The Glass Cage Summary (6/10)

Human Incompetence

In The Glass Cage, Carr warns about a near future that is dominated by artificial intelligence – he argues that the problems that come with advanced artificial intelligence go beyond the loss of jobs for some people the way technology always had. He thinks that at some point, because of the ease with which we will be able to live our lives, human beings will lose the most essential part of being human.

He cites the incident of the 2009 Airbus A330 accident, when an Air France plane crashed into the ocean, killing 228 people. It was discovered that the autopilot had failed and when the pilots had to take over, they were incapable of taking control – they lose the ability to fly the plane.

With self-driving cars, we can imagine similar situations, in which drivers may be unprepared to take over. In short, an overdependence on AI will result in human incompetence. And this affects us not only in life or death situations, but even in our daily lives.

What happens when AI needs to make moral decisions? When it comes to fighting criminality or fighting wars. Are we ready to delegate the all-important question of our own morality, to machines?

The average person today spends considerable time on a glass screen isolated from the real world around them. The lose contact with the present moment. And Carr suggests that the best quality of human life can only be experienced when the individual isn’t so focused on time, on the future, the way modern people are.

The Importance of Difficulty

He cites Robert Frost, who lived for years without access to technology – he even lost track of time. During that period, he felt immortal, like he was connected to the infinite, and he suffered no existential angst, because he was so engaged with his labor.

The suggestion that Carr makes is that it is work that makes the human a profound animal, that gives him a deep sense of enjoyment, this like the concept of Flow. And it is not ease that we are truly after, but it is difficulty. It is the overcoming of challenges that makes life worth living, that forces you to grow and improve.

He contrasts this with a life in which automation handles too many tasks in life, and most people are left disengaged, when they are only asked to monitor or supervise. This life is not only empty of meaning, but makes it impossible for the person to gain knowledge and to become a master.

Ironically, we think that we are masters with regards to technology. We buy new technology that does things faster and more efficiently, without seeking technology that enriches our experience. We are, in other words, passive consumers of technology. We are anything but masters.

The counterargument is that AI will free us from unnecessary labor, it will give us what we want.

But Carr asks if such a future, devoid of labor and skill, is truly what we want?

In any case, Ray Kurzweil suggests that Google will one day know what we want – it will know with accuracy what is going to interest us, perhaps even better than ourselves. But is that a future that we should look forward to? A future where we are less deliberate, purposeful, hardworking, and driven?

The rise of psychological ailments in the developed nations suggests that the human mind was not build for such a contraction of will.  We are, to a certain extent, consuming drugs to fit ourselves into this narrow world we have created for ourselves – these glass cages.

Carr doesn’t argue that we should abandon technological development, but that we should learn how to better use it, to fit our own purposes, but this requires setting the bar higher for what we are given an incentive to produce. It is not enough to simply build something that hacks the human mind and works, but to build something that works for the benefit of the human mind.

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