Last time, I revisited one of the three things I had mentioned in an early Robot Gospel1 that I thought made us quite different than robots (which is the comedy angle I approached this newsletter with, so now I’m stuck with the premise).
But then I thought: Is listening to our parents sort of the same as a robot having to follow its programming?… Possibly, if robots could full-on decide to do something that goes against what it’s supposed to do, and not because of a malfunction and with no guarantee of success. I mean, I won’t believe that something has real Artificial Intelligence until it can be dumb for no reason.
Again, the stuff that’s out there that we’re being told is A.I. is like if you arranged all the words in a magnetic poetry set by length and then randomly lined them up: Short, Medium, Short, Long, Medium; and then called that a poem. Or if you give an elephant a paintbrush and have it paint. Or teach a parrot to talk. Or teach sign language to an ape.
The stuff that generative A.I. is doing looks a whole lot like what the people who have money and reputation invested in it want it to do, so they’re excited and want to show off. They’re a kid coming up to you saying “Watch what I can do,” then performing an enthusiastic armpit fart. Sure. Good job. Nice shoulder work there, buddy.
All that stuff may look like art, but art is communication. Art has to say something. Sometimes it’s just “I was here. I was alive.” Or it could be an action horror movie that makes you think about how wealthy elites are the ones that profit from class warfare waged amongst us non-and-never-will-be-millionaires.
But we’re being told this is a revolution. We’re being sold that this is the future. And so we can either be left behind, or we can give ourselves — and our wallets — over to the hype and be at the bleeding edge of this technological frontier.
Since our brains fill-in a lot of gaps in our perceptions of what the world is, we usually trust what we think we are experiencing. Otherwise, we would be catatonic — unsure of what is really around us. We would never have evolved to be able to walk upright or hunt, and we sure as hell wouldn’t even be able to drive! With that switch On by default, we also tend to believe what people tell us, until we have evidence that they are not trustworthy.
Now, the trustworthy part is where things get wonky.
There’s a double edged evolutionary sword of jittery paranoia and lazy acceptance that swings precariously over our heads. Having not particularly sharp teeth, claws, nor being very fast or having camouflage, humans could be a pretty nice snack for large predators. It’s only because of the development of tools and having groups or communities that can look out for and help each other, that we have been able to endure a harsh genetic infancy. Hyperactive vigilance that used to be a boon when threats were a part of our natural environment may now short-circuit and manifest as anxiety, looking for conspiracy theories, and mistrust.
If we’re so ready to believe what we see and hear on a superficial level, how does the mistrust fit in? Since we are used to being in families and communities, we are quick to label ourselves as part of a group and identify those that are not a part of our group. Because if someone is not a part of your group, there is a possibility of them being a threat. We are constantly seeking tribes where we belong. Family, chosen family, cliques, like-minded pop-culture fans, sports teams, political parties, spiritual beliefs. If we have Our People around us, then we’ll feel safer.
And if someone is a part of Our Group, then what reason would they have for lying to us? Only an enemy would try to manipulate and mislead you, right? Also, by believing in the same things as the people you have invested it, it shows your commitment to that group. You all wear the same jerseys, so you’re all part of the same team. If you’re unsure of where to stand on a specific issue, you look to your fellow group members and adopt that stance.
For a long time, Catholics were the only Christian group in the United States that opposed abortion. Most Protestant sects were indifferent at best to “when life began”. But once the schools were forced to desegregate by Brown v. The Board Of Education, the largely Protestant South began to move further Right. The word “Redneck,” which is now a slur for Southern Americans with regressive beliefs, began as a name for the coal miners and members of worker’s unions who wore red bandanas around their necks while they physically fought for better labor conditions — a stance that the Left has leaned toward, at times almost taking a step in that direction if only not to lose balance and topple over.
But once The Big Bad Government decreed from on high that schools couldn’t be overtly racist, the appeal of siding with the political party that continually touts “Small Government” and less interference in State politics from the Federal Government, was too much to resist. And a new boogie man — a new badge to wear to show off your allegiance — was declared.
But then, if you want the Government to not get too involved in things — like, say, regulate maybe, I don’t know, labor conditions — then who’s going to be calling the shots? The businesses that were abusing you until laws were passed that made them stop? Competition, because there sure as hell aren’t any monopolies? The Free Market?
Of course, I could be completely off-base in my understanding of the history I laid out above, but if you’re thinking that we’re both coming from a similar place ideologically, then you’re nodding your head right along with me. If all of that seems like my brain has been rotted from The Woke Mind Virus, then you might have the urge to go after me in the comments (since the anonymity of the internet makes us all a hair braver). Because often, our brains perceive a threat to our identities/beliefs the same as a threat to our physical bodies.
So for our whole lives, we put people into boxes of Potential Threat, Active Threat, or some other Non Threat/Ally/Agnostic type of categorization. Past experiences and peer influence are the biggest determiners of whether or not we pucker our anuses when interacting with a new person. An initial reaction doesn’t necessarily equate to a deep seated belief — after all, your instant reflex when seeing something headed right for you at a perilous speed is to move out of the way. Reflexes try to keep you alive… But when faced with any reaction that does not benefit your well-being, or implores you to act with animosity toward another for purely tribalist reasons, then you may need to take a look at if the embedded roots of those actions and reactions might need to be dug up like noxious weeds that are choking out your humanity.
-bcp
Sorry for slacking with posts. I’ve been trying to do more reading (actual books, not crap on social media), and now that the year is past half over, the ticking clock of anxiety for holiday madness is starting to stalk in the long shadows of a dying summer. Here’s a song from an upcoming album I’m looking forward to.
Our brains are really good at finding patterns.
Children tend to listen/believe their parents/adults.
We tend to believe what we are told by other members of our group.