The Most Powerful Truth: Human Sovereignty in the Age of AI

Throughout our lives, we often seek the most powerful truth that can guide our decisions and actions. Such a truth can come in many forms, from the practical wisdom imparted by elders to profound insights about our existence. One of the most critical insights I have gained is the idea of human sovereignty and its increasingly challenged status in the era of advanced technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Valuing Elders' Wisdom

Listening to our elders, whether we admire them or not, can provide invaluable lessons. They have accumulated a wealth of experience over many years, which can be very educational. My dad, who passed away when I was 20, left me a particularly impactful piece of advice: ‘If it’s broken, you can’t break it more. If you try to fix it, it can often be fixed.’ This advice not only applied to repairing physical objects but also to life’s more complex challenges.

The Expanding Realm of Digital Technology

During the Apollo 13 mission and more broadly, the Western world, especially the United States, tends to view existence through the lens of human capability and problem-solving. We often believe we are metaphysical beings capable of assessing our environment and finding viable solutions—Cartesian creatures, in essence. However, our journey of self-improvement and self-creation has been largely unintentional, and the complexity of our technological world has become almost insurmountable.

Over the past 250 years, since the Enlightenment, we have developed multiple survival strategies, including technology, language, writing, mathematics, and science. These strategies have become not just tools for our survival but also an extra layer of our cognitive abilities, an exoskeleton if you will. Our reliance on this exoskeleton has imposed its own sovereignty on humanity, which, while providing numerous advantages, also poses significant risks.

The Curating of Existence

While religion and ideologies have long been used to curate the raw reality of life, they often fall short in addressing all the complexities of existence. Now, with the rapid advancements in digital technology, particularly AI, we face the real risk of this technological exoskeleton overwhelming our ability to curate these complexities. AI, born with the purpose of processing and understanding large amounts of data, is now at a point where it may start to impose absolute sovereignty over our species, rather than serving as a tool for our use.

A Call for Reflection and Action

The truth is that our perceived sovereignty is increasingly contested by the rapidly evolving world of AI. As we continue to develop and integrate AI into our daily lives, it’s crucial that we reflect on the balance between human control and technological advancement. We must find ways to ensure that technology serves us and does not become our master. This involves not only ethical considerations but also a proactive approach to shaping the future of AI.

Ultimately, the most powerful truth we can hold onto is the idea that although technology has expanded the boundaries of human capability, we still retain the ability to shape our own destinies. By staying informed, engaging critically with technology, and continuously questioning the implications of our advancements, we can ensure that AI remains a tool for our benefit rather than a threat to our sovereignty.

So, as we navigate the complexities of the digital age, let us remember the lessons from our elders and the profound insights gained through reflection. The most powerful truth is that we retain the power our own destiny, and it is our responsibility to use this power wisely.