I frequently write about the value of facing reality head-on, particularly regarding those things in our lives that make us suffer. There’s substantial evidence from social science and elsewhere—philosophy, various faith traditions, and historical examples, among others—supporting that approach.
But facing reality hinges on our ability to make sense of reality, to engage in a process that helps us interpret that which really is, assuming there is such a thing (I think there is). A complicating factor comes into play when reality itself is even harder to decipher than typical, when it seems like reality is a moving target.
This brings me to an article I recently encountered (scroll to the bottom for the link) by investigative journalist David Farrier. It documents, among other examples, a cute photo of two babies with a crab on the beach. According to Farrier, it had generated almost a half million reactions on social media. Yet, upon closer inspection, one of the babies has six toes on one foot. Along with other clues, it becomes fairly obvious that the image was generated by artificial intelligence (AI) or otherwise altered dramatically. It isn’t real. Yet almost a half million people liked (or loved!) it.
Here’s that image:
In his article, Farrier provides a number of other examples in which the online crowds of humanity have been duped by AI-generated imagery, often shared via ambiguous sources on Instagram, Facebook, and the like.
Where’s the harm in that? So what if I like a cute photo that turns out to be fake? It might be harmless at the surface, but to me it reflects a number of troubling issues.
First of all, it takes the theatrical nature of our online lives and puts it on steroids. I’ve written elsewhere about the danger of social comparison and how people’s curated self-portrayals online can be problematic. If we’re not careful, it’s easy for us to compare our lives with those carefully managed images of others, a standard that real life can never achieve. And when those comparisons are based upon even more greatly distorted versions of reality (as they have been for decades in the world of fashion and media anyway) or even total illusions, it can’t be good for our sense of balance.
Second, it reflects a level of thoughtless interaction with our online environments. Many people don’t appear to give much thought to what they like, follow, or share on social media. That’s super problematic and related to how our emotions work. The most infuriating (or even empathy-inducing) content on the Web is often the most shared, and that’s because it stimulates an emotional reaction that hijacks our more rational thinking. We see this in the sharing of images and memes regarding cultural and political issues frequently.
Third, AI and related technologies are being used to damage people in much more tangible ways. Farrier cites in his piece the fake Taylor Swift pornography that has apparently been created as well as the recent case of a finance worker in Hong Kong who sent $25 million to fraudsters at the behest of deep-faked digital versions of his fellow workers.
It’s going to get worse.
The pace of digital technological advancements seems to be faster than our ability to keep up. And I’m afraid it’s going to keep getting more difficult. Last year, the Pew Research Center asked more than 300 experts about the future of digital technology and our use of it.
While acknowledging the potential benefits of such technology to our work and way of life, these experts also suggested a wide variety of potentially menacing outcomes with regard to human rights, human knowledge, and health and well-being, among others. And “79% of the canvassed experts said they are more concerned than excited about coming technological change or equally concerned and excited.”
Certainly the use and implications of digital technologies including AI go far beyond the generation of realistic images, videos, and sounds. Yet if we constrain the scope of our thinking to just that realm, consider the possibilities ahead (many of which are already here). Consider:
Easily generated fake videos of political candidates designed to tip your vote one way or another.
Completely realistic fake videos of your loved ones being held hostage for ransom.
AI-assisted propaganda designed to incite public unrest or downright armed conflict.
And those are just a few relatively unimaginative (yet terrifying) examples.
The high road is paved with thoughtful, unplugged interaction.
The machine of digital technological advancement will continue to march on, perhaps slowed at some point by regulation or other forces, but it will continue nonetheless. I’m by no means a Luddite, but we must face the future with eyes wide open.
To stay ahead of the machine, it seems to me that we need to unplug from it much more than we currently do. We might not need to all go live in a bunker in the middle of the woods somewhere (as appealing as that might sound sometimes), but there’s value in us becoming experts at mental hygiene. That includes exerting extraordinary caution regarding what we allow to fill our minds.
And when we encounter visual or audio content in its digital forms, we must become increasingly digitally literate—and engage in continuing education to maintain our proficiency. (Here are some resources from the University of San Diego; although targeted toward children’s education, much of it seems universally relevant.)
If we’re to make sense of reality better in an increasingly confusing world, it also seems to make sense that we spend more time and energy thinking deeply about the big questions of life and about the nature of reality itself. Doing so, particularly while interacting with each other in person, may be part of the key to clarifying a world that’s already tough to decipher.
I certainly don’t have all of the answers here. What I am fairly certain about is that we will need each other—our fellow humans, not Siri, not Alexa, not ChatGPT—to help us navigate through this hazy future. The science of sensemaking is a social science after all, one that recognizes the value in our human interactions in our ongoing quest to know what’s going on and what it means.
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References and for further reading
As AI Spreads, Experts Predict the Best and Worst Changes in Digital Life by 2035: Article from the Pew Research Center
Digital literacy: Resources from the University of San Diego