In today's New York Times we read:
Some visionaries — Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak — warn that humans will be superseded by robots, who will soon be smart enough to redesign themselves to become exponentially smarter.
This is a common theme in the media chatter. I assume we all get the point. What is missing is the perspective someone like Jan Cox provides. This 20th century mystico-philosopher sought to point out that humanity is composed of robotic people. The goal is to realize this in oneself. The moment of seeing is a gap that may reveal the possibilities of the only freedom man can claim.
Jan laughed at the picture of robots taking over. Not because people already were, that, but because this popular fantasy reveals ignorance about man himself, and his potential. Creativity is what can never be programmed, real creativity. What men call the creative, is mostly rearranging known parts --- pigs and wings, for instance. That is not the creativity to which some few, throughout history, have pointed, while calling it different things.
Some visionaries — Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak — warn that humans will be superseded by robots, who will soon be smart enough to redesign themselves to become exponentially smarter.
This is a common theme in the media chatter. I assume we all get the point. What is missing is the perspective someone like Jan Cox provides. This 20th century mystico-philosopher sought to point out that humanity is composed of robotic people. The goal is to realize this in oneself. The moment of seeing is a gap that may reveal the possibilities of the only freedom man can claim.
Jan laughed at the picture of robots taking over. Not because people already were, that, but because this popular fantasy reveals ignorance about man himself, and his potential. Creativity is what can never be programmed, real creativity. What men call the creative, is mostly rearranging known parts --- pigs and wings, for instance. That is not the creativity to which some few, throughout history, have pointed, while calling it different things.
Take heart, the row doesn't have to be bought.
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