I, Human

Chapter 8

How to Be Human

Toward a more humane AI age

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

—Maya Angelou

The German explorer Alexander von Humboldt wrote that the aim of existence is a “distillation of the widest possible experience of life into wisdom.”1

As this book has attempted to highlight, an honest self-assessment of humanity in this early phase of the AI age suggests that we are probably far from applying von Humboldt’s principle. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that the aim of our existence these days is to increase the wisdom of machines.

Whatever you think of humanity, it is not one click away. On the contrary, we may be departing from it, one click at a time. ...