by Mike Hearl.
A quick “housekeeping” reminder: The “S” in “This S.A.L.T.Y. Life” stands for “Soul.”
And that is where we are going today, dear reader, because there is sooooo very much talk these days centered on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Heck, when Oprah deigns to do a whole hour special (it aired in September), then we know AI is a big deal. Upon hearing from Sam Altman, one of the ‘inventors’ of AI that, “It’s way more powerful than social media.” Oprah swallowed hard and asked, “Then how are we supposed to know what’s real and what’s not?”
Lots of folks in tech world have their proverbial “panties in a twist” with regard to this question: Is AI going to trigger the greatest leap in the history of human flourishing… OR, conversely, mark the beginning of mankind’s annihilation by the “Machine Age?” That’s a pretty wide spectrum of speculation, right?
What I aim to do in this and subsequent columns is to reassure us all that our innate “soul intelligence,” IF properly applied, will be the powerful governor over run-away “artificial intelligence.” In other words, we possess the tools as humans to discern “what’s real and what’s not.” BUT we have to know how to tap our soul intelligence in the face of the AI freight-train rushing toward us. Something we have NOT done too well within the current Social Media realm. “Mis-information / Dis-information,” anyone?
So, let’s lay some basic human soul groundwork that we can build upon. It all starts with identity.
“The first act of life is to create a boundary, a membrane that is the cell’s identity. It defines an inside and an outside, what it is, what it is not…without identity there is no life, no creation, no responsiveness, no continuation, no possibility for change…and so, identity is the primary organizing dynamic of life.” 1
That brings us to our current snafu. The territory, the soil, that we currently live in is the “Attention Economy” (eco-system). In which, the ruthless dynamics of social media work to create identity not grounded in anything other than that of being popular, being an “influencer,” being entertaining, being famous, having legions of followers… AND being able to “monetize” all of the above. Guess what moves all this at lightning speed… in-forms, and re-shapes us? Algorithms.
“Algorithms learned how to define us. Who we are is defined by online behaviors: what we click, who we follow, what we watch, what we watched again, what we commented on… our internet identity solidifies. Algorithmic identity creation is designed to narrow us into an identity and then intensify it by feeding us news, gossip, opinions, and beliefs that the ‘algo’ has determined we’ll like. The more we feel confirmed and entertained, the longer we’ll stay scrolling, clicking—the very behaviors that tell the ‘algo’ that it got us right AND that make for a profitable social media service… As the internet grew, it learned that it also prospered from stirring controversy and division, not conversation.” 2
Yikes! Pretty bleak, huh? I myself get sucked in. Every time I hit Google search on my phone, I am served up a whole menu of tantalizing news bulletins about the PGA and LIV professional golf tours… and guess what I do?… I take the bait. So, if our identities are being “in-formed / re-formed” from the outside-in via our engagement with social media, and it’s only going to get more intense in the AI age, what are we to do?
Take heart! We humans were created by a creator, not an “algo.” Sorry… that I had to first punch you in the nose, give you the bad news about what’s happening to you, wake you up to REALITY.
OK, now let’s get down to tapping some of our innate (read: Inside-out), but possibly latent, “Soul Intelligence.”
WE humans have something deep within us that absolutely bristles at our being mis-informed, being told what to do or believe, being manipulated, being made dependent on outside forces. We all possess a “heart,” which is not the physical beating one, but a will, a spirit, a driving force for our flourishing as human beings.
WE get to choose who we are becoming…NOT “algo” or AI. More on the “how-to’s” of this in my next column. Stay tuned.
Stay SALTY,
Mike Hearl
Footnotes 1, 2: from “Who Do We Choose To Be,” by Margaret Wheatley
Editor’s Note: Mike Hearl is a regular Burien.News contributor who writes a series on living a “S.A.L.T.Y.” Life.]
