No Future For AI (Artificial Intelligence) - Grasshopper

The Grasshopper offered this the other day: “Artificial Intelligence is based on what has happened, but doesn’t know what’s yet to come.”

I’m no technical expert, but it seems the breakthroughs with Artificial Intelligence are based on current knowledge on any given subject.

The field I’m most familiar with in relation to AI is photo retouching, with programs like Photoshop. It seems that AI software scans millions of photographs looking for similar aspects to the one you’re working on and offers up ways to enhance your photo. For example, it can improve the focus on a somewhat out of focus shot; it can recognize and remove blemishes, and even out and improve skin tones in portraits. It’s quite useful in making your photos look as good as they can. I gotta say, AI is a godsend for an amateur photographer like me.

But the point remains. AI bases it results on things that already exist. It has to rely on us humans to create the future. Then it can sample that work and offer better results down the line.

I’m reminded of a quote about thinking from philosopher Alan Watts:

“If I think all the time, I won’t have anything to think about except my own thoughts. Now, that would leave me high and dry, and I would become like a library to which the only books being added were books about the books that were already in it.”

Believe me, this is not a treatise on Artificial Intelligence. Frankly, I’m just not qualified. What it is, is a reminder of what a creative soul you are. We all sit on untapped creativity every day, and we’re quite capable to get it to come out and play. All we have to do is move what we already know out of the way. We do this by making time for ourselves to relax into reflection. That means to take some time to quiet your mind and let the thought machine calm down so you can unearth creativity’s fertile ground.

You’re not going to think your way to new ways of doing things because you’ll only have access to what’s already been thought. It’s like getting stuck on a freeway that has no exit ramps.

A quiet mind is a creative mind. When you tap into that peace and quiet, you have access to as much creativity as any other human being on earth, and more than any AI program.

So, instead of allowing your human intelligence to wallow in thoughts like “Alas, my die is cast,” create your future, instead of relying on your past.

All the best,