AI will stop us thinking and crush our creativity...
I hear this a lot, but I'm not so sure. I totally understand the fear and I think some may succumb to the lure of relying on machines. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Anyone who has ever tried to meditate will know that as soon as you start to focus and quieten the mind it seems to become more active. You notice how incessant our thoughts are. In fact, many give up on meditation for that reason assuming they can’t do it. Having the luxury of having time to tame the thoughts would be a fine thing.
I know for many of us life doesn’t afford us that opportunity. As a deputy head in a secondary school, I didn’t think or create too much during the eleven hour days without a break, I was generally juggling numerous things at once and reacting to situations, leaving little room for thinking or creativity.
For me my best thinking and creativity came during my 1 hr 40 min round trip journey to work and back or when I woke at night (not healthy I know!) Those were the moments when my mind was free to wander, to connect the dots and form new ideas.
In our current frenetic, machine-like working lives, how thoughtful and creative are we really?
It is actually boredom that is the breeding ground for creativity. When we are bored, our minds have the space to think, to play with ideas, and to be imaginative. Boredom comes from having less to do, not more. It is in these "empty" moments that the mind flourishes and thought and creativity take root.
One possible future is that rather than crushing thought and creativity, AI can actually free up our time by automating mundane tasks. By handling the routine aspects of our jobs, AI allows us to focus on what machines can't do. It is possible to have more ‘car journey moments’ and fewer sleepless nights because AI has freed us to think.
However, it will all depend on what we do with that free time. The danger for some is they find out they were happiest on the treadmill and time to think means they have to face demons that they were perhaps avoiding. For others they may fill the time scrolling through social media or bingeing on Netflix. Thereare certainly other dangers out there that threaten our ability to think and create.
As long as we implement AI responsibly and use the resulting time wisely, we can let the machines do the drudgery, so we can do the dreaming.
