AI Has Gripped Our Minds And Physical Form: Silent Oppression
DEP Book Project HI/AI
She was sitting behind the counter all frustrated. The AI calculator had stopped working. She could not calculate and it was a simple addition. She was distraught.
People were breaking the queue and pushing each other because she took so much time to make a bill. I went up to her from the queue and asked her if she needed help.
“No mam! My father will just come and prepare the bills. He can count and make bills manually but I am used to an AI calculator and need a computer to prepare a bill and take the payment”, she said.
“You see my dad is old school, and can do these things but the modern generation needs faster equipment,” she said.
Was she giving her father a proud moment or was it a disparaging remark of his being old and rusty I did not understand.
I told her that her old school dad was better than the new generation because he could think for himself. He was not completely dependant on a machine.
This made me think of technology and the changes that have come into our lives in the present times. We are so contented that something else does the work for us. We want a GPS in our lives for our mind and body.
Slavery of our mind
I have ample examples to show that our minds are slaves of AI
1️⃣If we want to go somewhere from home then we completely rely on GPS. The GPS says turn left and we obey and turn left.
We just do not use our minds for directions anymore,
We have lost time, distance, and directions completely to think for ourselves.
2️⃣How many of us remember the phone numbers of people? I used to remember all my friend’s numbers. I used to note them but never needed to refresh my memory by checking my diary.
Today if you ask me to tell someone’s number I will just not remember except perhaps my own phone number. I just rely on my phone to store my friend’s and contact numbers and I directly press the name and the call begins.
Many of my friends are not even embarrassed to say that they don’t remember their own phone number. I am sometimes shocked to hear it
3️⃣ AI also controls our sleep. Even that does not belong to us. We now know when we had deep sleep or dreams or light sleep. Who tells us? The watch that we wear. Sleep is also not our own. It has controlled our minds.
4️⃣With the advent of generative AI most people have stopped thinking and are writing corporate letters and articles from suggestions of AI. Images are also made through AI. The human form and beauty of writing from the author’s heart cannot be seen. The art of the artist is lost.
Am I using my mind? Certainly not. I am a slave of a technological tool and my mind does not think at all.
Our physical slavery
We are becoming slaves of AI physically as well. Let us see how.
1️⃣Most of us have an Alexa or a Siri at home that takes over our physical activity.
Hey Alexa switch off the lights and there it goes and does it. I just touch a button. I am so happy. I don’t have to go anywhere.
How healthy is this? With a lack of physical activity, we are only putting on weight and then taking time to shed all that weight by going on a diet or going through surgeries and medical procedures to lose weight.
What a senseless game this is and we do not think about it.
2️⃣We are slaves of robots too, We buy a cleaning robot. Phew, it has saved us time and physical labor but we have become lazy also. We have lost our balance of physical activities and continue to sit all the time.
3️⃣We use a remote to open and close doors, switch on the TV, and open locks without moving. This is such a health hazard.
4️⃣We have stopped going to buy groceries. With the push of a button, we order everything including food so we do not do anything but sit in one place without moving our bodies.
What are the takeaways?
- We should not depend completely on AI or we will not have any physical and mental capabilities left. The human mind is always superior and is able to direct AI so it should not become inferior to it.
- AI sometimes leads you to the wrong paths when you use it for directions. Hence the human mind should always reason and make judgements and fall into the trap of AI. I remember once I had to go to someone’s house and I followed the GPS which took me 15 miles away from the destination. Sometimes it does not give proper and accurate information and you keep on spending time looking for your location while the location is just around you and you don't even know about it.
- Security surveillance and cameras of AI impact your privacy and freedom of movement so you should use it with care.
- You should not be a slave of the AI because it curtails your physical movement and health issues such as cholesterol, hypertension, loneliness, and depression set in with little or no physical activity.
- We must be careful of ethical issues while using AI because various lawsuits are pending now for encroachment of other people’s work, especially in copying writing work and images. Writers and artists are aware of these situations.
Conclusion
AI is not a bad thing. It is the development of technology and tools that have made our lives easy and comfortable. We have to form a balance between AI and the human mind to have a healthy and happy future.
The human mind is superior so we should give it power rather than take away its power and use AI for everything.
We must exercise our brains and challenge them to support us.
“Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for human intelligence; it is a tool to amplify human creativity and ingenuity.” – Fei-Fei Li,
Thanking Dr. Gabriella Korosi, DR Rawson - The Possibilist, Maryan Pelland OnText.com
©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2024.
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