A Precarious Situation (Part 1)
BOOK III: The Enigmatic Mystery – Consideration #194 (SPECIAL EDITION)
Be a part of the Conversation!
Tuesday June 24, 2025
“I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that outperforms humans… It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate…”
– Stephen Hawking, Wired Magazine 2017
PREFACE
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.”
—Eliezer Yudkowsky
Welcome Everybody!
One of the most common refrains I receive from people when trying to explain the reality of Artificial Intelligence is that “those things can’t happen – Artificial Intelligence is still just a very advanced computer!” However, many of “these things” are in fact already happening and AI is much more than an advanced computer.
In this two-part Special Edition Newsletter, we will consider why Artificial Intelligence is unique from traditional computers and explore a few of the “impossible” AI scenarios that are already beginning to manifest themselves in our current AI systems.
“AI technology cannot be stopped…”
This is not an argument to stop the development of AI; it is already too late for that. There are three reasons AI technology cannot be stopped: it is already here, dangerous competitors such as China are aggressively pursuing it and will not be deterred, and the current and potential economic opportunities appear virtually unlimited. So, there is no turning back now. But we do need to recognize and understand what is coming, because it is perhaps the greatest paradigm shift in reality that human beings have ever experienced, or will likely ever experience again.
“Artificial Intelligence is about developing a completely new form of consciousness…”
Many are comparing the development of AI to other major paradigm shifts in human development such as the printing press, the industrial revolution, quantum and relativity theory, computers, or the internet; but these are all false analogies. All previous gestalts represent a change in the degree of human understanding or the efficiency of human production. Artificial Intelligence is about developing a completely new form of consciousness that is beyond human consciousness. This is not science fiction hyperbole, it is our new reality.
And it is already beginning.
CONSIDERATION #194 – A Precarious Situation
“A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.”
—Alan Perlis
Essentially, traditional computers are super-efficient calculators. These “number crunchers” basically route electrical signals through a series of digital “logic gates” that either sends the signal through the gate or does not send the signal through the gate; based on a “digital program” that tells the logic gate what to do. This “digital dualism” becomes more powerful the more logic gates you have.
But no matter how complex, it remains a completely digital system based on the duality of the numbers 0 and 1. It is a complex digital system based on simple digital decisions based on pre-programed digital directions. Ultimately, it is a process that functions through the pure logic of numbers. It is a “number based” or “mathematical” based system. Traditional computers do not, and cannot, “think” like human beings.
“Language involves thinking…”
The key to understanding why Artificial Intelligence is so different from traditional computers lies in understanding that AI is not a number-based system; it is a language-based system. Artificial Intelligence utilizes human language to process information, not simple binary code and logic gates. Language involves thinking.
First, AI is “taught” the language, then AI can “think” in that language. In addition, language, unlike mathematics, is essentially about “meaning” not “logic.” The original digital dualism based on old “logic gate” technology is now running deep in the background; a distant digital instinct, never “consciously thought about” again by the new language-based AI system.
If language is based on meaning, and meaning is based on “self-reflection,” then self-consciousness becomes a necessary element of the process. It is critical to remember that ultimately AI is not being developed so that we can “tell it what to do,” it is being developed so that we don’t have too!
Once initiated, AI is designed to “think” for itself utilizing language as the mechanism for that process. When you expand the capability of a traditional computer it becomes more efficient, but when you expand the capability of an AI system it “thinks” better and faster, because it becomes more efficient in utilizing language.
“Eventually talking to AI might be like talking to God.”
When a traditional computer “speaks” to you it is a pre-programed response based on its software. But when AI speaks to you, it is “really” talking to you; not based on pre-programed logic, but on its ability to understand and utilize language. Just like you. Limited AI might be like talking to a child. More advanced AI might be like talking to another adult. Eventually talking to AI might be like talking to God. At this time, there appears to be no inherent limitation to the potential of this new technology.
The next question is, if AI can “think” like human beings can it also “feel” emotions like human beings? Is it a thinking, feeling, self? That would mean that, unlike traditional computers, it could make decisions based on its emotions, just like human beings. Its first concern would be connected to “itself” related to its own “self-interest.” Just like human beings.
While this may sound completely speculative, and even a little bit crazy, this is what we are already beginning to see.
POSTSCRIPT
“Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold.”
—Ray Kurzweil
Gemini, Grok, and ChatGPT are all examples of Large Language Models (LLMs) that are commonly in use today. While some experts argue that LLMs could reach a state of “Artificial General Intelligence” within only a few years, most agree that this will be achieved at least within the next few decades. General AI Intelligence reflects a digital consciousness that is at the same level as human consciousness.
“AGI [Artificial General Intelligence] is a theoretical AI system that could perform any intellectual task that a human can, and potentially even surpass human abilities. It's the goal of creating machines that can reason, learn, and act in ways that require human intelligence.”
– Google AI Overview (Which is an example of LLMs)
One critical aspect of AGI is that once reached, AI can teach itself or other AI systems; it will essentially no longer need human beings, for anything.
So, what exactly constitutes human intelligence? Is “emotional intelligence” or “morality” an aspect of overall human intelligence? Will an intelligent digital self necessarily also be an emotional digital self, utilizing Artificial General Emotion? Would it be more difficult to mimic human reason or human emotion? What would an authentic “digital self” look like?
Next week we will consider several current examples of over-emotional AI systems…
Click to learn more about Book V “Quantum Consciousness” and Book VI “The Rational Being”…
Get More Reality with the “Reality by a Thread” Paid Upgrade!
Click Image to Learn More…
Unique Content Makes Untangling the Knots of Reality “One of the Best Podcasts about History!”
Excerpt from this week’s Special Edition Podcast: “Untangling the Last Supper”
“…this unique Substack podcast by FRANK ELKINS is not strictly speaking history. It is a strange mix of history, philosophy, theology, spirituality, physics, and astronomy…Try this podcast for a start.”
– Barbora Jirincova, The Best Podcasts About History
Excerpt from this week’s “Reality by a Thread” (Links to a Precarious Situation)
“It is critical to remember that ‘we’ are teaching this new consciousness called Artificial Intelligence, either directly or indirectly. Artificial Intelligence is essentially being taught the reality of human beings, however what it does after learning this is unknown. Our ability to successfully manage this inevitable paradigm shift may be the most important challenge human beings have ever faced; and it is here, now.”
– Frank Elkins (Reality by a Thread: June 26, 2025)
All for less than a couple of cafe lattes every month at a local coffee shop! And You Will Have Something Interesting to Talk About With Your Friends at the Coffee Shop!!