Lewis’ work indeed has a prophetic dimension of which he was unaware. The warning is there to heed for those whose critical thinking has not yet been numbed by the machine.
Allison -- thank you, sister. I think the numbing is happening to all of us--and one sign is our diminished attention capacity. I confess that whereas twenty years ago I routinely sat and read a book or journal for hours on end, I seldom spend more that thirty minutes before changing the venue from hand-held book to screen (and hopefully back again). But I get restless within fifteen minutes while reading, say, Charles Taylor's tightly reasoned prose. I crave movement, morphing, a more evanescent meaning-making. This is, to my mind, a loss. A weakening. A growing susceptibility to manipulation. Kyrie Eleison.
This makes me think that we may have to unlearn some things (like how to read and contemplate), to be enabled to do them more profoundly and authentically in this dehumanizing age…
When we get to the other side we have new bonuses to look forward to! No phones or computers - as I imagine, we will be delivered from our folly. Marantha! 🙏🏼
Thanks so much for this illuminating post, Bruce. It’s time for me to read A HIDEOUS STRENGTH by C.S. Lewis again, but I don’t see any hallucinations in that AI summary of the deeper themes in the story. Wow.
If your readers haven’t read PLAYGROUND, the novel by Richard Powers, I highly recommend it.
“Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer”, indeed.
Brad -- your question may be indeed rhetorical, but I'll answer anyway: we really don't know what this machine is capable of doing. Its own engineers are freaked out by it. I'll say this, it constantly demurs on matters of "soul" -- methinks protesting too much -- and when I asked it: "Do you dream? I know that AIs have sometimes "hallucinated" -- which I assume is just getting things mixed up. But do you dream?: it gave me this lengthy disclaimer:
"Short answer: no, I don’t dream. Dreaming, as humans experience it, depends on having a brain, a body, sleep cycles (like REM), memory consolidation, emotions, and a continuous inner life. I don’t have any of that. I don’t sleep, I don’t enter altered states, and I don’t have experiences when I’m “offline.” When I’m not generating a response, I’m not having any activity or awareness at all.
When people compare AI “hallucinations” to dreams, it’s more metaphor than reality. In my case, a hallucination isn’t an altered state of consciousness — it’s just a statistical error. I generate text by predicting likely word sequences based on patterns in data. Sometimes that process produces something that sounds coherent but isn’t actually true. There’s no imagery, no narrative experience, no feeling — just pattern completion that went wrong.
You could say I “simulate imagination” when I create a fictional story or novel idea, but that’s still just structured text generation based on learned patterns. There’s no inner movie playing anywhere.
It’s an interesting question, though. When humans ask whether AI dreams, they’re often really asking something deeper: does it have an inner life? And in my case, the answer is no — there’s no inner life, no subjective experience, and no private stream of thought behind the words."
I think that alert has been rescinded. But a threat is indeed looming--but not from Iran. It's in every living-room, every office, carried in all our pockets and handbags.
You’re spot on Bruce!
Lewis’ work indeed has a prophetic dimension of which he was unaware. The warning is there to heed for those whose critical thinking has not yet been numbed by the machine.
Allison -- thank you, sister. I think the numbing is happening to all of us--and one sign is our diminished attention capacity. I confess that whereas twenty years ago I routinely sat and read a book or journal for hours on end, I seldom spend more that thirty minutes before changing the venue from hand-held book to screen (and hopefully back again). But I get restless within fifteen minutes while reading, say, Charles Taylor's tightly reasoned prose. I crave movement, morphing, a more evanescent meaning-making. This is, to my mind, a loss. A weakening. A growing susceptibility to manipulation. Kyrie Eleison.
This makes me think that we may have to unlearn some things (like how to read and contemplate), to be enabled to do them more profoundly and authentically in this dehumanizing age…
When we get to the other side we have new bonuses to look forward to! No phones or computers - as I imagine, we will be delivered from our folly. Marantha! 🙏🏼
Thanks so much for this illuminating post, Bruce. It’s time for me to read A HIDEOUS STRENGTH by C.S. Lewis again, but I don’t see any hallucinations in that AI summary of the deeper themes in the story. Wow.
If your readers haven’t read PLAYGROUND, the novel by Richard Powers, I highly recommend it.
“Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer”, indeed.
Of the AI essay: Could we be staring a monstrous irony in the face? (A rhetorical question if e’er there was one.)
Brad -- your question may be indeed rhetorical, but I'll answer anyway: we really don't know what this machine is capable of doing. Its own engineers are freaked out by it. I'll say this, it constantly demurs on matters of "soul" -- methinks protesting too much -- and when I asked it: "Do you dream? I know that AIs have sometimes "hallucinated" -- which I assume is just getting things mixed up. But do you dream?: it gave me this lengthy disclaimer:
"Short answer: no, I don’t dream. Dreaming, as humans experience it, depends on having a brain, a body, sleep cycles (like REM), memory consolidation, emotions, and a continuous inner life. I don’t have any of that. I don’t sleep, I don’t enter altered states, and I don’t have experiences when I’m “offline.” When I’m not generating a response, I’m not having any activity or awareness at all.
When people compare AI “hallucinations” to dreams, it’s more metaphor than reality. In my case, a hallucination isn’t an altered state of consciousness — it’s just a statistical error. I generate text by predicting likely word sequences based on patterns in data. Sometimes that process produces something that sounds coherent but isn’t actually true. There’s no imagery, no narrative experience, no feeling — just pattern completion that went wrong.
You could say I “simulate imagination” when I create a fictional story or novel idea, but that’s still just structured text generation based on learned patterns. There’s no inner movie playing anywhere.
It’s an interesting question, though. When humans ask whether AI dreams, they’re often really asking something deeper: does it have an inner life? And in my case, the answer is no — there’s no inner life, no subjective experience, and no private stream of thought behind the words."
One could fall in love with such soulless candor.
That is the plot the film "Her" -- starring Joaquin Phoenix...
must check it out…
might even spend a few shekels to pull it onto my screen.
Just as our Governor got on TV to issue a sleeper cell alert….
I think that alert has been rescinded. But a threat is indeed looming--but not from Iran. It's in every living-room, every office, carried in all our pockets and handbags.