The Work Won’t Do Itself, And That How It Should Be.

With all the excitement around ChatGPT and artificial intelligence recently, I fear for the future of humanity. It’s not a fear of technology, but it comes from my suspicion that many people are searching for technology to do their work for them.

But let’s stop for a moment and think about that. If an app or device could do the work for you, how long do you think it would be before that technology replaces you?

I read with interest that students could use ChatGPT to write their essays for them, which is great for ChatGPT, but disastrous for students. The idea behind having students write essays is to learn (and demonstrate) they can put together a coherent argument, acknowledging both sides of it and coming to their own conclusion. Suppose we lose that ability to put together a logical argument that considers both sides. In that case, we will never be able to move on from polarised politics, where each side refuses to listen to the other and where we are defined by whom we hate.

I want to avoid sounding like a Luddite — I love technology and how technology has transformed our lives. But with new technology comes dangers we may not be aware of.

As AI and ChatGPT develop, writing blog posts like this will be simple in a few years. I type a topic and let AI write it for me. What’s the point of that? Readers won’t get my perspective; they will get a generic view that AI computers decide will get the most reads. It won’t educate, it won’t enhance lives, and it will put an end to human development.

There is a pleasure in developing ideas and writing about them. It’s how we have moved humanity forward and how the human life form has become so dominant.

The most significant danger, though, is to assume technology will solve our problems without us lifting a finger. Often that may well be the case, but if we are not at the forefront of creating solutions ourselves, we will soon find ourselves redundant.

Technology that reduces pollution, such as harnessing power from the sun, wind, and hydrogen, moves us forward. Computer programs that answer emails, write reports and create presentations for us do not.