2026 and all that
Jan. 4th, 2026 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterMy greatest wish for 2026 would be that we all put our efforts into re-humanizing our world. Making it more humane, of course, but also working towards a more human-CENTRED world.
Now, I'm not necessarily against technological innovation. I'd just like to see a more symbiotic relationship between humans on the one hand, and cyber-creations (computers, bots, etc.) on the other. A world where we have humans doing what humans do best, while computers and machines of various kinds do the kinds of things that humans simply weren't designed or evolved to do: computations at warp-speed, feats of strength and amazing physical prowess, and so on.
In order to develop artificial intelligence, we have to first understand what human intelligence is all about. We also need to understand other human qualities and strengths and talents that we don't necessarily associate with what we typically think of as intelligence.
"Emotional intelligence" was a buzz-phrase a decade or two ago. Is there such a thing as artificial emotional intelligence? What about the evidence of our senses, all five or six (or perhaps more) of them? Human senses are clearly not quite the same as sensors, the kind you have in your smoke detectors, CO detectors, radon detectors, motion detectors ...
Many folk in the world of politics, economics, finance, etc., insist that we are in the midst of a "productivity crisis". Maybe that's true. But how do we figure that out if the definitions, standards and benchmarks for "productivity" are left unexamined and unchallenged because they're considered the purview of specific categories of experts, people much smarter than you and me?
How do you measure the productivity of a daydream, a night-dream, a nightmare, a vision? Or even an assumption or preconception, one that's possibly a little or a lot at odds with the mainstream? Perhaps any productivity problems we have can be partially attributed to our reluctance to fund and promote the things that matter most? Basic research as well as applied research. The arts. Leisure. Remember when the futurists were all predicting that by this century, we would all be working far fewer hours? Machines would do all the drudge work, leaving us free to pursue our passions in life?
Instead, we are increasingly being channelled into doing things the machine's way. The computer's way. The Chat-bot's way.
I did accomplish some things in 2025. The year was not terrible for me; it had a fairly typical blend of ups and downs. But over the past few years, I've been finding more and more that in the day-to-day business of life, in conducting basic essential transactions, I can't interact with my world in the ways I prefer, and that's hugely alienating.
So much has to be done online now: paying bills, uploading documents, sending in applications. Even picking up the phone and trying to talk to a real human being is often an exercise in frustration or at worst futility. I'm definitely not an extroverted life-of-the-party type of person but even typical introvert activities like planning, analysis, deep thought or concentration, imagining, the creative process, and so on, are seriously hampered when we're forced to do things as if we were impersonal machines.
Let's hope that in 2026 and beyond, we remember our humanity and make good use of our human qualities, for the benefit of ourselves and others!
Now, I'm not necessarily against technological innovation. I'd just like to see a more symbiotic relationship between humans on the one hand, and cyber-creations (computers, bots, etc.) on the other. A world where we have humans doing what humans do best, while computers and machines of various kinds do the kinds of things that humans simply weren't designed or evolved to do: computations at warp-speed, feats of strength and amazing physical prowess, and so on.
In order to develop artificial intelligence, we have to first understand what human intelligence is all about. We also need to understand other human qualities and strengths and talents that we don't necessarily associate with what we typically think of as intelligence.
"Emotional intelligence" was a buzz-phrase a decade or two ago. Is there such a thing as artificial emotional intelligence? What about the evidence of our senses, all five or six (or perhaps more) of them? Human senses are clearly not quite the same as sensors, the kind you have in your smoke detectors, CO detectors, radon detectors, motion detectors ...
Many folk in the world of politics, economics, finance, etc., insist that we are in the midst of a "productivity crisis". Maybe that's true. But how do we figure that out if the definitions, standards and benchmarks for "productivity" are left unexamined and unchallenged because they're considered the purview of specific categories of experts, people much smarter than you and me?
How do you measure the productivity of a daydream, a night-dream, a nightmare, a vision? Or even an assumption or preconception, one that's possibly a little or a lot at odds with the mainstream? Perhaps any productivity problems we have can be partially attributed to our reluctance to fund and promote the things that matter most? Basic research as well as applied research. The arts. Leisure. Remember when the futurists were all predicting that by this century, we would all be working far fewer hours? Machines would do all the drudge work, leaving us free to pursue our passions in life?
Instead, we are increasingly being channelled into doing things the machine's way. The computer's way. The Chat-bot's way.
I did accomplish some things in 2025. The year was not terrible for me; it had a fairly typical blend of ups and downs. But over the past few years, I've been finding more and more that in the day-to-day business of life, in conducting basic essential transactions, I can't interact with my world in the ways I prefer, and that's hugely alienating.
So much has to be done online now: paying bills, uploading documents, sending in applications. Even picking up the phone and trying to talk to a real human being is often an exercise in frustration or at worst futility. I'm definitely not an extroverted life-of-the-party type of person but even typical introvert activities like planning, analysis, deep thought or concentration, imagining, the creative process, and so on, are seriously hampered when we're forced to do things as if we were impersonal machines.
Let's hope that in 2026 and beyond, we remember our humanity and make good use of our human qualities, for the benefit of ourselves and others!
