Lost in Paradise

Folloing the series "AI: Friend or Foe?" here is the latest article!

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Image generated with the assitance of ChatGPT.

GPS it’s an amazing tool and maybe one of the very first AI tools humanity developed. We upload maps of all the cities in the world into it, and to guide a user on the surface of the earth, a complex mathematical formula is needed to compensate for the differences between earth and space due to the space-time continuum – and so we are guided to our destination. It’s a marvel of a complex blend of physics, space operations and technological advances. It can take you through the most complex maze of roads to an objective destination.

However, the GPS orientation system does not decide for the user, it just finds the path to whatever objective the user demands.

"If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there."
– Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland, paraphrased

You Can’t Cheat Life

We human beings have a self-serving bias; we tend to credit ourselves when things go well and blame external factors or others when they don’t – “others are the ones who need to change.” As a matter of fact, we all need to improve and focus on building our character.

Trees that are on the shore of Wellington, New Zealand, may not necessarily look beautiful, but they are strong; deeply rooted beings that the forceful winds have taught to deepen their roots. You see, emotional storms, earthquakes, wildfires, and drought are going to happen to YOU. No one is exempt from troubles and trials in a lifetime. There is no such thing as an easy way out of life; the easier you take it, the harder it’s going to be. If when you were in high school, you cheated on an exam and got a good grade, it means nothing in the real scheme of things. Doing the same when you are a grown-up just means you haven´t learned the lesson about the consequences of your actions… don’t worry, they will come!

AI is not a new way to cheat, it is our old way with new technology. If you use it to appear smart or to do your work for you, you are going to fail when it’s most crucial. What AI is an amazing power tool, it allows you to check if you are on the right track, providing clear options on what you need to adjust to advance– but if you are lost, it’s gonna get you there!

AI it’s a sophisticated GPS, it doesn’t provide you with answers, it doesn’t give you destinations.

If you just want to make money, you are lost!
If you want to impress others, you are lost!
If you are fearful what will it do to your job, you will get crushed!
If you feel lonely… AI is not a companion, it’s an illusion!

In any existential crisis – meaning, what to believe, where to go, how to act… AI will lead you astray.

You can use AI to challenge you! That is something entirely different. But remember, to use power tools, you must be a grownup.

One Example on How to Use AI as a Challenger

A WAY OUT of a meaning crisis, which is the foundational crisis from which all other crises spring from in human beings, is to acquire a healthy habit and discard an unhealthy one. For that, AI is amazing… it’s not the solution, it is a GPS, showing you directions that you can follow.

Let’s imagine you have an eating disorder; you are overweight and do not know why or when you eat at the wrong time. With the proper prompt, you can ask AI to suggest options:

What are the most common reasons a person develops an eating disorder, and on what occasions the habit is triggered?

Read carefully through the answer, first the “reasons” and see if anyone triggers your attention. Highlight them.

Then read slowly through the “occasions” when the unhealthy habit is triggered. Notice if your attention is drawn to a specific moment.

Then, using that information write a new prompt:

Please give a weekly plan to change my eating habit disorder, considering that I “eat because of XYZ” and “eat on such occasions.”
Give me this schedule in a table with days and hours of the week for when to eat.
At the end of your answer, give me a list of foods to eat, and if it is a complex meal, give me simple but tasty recipes that I can prepare in 20 min.
Give me tips on how to manage the process of habit change.
If I have forgotten or overlookes something, please point it out and suggest how I can approach it.

We are our habits. Changing them changes your life. It's on you to build up the will to change your habit, you need to find your own motivation and drive, AI provides the orientation and direction, not the “doing it” per se.

Do This with Anything You Consider an Obstacle

“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them” (Albert Einstein). Remember, if you only change 1% of a habit a day, in a year’s time you will be able to improve three habits by 100%. You can do this with your work, your ability to listen, your relationships, or something you want to learn… with everything in your life.

With AI you don’t have an excuse… and you won’t have a choice; because if you don’t change and join the ranks of those who are afraid and seek to limit AI’s capacity to disrupt our jobs or way of life, you will be setting yourself up to failure and giving advantage to those who have no scruples (China, Russia, Muslin states) to exploit AI and use it against us all.

Just get to work and change yourself into a better human being… it might just may boost you into finding a more meaningful life.

This is the newest of a series of articles (Index: “AI, friend or foe?”) that reviews AI; investigating what it is, how it is going to change our lives and how we can prepare ourselves to live in a world where everything seems to be moving at a warp speed.