Resisting AI: spiritual beings and our duty to humanity
Throughout my whole life, people have joked that I’m not ‘tech-savvy’ or ‘born in the wrong era’. I’ve always felt like there was something inherently wrong with me because, afterall, we live in the digital age.
But now I’m starting to understand that not all of us human beings are actually designed to engage with the all of the latest technologies, i.e. Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Some of us, especially the spiritual and the creative, are here to embody and represent humanity’s connection the soul. I’m talking to you artists, writers, creators, mediums, poets, rappers, tattooers, visionaries, and creative geniuses.
To me, this is a simple truth. But in late-stage capitalism, it is not an easy one to embody. AI can offer convenience, efficiency, and productivity — which I ultimately see as creativity-killers.
Here’s why spiritual/creative beings need not fear being replaced by AI:
Knowledge is the potential of experience, and wisdom is that embodiment of experience. Large language models (LLM) like Chat GPT, can reflect and mirror experience (knowledge), but LLMs literally cannot embody it these experiences (wisdom). Wisdom is the hallmark of a true artist.
LLMs use vast data sets to mirror the collection unconscious of humanity, but that’s all it can do — mirror, reflect, regurgitate. This can be efficient and sometimes helpful, but it is not creation.
Creation is the opposite of mere reflection. Creation is destruction. Creation is disruption. Our ability to create is precisely what makes us human.
Here’s how we become aware of AI’s expedited exploitation effects on human creators, amidst late-stage capitalism.
The following mantras are for embodying soul consciousness in a world that appears to be shifting away from soul consciousness in the name of hyper-productivity, workaholism, and exploitation of artists.
I am a creative channel for Source.
My offerings come from my soul, and they benefit all whom seek them.
I choose to define my own version of success
I can spend time creating things, even if they are for profit.
Creative clarity comes from slowing down and existing in stillness
Many of creative and spiritual beings will find it quite easy to resist reliance on AI (many of its uses are simply not appealing nor fulfilling to us), but we may be surrounded by other people who are ambivalent toward its use, or even excited about its capabilities.
How do we reconcile this information?
Just like you might not be designed to engage with AI, it’s likely there are other people here explore and engage with it. Your mission is different from their’s, but they are equal in importance. This is where I use a cliche like “it takes all kinds” or “different strokes from different folks.”
I’ve never been an alarmist, yet I’m surprised by how oddly “at peace” I feel with my consistent role in this ever-changing societal landscape. I know who I am — I’m an artist and a spiritual being — and that conviction comes with a lot of power in this digital world. I invite you to step into your own humane power, too.
“(The Human Soul) should be worthy of all the attention we can give it, especially today, when everyone admits that the weal or woe of the future will be decided neither by the attacks of wild animals nor by natural catastrophes nor by the danger of world-wide epidemics but simply by the psychic changes in man.” — Carl Jung, “God, the Devil, and the Human Soul” (1957)
