ghost in the machine
“The computer asks you to click on this button.”
“It thinks that you requested something else.”
“He is mad at you.”
We evolved into an amazing hack thousands of years ago. We can navigate the world more safely if we imagine that others have a little voice just like we do.
We avoided fatal fights by projecting our narrative voice to others. It’s a powerful way to communicate with others in complex cultural situations.
We were so impressed by its effectiveness, we started applying it to dogs and lizards, as well as to the weather. It is a wonderful place to look for the roots of superstitions and bad decisions.
Truth is, your cat doesn’t have a voice in the head. We act as though she does. That cloud isn’t angry, it just has a bug that we see so often we gave it a name. Pareidolia proves that this mistake is almost common.
Now, AI chat is testing the common sense. While we know the code base, the majority of humans can chat away within minutes and bring the same emotions to the computer as we would to another person. This is not something we do with door handles or elevators, but when a device becomes more complex, we begin to see the ghost of the machine.
Keep at it if it’s working.
Problems arise when the hack stops functioning. We start to make up stories about complex systems’ narrative intent. We end up with conspiracies and misunderstandings about the public health, as well as missed opportunities in the financial markets.
Emergent behaviors, such as the economy, computers, and natural world are not conscious.
Although it is difficult to say “I know that I am making up a human-centric story in order to explain systemic phenomena,” it is a shortcut I use… Do you think this shortcut is useful?
