What the AIpocalypse Is Going to Cost Us

AI Isn’t a Substitute for Human Creativity and Human Relationships — But Will We Care Enough?

Image Credit: Replika via Insider

God-like AI. That’s what they’re beginning to call it, at least in tech circles. “AGI”, artificial general intelligence — the next step. Which can do everything a person can do — and more.

By now, you can’t have missed the buzz — and weird sense of creepiness — that accompanies AI. So — how worried do we really have to be?

Let me introduce a new word to the lexicon. Paracreativity. When I think about AI, the first danger — not the last, but certainly the first — is paracreativity.

What does that strange word mean? By now, it’s pretty widely accepted that social media isn’t…right. Instead of encouraging, producing, nurturing genuinely sociality, something else happens: parasociality. If you haven’t heard that word, it means something like: “the appearance of social relationships, but emptied out of meaning, context, reality, genuineness.”

What do social bonds — the real things — do? They’re the truest source of happiness — meaning, purpose, joy — that there is. I live this daily, and if you read me regularly, you know what I mean. I take little Snowy for a walk, in my historic European neighborhood. I can’t get twenty feet down the street without a neighbor stopping me. For a long chat. Usually an interesting one, because, well, my neighborhood’s full of intelligent, sophisticated, and thoughtful people, actors, writers, artists, intellectuals. Or maybe it’s just an old lady swooning over the little guy — and before I know it, we’re exchanging life stories.

I leave feeling notably better. My usual misanthropic, terminally introverted self — that guy’s been been pushed out his shell. And there he is. Relating. Learning. Smiling. Laughing. Sometimes, when the old ladies tell me their life stories, I tear up — yes, really. They tell me about sons and daughters they’ve lost to tragedy. And even that enriches me. I am a little more human, closer to the eternal truths of the human condition, in all its fragility and grief and love and terror. And all of us? We are connected. I know everyone in my neighborhood now, which is why just getting to the cafe — a ten minute walk on a stormy day — usually takes something closer to an hour.

That’s what genuine relationships do — even “weak ties,” meaning that all these people aren’t my best friends. But they’re not strangers, either. Even bonds that weak — which is what “weak ties” means — have this incredible power to fundamentally alter us, our emotions, our mentalities, to crack our spirits wide open.

Now think of…social media. Maybe not here, because we do a remarkably and notably good job of being a community. A real one. But…in general. What is social media? Toxic. It doesn’t produce any of the effects above. Not one of them. The more screen time you spend on it — the worse you feel. Sadder, unhappier, more isolated and lonely, paradoxically, angrier, more resentful, dumber, poisoned in all these ways. That’s parasociality: it looks like the real thing on the outside, but it’s…poisonous…on the inside.

So what do I mean by paracreativity? I mean the same kind of effect, but for creative endeavors. Let me give you a simple example. I make music for fun. I don’t know why — it’s definitely not because I’m a great musician — but singers of a certain calibre are happy to work with me. Maybe I’m just nice or cool or whatever. You haven’t heard my music. It’s OK, I guess. (Editor’s note: his music is fantastic, but he refuses to admit it.) But the singing? That these ladies can do?

It’s jaw dropping. Not just to me, but to everyone. I make disco, and disco carries on this great line from gospel to jazz to blues to funk. Emotion is everything. The singers sing my songs — and the songs are OK. But the singing makes everyone’s jaws drop. I choose singers that can really emote. And I encourage them to really go for it. And when they do? It’s not just me that’s gobsmacked.