AI and the heirarchy of intelligence
These were back to back in my feed: Mandy Brown on the smokescreen of AI and our narratives (it’s masking the real story; we need to re-think our hierarchy of intelligence), then Austin Kleon on AI as intern (appeasing our need to be the superior intelligence?).
One of the questions I always ask of stories is how they work. Who do they serve? Who benefits? Who, if anyone, is burdened or harmed by them? Who is uplifted? What modes or methods or structures do they employ? Stories—and metaphors, which are often just stories in miniature—are never neutral actors. They always seek some change, whether through resistance or encouragement or both. (Mandy Brown)
She notes too how the current conversation re: AI loops back around to who is more deserving:
The fact is that if you scratch the surface of any notion of intelligence, you run headlong into a belief system that renders some people more intelligent—and therefore more valuable, more worthy of attention or care—than others.
Emphasis mine. And of course both ideas capitalize (word intended) on fear too: fear of the “other,” fear of losing our precarious place in the hierarchy, fear of failing to meet our standards of production, fear of “wasting time.”
Thankfully she notes we always have the power to tell different stories.