Humans have two fundamental abilities— physical and cognitive. Majority of today’s professionals— designers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, scientists and software engineers derive their worth not from their physical ability, but from their cognitive capacity.
Industrial Revolution had rendered physical labour mostly irrelevant; Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution is now set to make our cognitive abilities redundant. Self-driving cars are on the cusp of taking over transportation, algorithms are gaining the ability to produce poems, compose music, draft news reports and translate literature books accurately. What if a sufficiently advanced AI gains enough power and dexterity to replace even doctors, engineers and scientists?
Even if such a scenario plays out, I believe sports and performing arts would remain insulated from an AI onslaught precisely because the appeal of both these fields stems from human performance. For instance, technological advancement in sports has provided modern athletes with scientific diets, better training and computer aids to devise the perfect game strategy, but the athletes themselves aren’t in any way different from say, marathon runners of classical Greece. We pay to watch these athletes perform and compete within the realm of human possibility and we steadfastly detest technology having an overbearing impact on the game. This is why FIA regulates car wingspan, ATP restricts racquet size and every sporting authority bans drug use.
I believe even with a supremely advanced AI, people would still come to watch an inferior, slower and less agile human species battling it out on the field, than watch two machines engage in a pointless duel. An AI doctor might be in greater demand for diagnosing cancer, but no one would want to watch an AI footballer dribble its way past humans and score a goal. Even in the game of chess, ever since IBM’s Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997, the supremacy of machines over humans remains undisputed, but there’s hardly any allure for AI chess tournaments.
Regardless of how intelligent and dexterous machines might become, sportsmen and performing artists will remain invaluable to our society. In a future world inundated by AI, I wouldn’t be surprised if the most popular aspiration among kids is not on becoming doctors or scientists but on becoming the next Lionel Messi.
Wow ? sir your words are just so meaningful I’m a big fan of your thought process ?.
And of course as a sports enthusiast that makes me more follow your post every where ?
Thank you, Miss Barca.
why not SUNIL CHHETRI??
captain of indian football team
He said his opinion, because he likes him. You can also imagine sunil in place of messi. that doent matter.
First of all, We are all humans. Religion and regionalism are just inventions ever made by humans.
Religion i.e. Dharma from Indian context is not man made. It was sought from centuries after centuries and passed through our sages . They didn’t ‘invent’ it , they sought it through rigorous efforts .
Sir why don’t you start YouTube channel it helps alot to many UPSC aspirants..
Not a fan of video making. I prefer writing.
Keep do writing Sir, that’s enough…always eager for your posts…
Thanks, we are fortunate. Reading a good article always gives more pleasure than watching a video explaining the same content.
Yes, so true. Useage of AI to improve the living standards and being a helping hand for mankind in their future quest is desirable. And not becoming a replacement for humans.
To say the least, the article is very well articulated. Enjoyed reading.
Thank you, Rahul.
Biggest Realisation in today’s era!
so sad that he couldn’t get a better team for the world cup.
and also continue writing such wonderful articles and all the best for your future brother.
Very much true sir…n all these becoz we people connect with emotions first n then with intelligence…EQ dominates IQ….thank u for all ur posts
Sir your thought process and expression is amazing.
U make believe in an instant what others have not realised yet,by the way u use your words.
Country needs ppl like u… bring the change.
Thank you for the kind words, Anon.
Wow
Thought process is awesome …
crème de la crème
I’m assuming the phrase is meant for me 😀
”As there is Technology to Create External Well Being,there is whole dimension of Science and Technology to create Inner Well being”-Sadhguru on AI
superb article anna .
Great sir. New perspective. Never thought or read from this point of view or angle from anywhere else. Keep writing sir. We are big fan of u will certainly be following…
Thank you, Anon.
You are Inspiration for all of Us Sîr?
Such a iconic player ever ……Thank you for revitalizing again with your inspirational blog….
wonderful words…….,different style of expression…..and more than that truth about today’s society…….thanq for all these sir.
Beautifully written Sir! Like always 🙂
Isn’t it strange that to develop and use that AI machine humans need high cognitive ability and the whole of AI’s existence and emergence is based on how we enhance our conginitive skills.
With AI we can have a doctor with excellent diagnosing ability but can we have a doctor with empathy?
AI can compose a poem, but a poem without emotions and feelings? No reader would be able to relate to them.
AI can definitely complement other professions. But do you really think it can replace any or all fields will be equally insulated?
Your post was like food to brain. 🙂
AI’s emergence is dependent on our cognitive skill. But once we develop a self-improving AI, there’s no end to how good AI can become.
Regarding your example on AI doctor, sure, essential human values like empathy, compassion, love, care are most difficult to emulate by an AI. But that’s not an insurmountable task. Physicist Max Tegmark presents a wonderful analogy. He says that human advancements are dotted across a mountainous landscape with each mountain peak representing one cognitive human skill. AI is the water level that’s rising and drowning these peaks as the technology advances over time.
Some mountain peaks are short, like say the ability to win a chess game, which AI has already inundated. Some are moderate, such as diagnosing an MRI scan for tumours. This peak is also being drowned as we speak. The highest peaks are the ones I mentioned earlier (love, care, empathy etc) which will be overtaken too, given sufficient time.
The same argument goes for poems. In fact, AI technology has already improved to the point that it can accurately translate literature without loss of essence. I’d give it 5 years before we see AI passing the Turing test for poems i.e., you’ll be unable to figure out whether the poem’s written by a human or an AI algorithm.
I genuinely believe that the threat from AI is imminent and existential. We need to get the technology right and make it safe.
Futuristic and optimistic. Can’t agree more. Tegmark’s analogy says it all. 🙂
You seem to be a professional in giving a sharp n precisely furnished expression of thought and equally artistic in injecting your arguments provided proper reasons and references….
You have such a stunning skill in writing…but…how come you fail the mains thrice….??????
Great Article. But i think the youth of today are more interested in playing warfare games in computer rather than going out to play outside.
Well, that’s a topic for another day.
Most of the commenters are goats.
With such a level of advancement man may get subducted to AI. Our cell phone is the best example.
There will never be humans but the world will see super humans, outputed from gene manupulations. People will be far more superior and talented than Messi.
Yes, trans-humanism is an exciting field of research right now. But per my understanding it’s pretty nascent as of now. My bet is on Elon Musk’s company Neuralink to make the first commercial breakthrough.
Yes brother i totally agree with you. Artificial intelligence is created by humans but today it (AI) is taken as it’s(human’s) alternative . Day by day we are becoming slave of technology. It is a burning topic to be discussed and think about. It is very beautifully explained in your article.
Then next generation will start challenging the AI with the point of emotions and feelings…
superb incorrect prehistoric human.
Sir, you have written that meditation is one of your hobbies. I would really like to read a post on your meditation practices, what drew you towards it, how did you begin, from where did you learn, how does it help. Please post about it soon. 🙂
Yes, that’s in the works.
But sir Ronaldo is better than Messi. Even it has been proved no. of times that possibly Messi is the greatest person ever touched football. 😐
One has to be absolutely clueless about football to think Ronaldo is better than Messi. He is nowhere near Messi. It’s not even a debate.
I guess divergent opinions should not be talked down !
Surely Sir 💯
Sir I like your selection of words.
Thank you, Modi ji!
AI for poems!!! That’s something I did not know. Nice article, something fresh and positive! Thank you I’m your fan.
Politics will be under performing arts too right?! I can’t imagine AI politicians ?
Why do we value politics? Politics is about power, and power is about deciding who gets what, and how much.
Once we have a supremely advanced AI that can chalk out perfect economic plans, produce valuable goods, reduce economic inequality and propel the world to unbridled prosperity, politics and politicians would lose their grip over people. Once people have enough in their bank accounts, they can’t care less about politicians or their speeches. I think this is why the electoral voting percentage in urban India is less compared to the rural areas. With a supremely advanced, benevolent AI, politics as a performing art would lose its charm.
PS: But the trick is in making that supremely advanced AI benevolent, for which our politicians need to get their policies right.
Convinced! But that benevolence would need those individuals who know the heights of human development which is only rare like in some Buddhas, others just know it upar upar se. Problem is you know, humans will start venerating those AI also as they will be so good. Infact I read a research wherein humans get emotionally attached to robots, it showed that humans start ascribing humanly qualities to robots too ( humans where supposed to swith off their power supply but as robots begged humans to not do so, considerable number of people’s judgement got affected and the decided against switching off their power supply).
Whatever it may be, AI for sure is mysterious , I just want that it only helps to make this world a better place and not a worse. Thank you
Have a nice day.
I focused on robotics, i was wrong there
Hello Sir, I’m an aspirant from Chennai . I’m immensely thankful to you for this platform which has various dimensions of post not only helpful for upsc but also to enrich an overall personality of every aspirant !!
I have a request from our side sir , In future please do write about your experiences in training & about your upcoming big event on August 15 . Because I personally feel like these are special boost tonics which makes us even more focused & excited about our preparation ,gear up our stamina to run the marathon.
Thank you sir
Will keep the blog updated about my training at LBSNAA.