Here’s One Example Of Why: I love this story! “Residents of all ages in a small Michigan community helped a local bookshop move each of its 9,100 books — one by one — to a new storefront about a block away.” That’s from an AP LinkedPost in April, which included a video of the crowd, quickly passing books from one person to another. They formed a line from where the 9,100 books were stored to the new bookstore. That’s community. With all the AI and AGI talk and class work work I’ve been participating in lately, it’s a welcome change to see a story like this. This is a distinctly human action, based on each unique human participant’s reasons for being there that day.
No doubt there was a mixture of love, empathy, friendship, kinship, “hometown spirit,” and a host of other reasons behind those actions. Was it the absolute most efficient way to do this? Maybe not.
But it was a uniquely human way to do it. Super AI likely would’ve devised a way to transfer the books 10x faster. Efficient. Productive. And… exclusive of the shared human experience that will have innumerable ripple effects, not only on each individual, but others in the town, and those watching the news coverage.
This, like other similar acts, will no doubt have a pay-it-forward effect on many people exposed to this, whether directly or indirectly. I love potential AI presents, and I also advocate for clear and solid governance.
Humans are irreplaceable. Let’s do and find more examples of acts like this, to remind ourselves that wonderful things happen beyond the screen, beyond the machine.
Christina Deidesheimer 