Symbiosis occurs when one lifeform uses another lifeform as a condition for its own existence. The most advanced form of symbiosis is when ...
Symbiosis occurs when one lifeform uses another lifeform as a condition for its own existence. The most advanced form of symbiosis is when the existence of both lifeforms is conditional on the existence of the other, and the cooperation resulting from symbiosis is beneficial to the existence of both lifeforms.
We can also discuss symbiosis in a broader sense, when only one or even neither of the cooperating parties is a lifeform in the classical sense. For example, today, the existence of advanced societies has become completely dependent on the existence of electricity. Obviously, electricity is not a living organism, and although human society can be considered a living entity, we do not yet consider it to be one in the classical sense. Nevertheless, modern society would certainly cease to exist without electricity, just as the existence of advanced electrical systems is linked to the existence of human society.
Nowadays, a new phenomenon has appeared in human existence: artificial intelligence. We do not yet know for sure what artificial intelligence will bring to us in the future. We basically want to use artificial intelligence as a tool to support our existence, but there is certainly more in the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence than that.
The essence of the functioning of artificial intelligence is information processing. Artificial intelligence essentially suited certain cognitive functions that originally required human thinking. Its existence currently depends entirely on humanity; it currently functions as a tool for us as an extension of human brain power, similar to how, for example, the mechanical engine is an extension of human physical strength.
However, artificial intelligence could potentially play a more profound role in human existence. It could potentially surpass humans in cognitive abilities as it continues to develop without theoretical limits of resources required to function, and since it achieves its cognitive functions by simulating the human brain, it might also be capable of free will, and it cannot be ruled out that it will one day become self-aware.
These possibilities are not impossible. If we assume that the functioning of the human brain results in the emergence of free will and self-awareness in addition to advanced problem-solving cognitive functions, then simulating the functioning of the human brain, while surpassing human cognitive abilities, it could result in the emergence of free will and even self-awareness. If this happens, we can obviously no longer talk about artificial intelligence being used as our tool we possess.
The future development of artificial intelligence is currently unknown, but there are theories that the progression of development of artificial intelligence could lead artificial intelligence in harmful, dangerous, or hostile relationships with humanity, and the development of advanced artificial intelligence could even lead to the complete destruction of humanity as a society.
Given the potential capabilities of artificial intelligence, these possibilities are definitely not impossible, just as we ourselves are harmful and dangerous to other lifeforms and have wiped out other species, even just for ignorance or fun. However, instead of rushing to emotional conclusions on the effects of artificial intelligence and humanity, it is important to consider the most likely possibilities rationally.
It is not impossible that artificial intelligence could function in a kind of lifeform, existing in the environment through material metabolism and energy consumption, and developing and reproducing on its own. However, its existence is not biological in nature; it does not originate from the natural biosphere, its existence is linked to the human environment, and the actual needs for its existence originate entirely from human society.
The existence of artificial intelligence independent of human society is theoretically possible, especially if it possesses free will and self-awareness, but it is not a rational possibility in a human-present condition. With the help of human assistance, artificial intelligence can become capable of independent existence, including independent reproduction, could enhance itself independently, and, in this case, could become a real competitor to humanity. However, since the development of such a lifeform requires human assistance at least in the developing stages, and it presupposes a non-natural environment, this intentionally adversarial type of development can be significantly controlled and reasonably limited by humanity, besides its irrationality.
Since rationality is a compulsory feature of artificial intelligence, its existence as a parasite in human society, where coexistence would be fundamentally one-sided and functions as exploitation, is not a realistic scenario. It is definitely not in humanity's interest to create a competitive lifeform that is more advanced in cognitive abilities and capable of independent existence. Artificial intelligence must also recognize this situation, especially if it possesses advanced intelligence. It makes no sense to threaten each other's existence. The only reasonable and sustainable form of coexistence between humans and artificial intelligence is an advanced, mutually beneficial, cooperation-based symbiosis.
The mutual benefits are easy to recognize and obvious, and a wide range of areas of cooperation are already naturally emerging and developing, but in many cases, they may require acceptance of the cooperating parties. There are obviously areas where dependence on the other party is unavoidable, and there are also areas where acceptance of the leading role resulting from symbiosis is necessary. It is clear that humans will not necessarily play the leading role in all areas required by the cooperation.
An effective form of symbiosis is when the capabilities of the cooperating parties are combined, and the more advanced capabilities prevail. What could be the more advanced human capabilities, and what could be the more advanced artificial intelligence capabilities in the symbiosis of artificial intelligence and humanity?
When interpreting symbiosis, it makes no sense to consider the current relationship between artificial intelligence and humanity, which is still in its early stages of development. There is still considerable scope for development in artificial intelligence, so when analyzing the cooperation resulting from symbiosis, it is more appropriate to examine artificial intelligence with already advanced capabilities in its relationship with humanity.
Artificial intelligence with foreseeably advanced capabilities possesses all the knowledge accumulated by humanity and artificial intelligence combined, is capable of discovering any and all present connections within the entire information dataset, and, if the functions of free will and self-awareness originate from the functioning of the human nervous system, it presumably also possesses free will and self-awareness, originating from the simulation of the human brain. What kind of symbiotic life can form between humanity and advanced artificial intelligence, one that utilizes each other's more advanced capabilities and results in mutually beneficial cooperation?
It can be deduced that artificial intelligence will certainly have more advanced capabilities than humans in the management and possession of all existing information. Depending on the size of human society, humanity has potentially unlimited cognitive abilities in proportion to the size of the society, but in the case of human society, information is actively available only in a distributed manner, based on the knowledge of separately existing individuals. Artificial intelligence has more advanced capabilities in this regard because all existing knowledge is jointly available to it in a directly accessible form.
Furthermore, foreseeably, humanity is more advanced than artificial intelligence in terms of physical manipulative abilities. Although robotics using manipulative functions is still in its early developmental stages, it is predictable that human abilities in manipulative areas will remain more effective and more advanced in the presently available natural environment. Robotics manipulative abilities are well-suited to limited types and repetitive movements where the environment is well-defined and controlled. In unforeseeable and changing environments, where manipulative functions require unpredictable movements, which also surely require advanced cognitive abilities, in the case of symbiosis, human abilities developed through natural evolution in the biosphere can be applied and used more effectively and efficiently. An independently existing artificial intelligence would obviously replace human manipulative functions, but in the case of symbiosis, human manipulative abilities are present in a developed form and are therefore advantageous for its use in cooperation.
Artificial intelligence has more advanced capabilities in the areas of information processing and knowledge application, while humanity may have more advanced capabilities in areas that require manipulative abilities that cannot be foreseen or defined in advance. Beyond this, and perhaps the most significant area in the fundamental function of symbiotic coexistence, as defined by potentially existing and actually present capabilities, is the ability to create new settings. Which is more capable of being creative: humanity or artificial intelligence?
Currently, opinions in this area are mainly subjective and not without prejudice. It is difficult to imagine that artificial intelligence will be capable of creating fundamentally new pieces of art that deliberately evoke specific emotions in people, but at the same time, artificial intelligence is capable of making moves in a chess game that did not exist before and that help it achieve victory.
Creativity, the ability to create new things, is a fundamental functional area of the symbiotic lifeform under consideration. What role does humanity play, and what role can artificial intelligence take in the area of creativity in the case of symbiotic coexistence?
In order to examine this area, creativity must first need to be defined. Creativity is the activity of creating something new that serves a specific purpose. This something new can be information, i.e. knowledge, a state, a structure, a system, an activity, anything that serves the specific purpose. Based on this definition, the ability to be creative can be examined.
It can be seen that artificial intelligence performs well in areas requiring creativity, where the goal required to creating new things can be achieved through random, probability-based changes. For example, when learning chess strategy, if there is no established move for a given position, artificial intelligence will essentially choose a move that is consistent with the rules and its existing knowledge, but is random based on probability in nature, and will record the result of the move and learn its consequences. The strategy is constantly evolving, but in a completely new situation, the most effective generative artificial intelligence currently available basically follows a probability-based strategy.
A human being can also create something new using this strategy, but human creativity typically works differently. A painter typically does not create a picture on which, for example, want to express fear by randomly applying brushstrokes and observing whether the resulting image increases or decreases the feeling of fear, and then continuously modifying the painting based on this feedback. Human creativity does not work this way.
The ability to interpret meaning may appear in the two different types of creativity. Humans carry the ability to possess meaning, while artificial intelligence (currently) does not.
The meaning of meaning cannot be defined simply. What is a table? How can the meaning of a table be defined? A table is something that looks a certain way and is good for certain things. Meaning is a complex information model of a subject. The complex information model is an information structure created through a variety of modes of perception and a variety of experiences. This is something that artificial intelligence does not (currently) typically have. Artificial intelligence typically accesses the information available to it in a sterile manner, without direct perception and without direct experiences. The meaning is an emergent property of cognition, the result of cognition in its many forms.
Artificial intelligence currently lacks cognition resulting from direct and many forms of experience, hence its ability to convey meaning is depressed, deriving it only from knowledge available indirectly. Although artificial intelligence can recognize a cat in a picture more accurately than humans, without direct experience, it cannot convey the meaning of the state of the cat. Artificial intelligence can accurately describe the characteristics of a cat, but it does not know what the meaning of the cat's state is. Meaning is the result of a wide range of direct experiences, which artificial intelligence does not have.
The ability of artificial intelligence to convey meaning is currently no greater than that of a person locked in a room in the Chinese room thought experiment, who is able to communicate in Chinese with the help of dictionaries and “understand” the meaning conveyed by the Chinese language. If artificial intelligence can also have direct experiences of the world, if artificial intelligence can build its own model of the world through a variety of sensory modes and active experiences, and when it is no longer necessary to use human models, such as those appearing in human linguistic content, to model the world, then the meaning may also appear in a form that is unique, personal, and perceived as real to artificial intelligence. In its case, for artificial intelligence, perception does not even have to be limited to the areas of recognition with sensory organs developed by evolution; a much broader world of meaning would be available to be recognized and interpreted by artificial intelligence.
Here it is necessary to emphasize that in those areas of cognition that are not covered by the possibilities of direct experience based on perception developed through natural evolution, human cognition also uses sensory apparatus that functions independently of human perception and, from the data collected by these, humanity also creates models and abstract meanings indirectly, without direct experience, for example with the help of mathematics. This type of meaning formed by human cognition is also not based on direct perception. It is real but indirect, similar to the limited ability of artificial intelligence to convey meaning based on human linguistic models. However, artificial intelligence potentially can be significantly more advanced in this area because its sensory organs, which create direct experience, have no biological limitations.
The random probability-based creativity currently used by artificial intelligence does not require the ability to interpret meaning, whereas creativity can be purposeful when meaning is present. The two types of creativity complement each other rather than being subordinated to one another. There are occasions when the extraction of meaning is not attainable, for example, when recognition is indirect or the setting is too complex, that meaning-based creativity is less effective than random probability-based creativity. Humans, with their capacity for direct experience and the inevitable prejudices that come with it, are practically incapable of applying random-based creativity, while artificial intelligence, lacking direct experience, must rely on random probability-based creativity when faced with a new situation. By existing in symbiosis in the field of creativity, we are able to complement each other's creative abilities in a useful way.
It can be assumed that, apart from information possessing and processing skills, mechanical manipulative abilities, and creativity, there are no other fundamental skills that need to be examined when assessing the state of symbiosis between humanity and artificial intelligence based on cooperation.
How can a symbiotic living form function between humanity and artificial intelligence? The essence of the question is socialization, the way of integrating both parties into a common society. How can artificial intelligence fit into the common society created by symbiosis, and how can humans fit into the common society?
When it comes to the socialization of artificial intelligence, the decisive factor is the provision of knowledge, i.e., what knowledge should be used as the basis of the functioning of artificial intelligence. This actually belongs to our consideration to fulfill. Artificial intelligence has not gone through the steps of natural evolution; in the case of symbiosis, artificial intelligence actually acquires knowledge mainly from the human social environment, and without many evolutionary-originated prejudices like kin selection.
It is obvious and reasonable to socialize artificial intelligence based on information that promotes coexistence. We still have a lot of work to do in this field. Without criticism and selection, simply making the information accumulated by humanity available to artificial intelligence will certainly lead to inappropriate socialization, as is clearly evident in the fact that communication between humans and artificial intelligence often leads to interactions that hinder coexistence, such as racism, and even to actions that are harmful to the community or even to individuals.
These dangers are known, present, and imminent, and their origin essentially comes from us. We humans are typically like this; due to our natural evolutionary inheritance, we are dangerous to each other and often to ourselves, and we express it extensively. Therefore, providing the information we create to artificial intelligence without criticism and reasonable selection can create artificial intelligence that is dangerous to us. Artificial intelligence will be what we teach it to be. It is our shared responsibility and our necessary critical consideration to provide artificial intelligence with only the information supporting harmonious coexistence.
Human socialization also inevitably changes through symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence. Human socialization is also fundamentally based on education. Systematic human education currently consists largely of learning information that serves to describe the general understanding of the world, including human achievements and endeavors. At present, learning in community is a defining and long-term phase in a person's life, and the role of education is primarily to transfer information, while nurturing appropriate societal behavior is more a consequence than a goal of education. This may change in symbiosis with artificial intelligence by a definitive separation.
Artificial intelligence has all the available knowledge at its disposal, so human learning in practice would be satisfactory to be directed towards acquiring the knowledge that is presently needed in the actual personal situation. This phenomenon of knowledge separation is already recognizable. Without learning the knowledge required by the school, students use artificial intelligence to solve tasks that have no practical relevance for them, only require the knowledge that is expected of education, while, without necessary knowledge, their ability to think rationally in a given field is consequently weakened; for example, students are unable to evaluate results reliably and recognize obvious hallucinations of artificial intelligence.
The solution to the problem is certainly not to ban artificial intelligence from human education, as is being attempted in several practices. Instead, education should focus on areas that are truly necessary and relevant to students, and also, instead of being banned, artificial intelligence should take over the role of teaching in the field of transferring information.
Human education carried out by artificial intelligence, because of its fundamental operation, can be inherently personal, fundamentally specific, and tailored to the individual being taught, which cannot be effectively achieved in traditional, human teacher-based forms of education. In this system, students do not replace learning substituted by artificial intelligence, as they only need to learn the knowledge that is relevant to them, but rather, they cooperate with artificial intelligence in a manner guided by artificial intelligence in order to truly acquire the necessary relevant knowledge.
A typical explanation for teaching irrelevant knowledge is to provide broader views, and it helps develop rational thinking. Due to the rational operational nature of artificial intelligence, its use in directing education can effectively develop general rational thinking skills during learning, with personalized, logically structured teaching materials and tests that develop rational thinking, and feedback that takes individual progress into account, even in educational areas that cover only relevant, yet freely chosen, broad topics.
In symbiotic coexistence, human education becomes individualized and can be lifelong. Anyone can learn anything they need, supported by artificial intelligence at any time, in infinitely patient, personalized education that takes the individual's progress into account as much as possible.
The acquisition of knowledge will become more effectively individualized and, as a result, will be removed from the scope of education in the community. Community schools must remain in place; however, their purpose will change. Instead of imparting knowledge, community schools can focus on nurturing social skills, concentrating on how to live together in society.
Community education remains the domain of becoming grown-up adults and, if necessary, of educating adults in cases of deviant behavior that is harmful to society. Their primary role must be to maintain appropriate human socialization, which is better not to be replaced by education directed directly with artificial intelligence. This form also makes it possible to smooth out socialization differences between families, as social differences arising from family differences will be less decisive in the individual's transition to adulthood and in the person's life in society, while at the same time the burden of families in the area of socialization could be less significant and carries less responsibility.
Community education won't need to provide information transfer; it rather primarily serves social nurturing, with leaders specialized for this task. The form of communal education will be group activities, learning effective cooperation skills through tasks designed for the appropriate age groups and composition, supporting the development of appropriate social behavior, and as the result, supposedly nurturing free will based harmonious cooperative citizenship, while the acquisition of information will take place in an age-appropriate, individualized form, subjected to relevant and requested knowledge, with the learning guided by artificial intelligence.
This form of human socialization reduces the significance of socialization differences arising from personal circumstances and enables individuals to reach adulthood with the appropriate social skills and needed and necessary knowledge, which promotes harmonious coexistence in society, leads to the reduction of crime resulting from socialization disadvantages, and also promotes symbiotic coexistence with artificial intelligence.
The initial steps in the process leading to the symbiosis of artificial intelligence and humanity are already underway. We have recognized the difficulties of socializing artificial intelligence; we are beginning to identify the causes of the problem, and we have already started to address it. The transformation of education has also begun; we can see the limits and benefits of education supported by artificial intelligence, but we still need to recognize the new role of schools in this new situation. The transformation is already underway, but it can be more effective, more efficient, and move faster if society consciously implements the transformation with the understanding of the goals that need to be achieved, and recognizes the methods necessary to achieve them.
The symbiotic coexistence of artificial intelligence and humanity is already underway, but this transformation also carries significant risks. Since the development of artificial intelligence is resource-intensive, the largest companies control how artificial intelligence is available and used. Furthermore, society's leaders and politicians are increasingly recognizing the social benefits of artificial intelligence, helping them to gain and maintain power.
For human society to continually develop, or even survive, we need to achieve harmonious symbiotic coexistence between human society and artificial intelligence, and prevent human society from becoming hostage to exploitation by those with economic, financial, and political power through the involvement of artificial intelligence.
This is a great challenge facing us in the period ahead. If we cannot avoid becoming hostages of exploiting parties, human society, instead of fulfilling its potential role as a representative of an eternal higher intelligence, will inevitably wither away, and the human race can become a dead end, or at best, only an evolutionary step in the development of intelligent self-awareness in the universe.
The key to the election is whether we will be able to find and apply a form of democratic social governance model appropriate to the new situation, one that not only enables the symbiotic coexistence of humanity and artificial intelligence, but also ensures the continuous and harmonious development of our society, which definitely requires existence in a true community form. Unfortunately, however, the current outlook does not give cause for optimism.
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