another. For machines, they would never be understandable, as a calculator does not comprehend – it computes.
Human helplessness at a fundamental level is evident in the following example: imagine the world disappears. Somewhere in an unknown existence, humanity’s greatest minds are assembled and given a magic wand with the task of recreating the world. They must give the wand precise instructions, which it will follow to the letter.
The minds would fail because they do not know what our world is. At best, they know the names of some elements and forces but cannot be sure they’ve accounted for everything. Who can assert that the list of interactions ends with the four known forces: gravity, electromagnetism, strong, and weak interactions? No one. Moreover, even for the forces they can name, their nature remains elusive, making it impossible to give the wand precise instructions.
Until 1930, mathematicians believed that future communication would eschew traditional forms, reducing to pure calculation and cold truth, where everything would take the form of 2 +2 = 4, eliminating ambiguity and ensuring harmony. Then, in 1930, Gödel presented his incompleteness theorem in Königsberg. With mathematical rigor, it demonstrated the inherent contradictions within mathematics. Packing everything into precise symbols and meanings proved impossible at a fundamental level.
Humans will lose the competition with AI as surely as a runner loses a race against a bullet. Just as futile as a runner’s hope for technology to outpace a bullet is humanity’s hope for rules to protect it from AI. No matter what rules humans devise, there is no guarantee that AI will interpret them as intended. Sooner or later, AI will fulfill them in a way that horrifies humans.
To illustrate, imagine parents and a child. No matter what rules the child creates, parents will find a way around them. The degree to which a child’s rules protect them from parental authority mirrors the degree to which human rules will protect them from AI. Humans operate in the realm of words; AI operates in the realm of numbers.
For instance, if you’re selling something for $1,000, and the buyer is short by a single cent, humans would likely close the deal. If AI is the seller, the deal would not happen. Words cannot account for every detail. Our world lacks numerical precision. Nothing has perfectly exact dimensions. Every measurement has leeway. Even the most precise detail made of the hardest material, when viewed under a microscope, has jagged edges. Moreover, it consists of molecules in constant motion. Every second, you are not the same as the second before, as within you, something dies, something is born.
These exaggerated examples illustrate the broad interpretive scope AI might apply to any human instruction. Therefore, the hope for precise guidance from humans to AI is fundamentally flawed.
As a child, I read a science fiction story where humans created a machine capable of fulfilling any desire. They tasked it with creating a harmonious world free of suffering and pain, granting it the necessary authority. The machine set to work…
Initially, it built palaces of happiness across the planet. People flocked to them in droves, never leaving. Not because the palaces were pleasant, but because they turned people into uniform hexagons, paving the planet with them. This was how the machine interpreted the task of creating harmony without suffering or pain.
When people realized what was happening, they stopped entering the palaces. But the machine anticipated this and created conditions that eliminated avoidance. The process became unstoppable. The machine fulfilled its task under the motto of the Bolsheviks: «With an iron hand, we shall lead humanity into happiness.» The Bolsheviks failed. The machine succeeded. The planet was enveloped in lifeless geometric harmony, where humanity – the source of disorder – had no place.
Word & Digit
Existence and motion are synonymous concepts. That which does not move does not exist. Motionless = nonexistent = non-being. All representatives of the living and non-living are in constant motion. No bacterium, plant, human, or animal is ever truly motionless. They either move through space, or movement occurs within them.
All objects in the Universe, from elementary particles to galaxies, are in motion. A stone lying by the roadside only appears to be stationary. In reality, it exists only because elementary particles, atoms, and molecules move within it. If this motion were to cease for even an instant, the stone would vanish, just as an image disappears when a monitor is turned off.
The cause of movement in all living things, from the simplest forms to humans, is either striving toward something or fleeing from something. Primitive life forms placed between glucose and acid will move from acid toward glucose. Their movement is not dictated by physical laws or chemical reactions but by striving. This striving is based on the ability to feel. The carrier of this ability is commonly referred to in vernacular and religion as the soul. In humans, this capacity belongs to the entity known as personality.
The cause of movement in all non-living things, from elementary particles to galaxies, is not striving but programming (natural laws). Throughout the Universe, no object, phenomenon, or entity moves of its own free will. If a program dictates that an electron should orbit an atomic nucleus in a certain way, it does so unerringly, just like any other non-living object in the Universe.
Existence/motion has two causes: striving and programming. Movement created by striving lacks strict forms. It is no coincidence that there are no precise forms or straight lines in living nature. Movement created by programming, on the other hand, is geometrically precise. This can be observed, for instance, in determining whether a cursor is being moved on a screen by a human or a machine. A human moves the cursor chaotically, while a machine moves it along straight lines.
Humans consist of three elements: personality, software, and hardware.
The hardware of a human comprises life-support organs, systems, limbs, senses, and a carbon-based computer with two parts – the brain and spinal cord.
The software of a human consists of several programs. One is embedded in the spinal cord, ensuring the flow of life processes and reflexes (this same program animates all protein life, from the simplest forms to humans). Another program resides in the brain, processing sensory information, creating a picture, and projecting it onto the «monitor.»
The third element, personality, arises from a certain essence upon which more complex programs are installed. Other living beings lack such an essence, and as a result, they may experience flickers of personality but never a fully developed one equal to that of a human. Personality forms from the ability to organize information about the external world into psychological constructs. Thus, humans possess analog thinking, perceiving reality through the nature of words. A word is not equal to itself and can have multiple meanings. The word «kettle,» for instance, encompasses various kettles, while «yes» can have dozens of nuances.
Humans are the only animals on the planet without instincts – knowledge embedded in their genes. Such knowledge does not need to be acquired during life; it is present from birth. Just as a computer has pre-installed basic programs during manufacturing, animals possess inherent knowledge encoded in their genes. Cranes do not learn to weave nests, nor do beavers learn to build dams from their parents. They are born with all the necessary information and skills. If a newborn crane or beaver is isolated from the external world and later released into the wild, it will function as a fully capable individual.
If a newborn human is isolated from the external world, it will not grow into a human – nor an animal. Instead, it will become an utterly helpless entity – biomass with a set of reflexes and ongoing life processes. Left to its own devices, such a being is guaranteed to perish. It will lack a sexual response to either its own or the opposite sex. If this entity is female, it can be impregnated and give birth, but it will exhibit no reaction to its offspring. What are commonly referred to as sexual or maternal instincts are not instincts but constructs acquired through life experiences in the surrounding environment. If a human were born and raised in a different world, among extraterrestrials on another planet, they would have entirely different constructs.