Searching Into the Void
Warning: There are spoilers for the book Scythe and the corresponding series down below.
(Part 1: I don't like AI)
I don't like AI. I don't like its text generation, I am not a fan of it being able to generate images and so on, and while spell check and email auto-completion has helped me (at some points tremendously), I just find myself disliking AI in the same way that I disliked eggplant as a child -- it was abhorred, and any mention of it made me wince.
Why? I'm not sure. I do think it has something to do with the fact that AI isn't "real". Funnily enough, this invokes the Ship of Theseus and some other philosophical questions, as all this discussion leads me to ask myself, what counts as real? Sure maybe I consider 100% AI-generated to be fake, but what about 50%? What if the AI-generated a lead and a human artist finished it? What if the human wrote some script and the AI added on to it?
And I think I've found part of the answer while reflecting on the book Scythe.
(Part 2: Scythe, a review)
The book Scythe is the first in a trio of books apparently called "Arc of a Scythe." Anyways, I think the books all fit nicely together, picking up where the other left off. Between Books 2 and 3 (Thunderhead and The Toll) for example, although the third starts around 5 years after the second ends, it doesn't feel like there's a timeskip -- rather, the main characters are preserved, each character arc is still nearing completion (it's not like a whole new side quest appears for each character), and new characters are weaved almost seamlessly in to be those side-heroes to the main protagonists.
Furthermore, the villain remains the same, his ambitions remain the same, and (spoiler!) we do get to see the "good guys" "beat"1 the "bad guys" in a sense2. In that way, it almost feels like the series was meant to be like this from the start. Which is perfection.
The specific characters are also invigorating (warning: more spoilers). At the very, very beginning, we meet four different characters -- the cunning and reverent/respectful Citra (Scythe Anastasia), the soon-to-be vigilante and hyper Rowan (Scythe Lucifer), the wise mentor Scythe Faraday, and the Thunderhead -- an omnipotent AI that infiltrates all areas of life and is basically a benevolent "Cloud" on steroids. These four perfectly capture the essence of the story and where it goes -- we have two teenagers, one who becomes sort of a benevolent ruler who can dictate between "right" and "wrong" (in contrast to the "new-age" scythes), we have a sage, playing the part of a wise mentor who guides others to greatness (like Master Oogway), and we have a god-like character who confronts their own insecurities with themselves (through conversation), shows emotion and anguish, and ultimately sides with the protagonists. In this way, using these four characters and these archetypes, Shusterman (the author) perfectly situates a dynamic that can be framed as these four (and side-characters) against the dystopian world. Which is exactly what happens.
The book itself also deals with heavy topics -- at its core, death, and by extension, morality. Who deserves to die and who doesn't? Who is in the "right" and who is in the "wrong"?
Which is why, ultimately, I give this book a 10/10, and would highly encourage anyone reading this to read the Scythe trilogy. The books are fast-paced (though the opening is slow, as all books are), there are wayyyyy too many side-plots that go on, and well, all of what I have wrote thus far is simply my take on the book. Reading it, you may and most likely will find something different to appreciate, and there is for sure something in there to speak to everyone.
Also the book doesn't contain any weird sex scenes (though I'm pretty sure there is gore -- the book deals heavily with death (yet in someways keeps its integrity)) which is cool.
Go read it!
(Part 3: Finishing up this AI stuff)
In the book Scythe, scythes are basically individuals with a specific power to kill (glean) someone forever. This power is ideally used sparingly, by scythes, although it is abused by some and cherished by others.
Importantly to me (and this post) is the fact that scythes cannot interact with the Thunderhead. The implication for this is that, like a lawyer, scythes must sift through the mounds of data that the Thunderhead possess themselves -- with features like search to assist them. Crucially however, the Thunderhead, the omnipotent AI, cannot "talk." It cannot assist scythes in any way, and it can only simply be3.
From a philosophical standpoint thus, only the scythes are truly "alive" -- they are the only ones that can (theoretically) think for themselves, untainted by outside influences. Given that the Thunderhead, this all-powerful AI, is ingrained into everyone's brain and talks to them, perhaps it can be argued that the humans in the story have simply lost rational thought; they cannot think for themselves, as every thought seems to be motivated by the Thunderhead in the background.
With that in mind, I imagine my distaste for AI is simply me trying to stay philosophically "alive" (or not commit philosophical suicide as Camus would say) -- I want to be able to think for myself, and with AI emerging, rather than it being a tool, it seems to have become a crutch and a support -- a necessary support for some to advance. And coming from a hacker culture that emphasizes figuring things out above all else, I would rather avoid all dependencies and simply concentrate on myself.
"Never delegate understanding." – Charles Eames
Never delegate understanding. And by using AI, I feel I am delegating understanding. Thus, currently, I hold out against using AI for anything.
Connecting back to the title, I shall ignore all this AI search recap and whatever and simply search on and on and on until I find what I want. It's not that much, but to me, it's honest.
(Part 4: Aftermath)
If you use AI casually or as some "AI developer," that's fine (probably4). For me, ultimately, if you can't tell, the question of to use or to not use is one philosophical in nature for me, and well, there is no right or wrong or good or bad answer. There is simply my answer and my path and my life and your answer and your path and your life.
Hopefully, by writing this post, I have made you ask yourself whether AI is really something you want to integrate into your life.
And hopefully I've made you start searching for a copy of the book Scythe.
The 2nd footnote is a spoiler, watch out!↩
Ok you want spoilers. Sounds good. Essentially, the "bad guys," Goddard and his fellow "new-age scythes" as they are termed (basically) rule the planet at the start of The Toll (book 3) -- they dictate who dies and who lives, they are treated as gods (as they kind of are their own god), etc etc. However, with the help of an omnipotent AI (the Thunderhead), the "rebels" (as they are portrayed) -- Scythe Anastasia and Scythe Lucifer (who we know to be Citra and Rowan; given that we have followed their character arcs from the very very beginning) -- who align with the older, "old-fashioned" and "more-righteous" Scythes, and some other important characters that I forgot about (one of which is transgender in a weird way that I like -- that they feel male while on land and female on sea) manage to first build a rocket ship to explore other planets (thus releasing humanity into the galaxy, lessening the new-age scythes' control over humanity), and manage to eliminate the need for scythes (bringers of death) altogether. I wouldn't say the story ends on a happy note, but it does end on an optimistic and hopeful note, as our protagonists end the saga cruising off to another planet, to start another civilization.↩
Which I speculate is to create a divide between those that can kill and those that have ultimate power. If perhaps the Thunderhead was allowed to talk to scythes, there is the potential for it to start manipulating and simply dominate the world. Funnily enough, through the conversations we see that the AI has with itself, it is implied that the Thunderhead doesn't want world domination. It does not want to be the sole dominion of humanity or whatever.↩
As long as you're not using AI to do bad stuff.↩