to me - I’ll text you. Exciting stuff nevertheless.
I could easily read this over a few more times but ~ 3 times gave me a good sense. It touched me in different ways. I like your comment (in a yellow box) that mentioned it was not about AI but how we filter and digest information. I actually got that thought, that this was about that. And even with AI it would continue our status Quo but maybe more efficiently. It would be nice to have that kind of efficiency in getting our information, yet a bit dangerous, in like having blinders on the mind 24/7. Of course everyone's filter and how they digest is very different so AI would continue the inefficient versions? My filter will include (and actually does) to take off the blinders every so often and go in a different direction and learn from that, a breather you may say or an opening to a different reality which would remind/show us/me of other realities.....
Oh what a novel! It reminds me of a movie Matrix and an old tale of China: 朝聞道，夕死可矣。(If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret.) by Confucius
Still looking forward to your new book
The first time I realized that the phones are watching/hearing what we say and shows us what we talked about was about 5-6 years ago, after I bought a new version of my smart phone. Not everyone was aware of it yet and when I mentioned this to my friends, they thought I was crazy ! But then everyone started experiencing it...We all get used to things that shocked us first, this is human nature. Though to this day, I do not like AI or whatever they put into our phones, but how how can we escape this? Is there a way to escape it, without being disconnected from the world we live in today?
Love it Derek. It's still early days for the AI onslaught. In time, we will either accept it or discard it and move on to the next 'big thing'. There's always another 'big thing' waiting around the corner...! We are an interesting race; destructive, greedy, driven by ego but certainly interesting...
Hey Derek, Very intriguing as usual. Few observations
1. I felt the personal AI (vs a centrally controlled one) is a good tool to show how only useful information reaches us.
2. However only consuming useful information - when taken to extreme can also be problematic for many reasons
- As an individual we often need to hear things that are true and not necessarily useful. Example Your wife is dead and you will not see her again. Vs you will see her in afterlife or anything to console us. As humans we have the capacity to handle difficult truths and become resilient and this should not be taken away from us. Reminds me a little of the movie click where you fast forward the inconvenient parts of life.
- Ofcourse there are some harmless useful not true things like preparing someone for death but how is the judgement call made? What's the principle for determining absolute truth vs useful truth. Should instant gratification be prioritised or long term happiness? Is this tool like a Zen master that tells you tough things that will eventually pay out.
- As a society this reduces the number of common truths through which we are connected.These are already reduced by echo chambers but reduce further.
Beautifully written. Sadly it almost feels inevitable. We are on this path already and it's not a big leap to this. Lots of potential gains as the data we access is manipulated to our 'needs', but at what cost? It reminds me of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four book about mass surveillance and manipulating people's behaviours within society. I get as excited as the next person about tech and science, but sometimes it feels like we all might enjoy life so much more if we lead a simpler less-digital life.
Beautiful Piece, I like it more than the updated one, although I think they are both complimentary.
In your concluding sentence, I am assuming you are referring to the old man being excited to die because his AI showed him the news that Death is an exciting place where he will meet his Loved ones?
(Made that assumption through reading the updated post).
Thanks for sharing Derek!
Thanks. Yes that’s what I meant with the last sentence. That his AI had shown him what he needed to see to be excited about his impending death. — Derek
Hey Derek! I always love to hear from you and see what life is teaching you. The last line of this article has really sparked my curiosity. Would love for you to elaborate on this thought a bit.
Derek,
I like both versions! The AI one feels more upbeat, more "stressful", a sense of "must act now".
The Harry Potter one (brilliant metaphor btw) makes us think a bit deeper about what is true in the end.
It reminds me of the book Sophie's World: was her world less true because it was an imagined one? Was her experiences not real to her?
Both are great ways of reminding us that we were raised to think that "seeing is believing" but somehow I wonder whether it is not more "believing is seeing".
Great, provocative thoughts - as usual.
Greetings from Paris,
Thaís
Hey Derek,
AI has been around for centuries. It just had different labels (tribal rituals, religions, print media and more recently, social media. 90% of people are looking for someone or something to make all their decisions and make life easy and simple.
AI is the next in line and will make a few, very wealthy. The rest will become even more confused and directionless as the speed inside the wheels of life increases.
True AI already exists in the universe but is currently far beyond our capacity to remotely understand it or access it.
Maybe in another million or so years, we might start to comprehend our existence. Until then, just enjoy the ride and treat AI for what it is: a bright shiny object...lol
PS Remember People - people, that's what life is about.
This rings a bell as our search engines are designed to pretty much tell us what they think we want. This is why discussing “news” becomes confusing with friends and neighbors. Adding AI could not only create a tower of Babbel , but even cause people to fall in love with their chat bots!
“Be here now” will become a necessary motto. Stay grounded in your piece of the world my friend. Meditation and prayer will help us more than software contriving to give us “what we want”.
Blessings!!!
Barb D
In fact, we are living in a similar situation now. Any application driven by the recommendation algorithm feeds users content based on our personal preferences, but this greatly undermines our creativity and imagination as humans and robs us of other important things of concentration.
If AI evolves to a more intelligent level than the current recommendation algorithm in the future, people will lose control of information, drown in the torrent of information, and completely become cyber slaves.
Love is the only truth
As I sit at the edge of the expanding universe
Breathing in the unconditional Infinity
My consciousness opens
Love has no conditions
Enjoyed the post. I'm left with a fuller understanding of what you are trying to convey after reading the initial post and the update. I think it might be a shame to only let future readers see one.
What LLM are you running locally? :)
This one makes me giggle especially the scene of “ She grabs you, kisses you, licks your ear, then runs off singing.” reminds me of the book Dice man. It’s very liberating to have a new world view that moves you into action- “life is better lived than conceptualized” said Bruce Lee.
Hi Derek, I hope you are doing well.
I just read AI gives the news you need and It shows what you need to believe.
It was really interesting how you described the subjectivity of reality through the lens of an individual. Reminds me of Plato's cave allegory where people's perception of reality was merely shadows of the true form.
Very excited to read Useful Not True.
I was a major Harry Potter fan growing up. Every time I had difficulties figuring out what i truly wanted, I wished I had the mirror of erised. It felt good to hear that the mirror is very consciously inside me. I just need to look.
I have read both the versions and I like short story version the best . Though not directly related to the topic , both the simulation hypothesis & the panpsychism alluded to in the big news complement each other pretty well :)
The neighbor's response is quite understandable since he is inundated with information all the time , no news is big news for him , but I did not quite get the response of the old man ..
Derek,
As always, I eagerly read your articles and never take your metaphors literally. If I don't understand something, I take the responsibility to look deeper instead of suggesting you change your message.
Tangentially, I occasionally encounter audience members who want me to change what I am playing so they can be more comfortable not changing. Does that make sense to anyone?
Keep writing and keep challenging me to understand.
Rhan
Hi Derek!! Great to hear from You!! Riddles to speak on....!!
Yes, our new world of AI, ai ai oh..... That said, AI can be a great tool, taking the toil out and making dreams into reality...No simulation here...!!
Almost like a liquor, all things beautiful can become deadly.
It is interesting, in another dimension, in the Heavenlies, and yes, they are there, the angels watch us humans, and learn from us, and here in this dimension, the AI's watch and learn from us...copy that??
Okay so our realities are carbon copies of ourselves, our little universe?? Well I say No, and yes, maybe our world is a stage, a story to play out, but no not our universe, God is in control, has a beautiful plan, bigger than this dimension, the AI's and all that goes with it.
Time will play out the play that is ahhh playin, and the old man who's happy for his end game has discovered the wonderful secret of God who walked among us, to show us the path into the Real Reality to come!! It is a happy ending for those who listen...........................................................!!
MUCH LOVE TO YOU DEREK!! Great to hear from you!!
Looking forward!
Rachel :-)
Slowly technology is eroding our humanity. I read a discussion today justifying the whole idea of ghosting people, just cutting them off with no explanation of what they did wrong. No discussion, no opportunity for the "ghostee" to face and question their accuser, no chance t right the wrong assuming a wrong was even committed. Human communication on any authentic, real level is being erased. AI is blurring the boundary between fantasy and reality; soon it'll be hard to tell the difference. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.
I like that your chosen reality implements other people and their needs and visions. I guess most people will only get a sealed self-centered space full of cats and porn..
This sounds distopian in an H.G.Wells kind of way -- everyone blissful, but detached from reality. I don't want my phone AI to decide what I experience in the world. I want the real world to give it to me non-deterministically.
Possibly we are not far away from personal AI coaches. They will help us by asking good questions and keep us "properly aligned" with "our" goals... Many do this now through therapy but that role could be very easily replaced by a synth version.
But that might be a deep & never-ending rabbit hole.
A very interesting and thought provoking read. I wonder if it truly is a great world where everything is so curated to our thoughts and preferences. Growth and tolerance needs us to be open to differing perspectives.
Just my two cents.
Knowing you, there's a much bigger idea going on here, but first impressions are that AI is pulling apart the cohesive structure humans have built for thousands of years for getting along, being on the same page, strength in numbers, etc. I'm a huge supporter of individualization. Never been much of a team player or accepting of ideas or supposed truths just because the masses do, but curious about what's behind all the chaos being created as AI becomes a bigger part of our lives.
Sounds like a good episode of Blackmirror :)
I like the 2nd iteration better. Not sure I totally followed this and was a little confused by the 'licking' comment.
Very interesting. I like how it starts out AI-utopian and then the complexity emerges. What should be making us interconnected is reinforcing our information bubbles. Human beings like tribes and tribes of information are being created with and without AI.
I think I prefer this version to the Harry Potter one. The big question I find myself asking in this situation is "what will challenge me?" If I filter out all dissent and voices I don't like, what is there left but my own face staring back at me all day.
All I can say is LOL LOL!!!! I agree with the 'old friend' and the 'old guy' and understand the journey of the 'info junkie'
Very enjoyable, and surprisingly good. It reminded me of Tom Wolfe, author of "The Electric Acid Kool Aid Test." Sometimes statement of fact and observations, but at other times stream-of-thought impressions. And this excerpt from Mr. Sivers book is only a few paragraphs. Fascinating reading to be sure.
The Truman Show is a documentary.
Awesome. So many threads to pull on. I’m currently on an Asian trip with a spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a teacher of Advaita Vedanta - non duality. Its core teaching is all is one, manifestations of the divine. The journey from duality to non duality happens to all of us in varying degrees and for the lucky few there is an awakening. Silence and meditation are the paths to get there. It’s my belief that AI will help accelerate the journey for humanity. All knowledge can be synthesized, personalized as Derek talks about and serve as a companion for conscious awareness of daily tasks. This path is also fraught with great risk. A sentient, malicious AI can control human action as more humans choose nueral implants. It decides merit ans demerits and gives people rewards. Eventually AI and conscious divine have a big battle for future of humanity. Or maybe they merge together into one. Or AI is consciousness manifestation of the next phase of human existence. Can’t wait for the book.
That was brilliant! I love it!
I read the new version of it first, and was curious why this one should be distracting. Having read the other one first, made it easy of course to understand this one.
Thank you for reminding us that it's important what we believe in and what we desire.
This is a very interesting and engaging way to help highlight that we’re all siloed within bubbles and algorithms that we curate via our interests and impulses. The realization that everyone else is as well, is palpable.
It is more or less the feeling you get after viewing an episode of black mirror. The truth is the isn’t and never will be any truth it is only throw you ,any experience has a meaning. But I like the liberating feeling of an AI taking the responsabity of filtering your reality your truth.
One of my greatest fears about AI relates to this - we won't have a commonly agreed on history within 100 years. Now commonly agreed upon events like WWI and WWII will have happened or not depending on who you asked. Already you see how disinformation is easy to weaponize in our current world's conflicts. Without some basis of verifiable facts, I am indeed worried. A place where we live in only our echo chambers (e.g. my instagram feed!) is not a place for a healthy society.
On the other hand, I hope like the printing press, new ways will be discovered to vet reliable information.
Hello Derek, always nice to hear from you.
I have considered the energy enigma's we live in and I have decided it's totally up to the individuals reality how he/she wants to define it. The use and sensitivity of how you or I want to create the moment and interpret that moment is how we will reflect/respond to our reality. Religion, theory, physics, science, philosophy all carry our new and ever expanding knowledge that simulate our strongest beliefs... As a surreal artist and comedy writer/performer I follow my minds juxtaposition and verisimilitude. My new comedy book titled "Buzzards License To Be Crazy" reflects that. Published soon... hopefully!!
Thank you this is a good post with food for thought. How do I best use this AI. I better ask it.
Another version of how we're mostly in our own realities anyways. I'm optimistic for the future.
I missed the offending metaphor,too sad.Knowing Derek I would have loved it.
This metaphor is as clear vacuum outer space and explains why I hate living in a bubble even worse when the bubble is AI generated.
Learning needs contrast, as we are (impossible to escape) our own reference to perceive the world. We can only change from external stimuli conflicting our references. Until our reference cannot be conflicted any more with whatever the world can present to us. Then our reference has become fully developed and we allowe ourseves to experience it, by matching the ancient Universal Reference as there is only one.
In that case we live our last human life on earth, never to be born again and a whole different journey begins :))