What AI Teaches Us about Being Human

In this salon, Chad Woodford will explore the utopian and dystopian narratives coming out of Silicon Valley, including the presumption that some sort of superintelligence is immanent, using that as an invitation to explore exactly what it is to be human. Chad is an embodied philosopher, technology attorney, and AI researcher interested in a deeply human future.

Artificial intelligence has captured the popular imagination. The sudden arrival of generative AI has given technologists control of the cultural narrative about our future, what it means to be human, and the role that technology should play in an augmented, cyborg future that is accelerating toward the so-called Singularity. But this transhumanist narrative is founded upon a whole host of questionable assumptions about what is possible with technology, what qualifies as intelligence, and the very nature of reality.

In this salon, we will start by examining with a critical eye the hype surrounding artificial intelligence right now, the transhumanist, techno-utopian ideologies that a majority of Silicon Valley billionaires subscribe to, and the philosophical worldview that this is based on. Then we will examine what it means to be human in the face of a new form of intelligence, including uniquely human faculties like intuition, imagination, emotional intelligence, phenomenological consciousness, and wisdom. Finally, we will discuss the metaphysical implications of a more corporeal and embodied approach to the future of humanity.

You will leave this discussion with a newfound appreciation for your humanity.

Recommended materials:

1. Impediments to Creating Artificial General Intelligence
2. What Psychedelic States of Consciousness Tell Us about AI