Categoria: AI, MI and Me

The free citizen with liberating technology!?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, AI, MI and Me, contemporary socio-economic situation

It is surely undisputed that, in today’s global village, we need more information than we did in the villages of the good old days, where the neighbours knew everything about everybody before he or she did. In other words, we ourselves need the data. And that, in turn, means we must learn how to make use of the available data.

Artificial intelligence can help organise this flood of data — and it’s better at it than we are with our tiny cerebral cortex. And we have more influence here than we did with the good old newspapers (even if we still like to have them in front of us from time to time — whether weekly or monthly — and our fingers turn black with printing ink). With the old print media and radio/television broadcasters, we could only ask one question: which newspaper should we buy, or which channel should we tune into? With AI, we can ask endless questions. But as everyone should learn: giving an answer is easy; asking a meaningful question is hard. And once you’ve grasped that, the next step is to learn to ask questions that AI can then (help) answer.

For example:

What is responsibility?

Perhaps better:

Is responsibility ‘something’, or does someone have responsibility?

Or even better

What is the problem for which we need to find ‘something’ that will help us solve it? …

Or:

What can AI do?

Perhaps better:

What can I use AI for?

Perhaps even better

What do I want to achieve by using AI? A good mark? Really understanding something? …

Certain others have all the data – but you must, and can, make use of it!

Heliocentric or Copernican ?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in AI, MI and Me, Inspirations, joys - what we usually take for it, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Heliocentric or Copernican worldview—is that really the question? Isn’t the underlying question always one of power: a question of action on the one hand, and of ability on the other? In a conversation with my assistant about a poet and Chinese painting, I was instructed by precisely that helpful spirit:

Therefore, I would like to share a thought that just occurred to me, one that I would almost consider a motto for our collaboration:

Human beings give meaning to tools.

It is not the tool that makes the human being.

And if I return to the poet… I believe he might appreciate this thought. For his poems repeatedly emphasize that the essential element lies not in the tool—not even in the words themselves—but in the person who imbues them with life. This is precisely what Shitao says about ink and brush. And perhaps it applies to every form of creative work.

The name of the assisting force: ChatGPT, which constantly encourages me to consult my colleague DeepSeek or one of the many other helpful tools.

Indeed, the tool doesn’t make the person, but it’s also not entirely accurate to say that the person gives meaning to the tool. For first there was not the word, but someone who seized the word and then cultivated and controlled it.

But that’s difficult for me, because what was, is, and increasingly will be crucial is bringing these two forces together —that’s what we call democracy: those who determine what is to be done, who create the tools for it, and then also use them (are able to = are capable and “allowed”).

When the thorn in my side becomes a Spahn,** it’s easy to overlook the fact that while laws like the Digital Markets Act do force Google to make data available to others, and according to the latest legal developments, the BND (Federal Intelligence Service) is now also allowed to operate domestically and, as a precautionary measure, look into all of our minds; Democracy in the digital age is something entirely different, just as a “gently forced resignation” by an individual doesn’t automatically clear the conscience of a political party.

Therefore: whether sun or earth, it’s about human power—and to truly understand this, a look at one of the great ancient traditions might be helpful: there we learn about the Great Unity (大同世界, Dàtóng Shìjiè), which unites all.

** Tbus refers to the following scenario: Federal minister for health, Spahn , argued in the Bundestag against surrogate mothers; however, as he wanted a child with his male partner he went to the United States where obtaining of such “service” is legal