Learning from the past & sculpting our future: How generative artificial intelligence could liberate humanity

Artificial intelligence is scary. But what if it's the solution we've been waiting for?

There are those who have lost hope in humanity, and it's not hard to see why. Climate change is worsening by the day, political and economic instability is rife across the globe, and I cant find a plastic straw anywhere! However, I believe that the solution may not lie solely in addressing each of these challenges individually. Rather, we should take a step back and reflect on why our behaviour has become so destructive, and how we can leverage new technologies to make a positive change.

Communism!

The word "communism" has become a highly charged buzzword, evoking strong reactions from many of us. However, it would be foolish to dismiss the underlying ideas and potential benefits that may be hidden within this ideology. Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel believed in the importance of learning from one's intellectual enemies and considering viewpoints that may seem alien or even contemptible at first glance. While this post is not intended to promote communism, it is important to acknowledge that we can still learn from controversial movements and ideologies.

Why is Communism Relevant?

Every era of history can be looked at as a repository of a particular kind of wisdom. For example, ancient Greece taught us the importance of community and what it can be… something that has been lost, to some degree, in the modern age. Similarly, while the treatment of women and children in the Middle Ages was often abhorrent by modern standards, the concept of honour played an important role in shaping social relationships and personal conduct. In a world where personal reputation and loyalty were highly valued, honour provided a framework for ethical behaviour and respect for others.

In order to succeed, we must learn from the past. Our mistakes, triumphs and everything in between can be used to compensate for the blind spots of the present.

“Progress is never linear, there is wisdom at every stage.” – Hegel.

On paper, Communism is an ideology that advocates for a classless society, where property and resources are collectively owned and controlled by the community as a whole. While the implementation of communism in practice has often resulted in authoritarianism, repression, and economic inefficiency, there are certainly underlying needs and important ideas that have influenced its development.

One crucial need that communism addresses is the issue of inequality. In many societies, there are significant disparities in wealth and power between different classes of people. This leads to social unrest, political instability, and economic inefficiency. Communism seeks to address this by creating a system in which everyone has equal access to resources and power.

Capitalism is unstable. Many modern crises are dressed up as freakish and rare and soon to be the last one. I believe crises are endemic to capitalism. But it’s caused by something very strange. The fact that we’re able to produce too much – far more than anyone needs to consume. Capitalist crises are crises of abundance rather than – in the past – crises of shortage.

Our factories and systems are so efficient, we could give everyone on this planet a car, a house, access to a school and hospital. And this is what saddens me. However, simultaneously, fills me with an immense hope.

Because the modern economy is so productive, few of us need to work. But rather than seeing this need not to as the freedom it is, we complain about it masochistically and describe it by a pejorative word “unemployment.” We should call it freedom. These high levels of unemployment are a testament to the efficiency of our economy, as we are able to produce so much with so little labour. Rather than being something to bemoan, this excess production should be celebrated as a great achievement of human ingenuity. It presents us with an opportunity to redirect our energies towards creative pursuits and leisure activities, rather than being bound to the drudgery of work.

Modern Work is Alienated

Work can be one of the sources of our greatest joys. But in order to be fulfilled at work, Marx wrote that workers need ‘to see themselves in the objects they have created’.

Part of the problem with capitalism (on paper described as the solution) is that modern work is incredibly specialised. This makes the economy highly efficient, but makes it seldom for one worker to derive a sense of genuine contribution to the real needs of humanity. Capitalism, while boasting much more positives than any other political and economical ecosystem, makes the human being completely and utterly expendable; just one factor along the line of production that can be let go the second costs rise or savings can be made. This in itself is a war on human nature, as Maryx realised – we don’t want to be arbitrarily let go, we’re terrified of one day not serving a purpose.

Communism is not just an economic theory, when analysed and understood emotionally, it pulls on an honourable and deep-seated longing… humans have to feel as though they’re contributing and making a difference, and that they belong and will not be cast out.

I believe my personal work and career (though still young) is a great exemplar to this statement. I started freelancing as a photographer and videographer at 17 and since have (somewhat) refined my work and skillset to digital marketing. Every morning I wake up excited to go to work, I talk non-stop to my friends and family about my endeavours… and they hate it lol. But it’s this idea and belief that I’m working towards something greater than myself, that I feel as though I’m contributing something unique and that only I can create. I see myself within my work. I believe this is where humanity is struggling deeply, because when you can motivate and inspire good, hard-working people, there’s not much you can’t accomplish.

Artificial Intelligences Role

Such as in the early days of medicine, Hegel, Marx and many others could recognise the nature of the disease, although they had no idea how to go about curing it. Now, with the rate at which technology is evolving, and the tools and minds already at our disposal, I believe humanity stands a great chance.

With Artificial Intelligence programs and devices becoming readily available to the public, many people (including myself) have implemented it into their workflow. No, it does not do the work for me. However, it does allow me to achieve more as my mind is now free to focus on the issues that require the most amount of attention. It takes away the time consuming, lacklustre, and plain boring jobs that no one wants to do.

Within my own job, I utilise Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and many other generative artificial intelligence programs and services to create descriptive, passive and SEO rich text for my clients product pages, tags and much more. I view this technology as somewhat of a ‘first draft’, and then upon review I publish. This elimination of a tedious process that once would have taken hours, now allows me to refocus my time and energy on more not only more demanding tasks, but rewarding tasks.

As Marx once declared; ‘Philosophers until now have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point, however, is to change it.’ We now have the ability to change the world. I am convinced that this surge in technological advancement is fundamental to the human race, and if we can utilise these newfound technologies to our advantage, not only as individuals but collectively as humans, we can create better work, resulting in a more fulfilled human experience. We can snowball this new chain of energy and willingness to work into an effort in solving the issues that reside within humanity itself, rather than spending hours writing a blog about the features of a bariatric shower stool… No offense.

This sounds too good to be true. Of course it does. With the implementation of this technology, it is just as important to approach these developments with a critical eye and consider the potential impacts on society as a whole. For example, AI can perpetuate biases if not properly designed and monitored, and there is a risk of job displacement for those whose tasks can be automated by AI. With every proposed solution is its downsides. And, as we’ve learned from years of excess carbon emission, we need to think ahead and approach this change with great caution.