All this Heinlein stuff has me thinking about science fiction. And that’s fine by me. The current political theater between the Trump administration and the various judges trying to block his orders isn’t something I want to provide a blow-by-blow description of. Either Trump figures out a way around these obstacles or he fails. Either way I’ll wait till I can see the outcome.
But science fiction is interesting to me. From my way of looking at it, science fiction is the dominant form of storytelling in American society and has been for well over a century. Now this isn’t what literary types believe. But genre fiction is the dominant form of fiction in this country and science fiction is what fueled the imaginations of young people for most of the twentieth century and still does even in these times of moral rot in the arts.
So, this gives me a chance to talk about my ideas about where science fiction should and will go. And I think the current direction of technological progress will provide the impetus for where the stories will go. Currently I don’t think space travel and advances in biology are the topics that garner our attention. Not to say those things won’t continue to interest people. But currently the real impact of technology on our lives is artificial intelligence. But more than just how far AI will go in replacing humans in various aspects of commerce is what this will do to our society. And more specifically how will humans push back on the people running industry who don’t see this as a problem or at least don’t see it as a problem for them.
Because let’s be clear. Automation of all kinds has been changing our world for hundreds of years. An iron foundry displaces ten thousand village blacksmiths. An automobile factory and a gas station in every village eliminates the need for train stations across the country and all the people who worked on them. Every innovation in technology displaces the human beings who supported the previous version of “how things are done.” But this latest innovation wants to replace the most important attribute of a human being; his ability to think. His ability to create intellectual property.
And that’s a revolution. And I think, that’s what science fiction will want to talk about. Of course it’s been talking about that for decades. On the hackiest level, that’s what the Terminator movies are all about. The machines are going to get rid of us. So are the Matrix movies.
But I think more nuanced portrayals of how AI will affect humanity and how humanity can affect the roll out of AI are what is needed and what will be interesting to people. Now far be it from me to denigrate the fine work that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves have done to enlighten the human population to their imminent danger at the hands of sentient machines. I know that I’m always on the lookout for Austrian bodybuilders sporting gatling guns or déjà vu black cats crossing my path.
But what seems to me to be needed is a way to make AI healthy. Currently, everything about our on-line existence is harmful to us. It’s some combination of anti-social, irritating and stultifying. It’s making our lives worse. And that doesn’t seem to be accidental. It seems to be a feature of the algorithm. It almost seems like an anesthetic meant to keep us groggy and confused.
I think science fiction should be focused on rethinking how this ultimate technology has to be forced to work for the benefit of humans instead of as a rat poison to finish us off. So that’s what I think.
As someone who has time traveled a significant portion of a century so far, my impression of societal and technological change is that the real result will be a total surprise.
I hope at least AI is put to better uses than TikTok. I’m starting to agree with SkyNet.
The threat to intellectual property and processes is not a small thing, but AI does not do physical things, and can not control real world processes, yet. I am a mechanic by trade and my job can not be outsourced to an Indian sweat shop, or taken over by AI because they can’t put boots on the ground, and can’t do it from across the ocean or the Internet at this time. As long as we use physical means of transport to move physical objects my livelyhood is safe. I understand not every career field has this assurance. Horse related… Read more »
Milo, you are correct. AI cannot currently use hand tools. But I’ll bet they’re working on it. Think about it. All the stuff it does now was science fiction a few years ago. I don’t think there are many absolute limits. One of the scariest things is that AI writes code. One day it may not even be checked by humans. That could be bad.