I See You Na'vi. (A.I. Blog 2)

“What a familiarity with the construction of Turing test bots had begun to show me was that we fail - again and again- to actually be human with other humans, so maddeningly much of the time.”

This quote from Brian Christian’s ‘The Most Human Human’ really sticks out to me because I think this is in fact the case, especially with modern technology. I always think back to one day in high school where my friends and I were messaging each other in a group chat. There was about 20 of us in that group, and the majority of us were together at lunch. Yet we still all had our heads down communicating through the group chat and I thought it was bizarre to be doing that when almost all of us were right next to each other. My friends agreed when I pointed it out, then continued to message in the group chat. The way we communicate with each other is completely changing. Even in texts we don’t need to use words. We can use emojis to express our feelings. It is almost paradoxical that we are trying top find easy computer ways of expressing emotions when humans have the ability to communicate through speech, facial expressions, body language etc. All of those abilities that make us human have been shaped over thousands of years, and now it feels like we are regressing in that aspect, while technology progresses.

I think this point connects very well to the movie ‘Avatar’. One of the sayings the Na’vi have is “I see you”. What it truly stands for can be interpreted in slightly different ways, but I think most can agree that it’s, I see past the physical you. I think it means I see who you are as a being and I see your soul. "To see" is a cornerstone of Na'vi philosophy. It is to open the mind and heart to the present, and embrace Pandora as if encountering it for the very first time. To me, being able to appreciate things in this way, shows a much more advanced thinking and understanding than a race who can’t keep their eyes off a phone, computer or T.V. screen for more than an hour. People often agree that a part of being human is the ability to communicate through language and the ability to connect emotionally. But how many people can you look at day to day and say something of the equivalent to the Na’vi’s “I see you”?

I think if you are able to think about things in a different light, computers provide a better means than ever before of understanding what it is to be human. But this can only happen when you analyse how advanced machines are becoming and how we differ. Technology is bringing up these questions about humans and our humanity. You should ask yourself, what makes us unique? If you don’t have a desire to ask these questions of yourself, then what separates you from an A.I.? I think there is nothing more robotic than just going through the motions of life. We need to try and “see” the world again and the people in it.

“The more helpful our phones get, the harder it is to be ourselves. For everyone out there fighting to write idiosyncratic, high-entropy, unpredictable, unruly text, swimming upstream of spell-check and predictive auto-completion: Don't let them banalize you. Keep fighting.”