The one and only smartest promise: Make society human again

I feel there’s a fine and imperceptible balance floating in the air nowadays. Although people cannot see it, this balance exists and is real. On one weighing scale’s side, we find millions of light ideas from people who dislike how high tech and Artificial Intelligence companies are pushing an unnecessary accelerated tech progress pace and assuming an exaggerated relevance. On the other side, there are fewer ideas but thicker than the previous group. These are the ones coming from technological solutionists who, in a totally opposite way, defend that technology will be able to solve everything, even things which in itself does not represent a problem. Who wants to know more about tech solutionism as a new trend should read the book "To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism" by Evgeny Morozov. And, of course, there’s always that intermediate vacuum of ideas caused by the billions that, without being able or willing, strongly believe this is not their business. It’s too complicated and tired to apply their mind efforts to other things beyond looking for the ideal prime-time TV reality show.

Perhaps the goal of all of them is equally laudable. But neither the means to reach it nor its application possible consequences, are the same. Where everyone agrees is about the undeniable fact that humanity has serious problems to solve. Most of them, large and small, are intimately interconnected. Thus perhaps, the main and most urgent refers to the devastating effects and climate change rapidity. According to the United Nations and according to the trajectory we’ve got as a consumer fossil fuel-based society, in 2100 we could reach an average of 4.5 degrees of planet extra warming, absolutely surpassing the 2 marked as a reference at Paris climate summit celebrated years ago. This scary figure -4.5- means much more than heat and air conditioning. It means famines, pests, an irrespirable air, mass migrations, economic collapse or global armed conflicts to control the most precious resource: water. It means all the other problems I’ve referred to at the beginning. Don't you believe me? Too much alarmist maybe? I don’t blame you. But in this case, please don't even think about reading David Wallace-Wells' book "The unhabitable earth: Life after warming". This is a book where almost a third part corresponds to notes and references to studies and research that corroborate his "alarmist" statements.

Whether economic or environmental, we’re lucky as humans to count on very capable people currently thinking about creative solutions. This is the case of Jeremy Rifkin. He explains in his latest book "The Green New Deal: Why the Fossil Fuel Civilization Will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life on Earth" his plan to cope with the near-collapse of the fossil fuel economy. Without becoming a technology fundamentalist, his well-cemented plan to reinforce the Internet of communications, the Renewable Energies’ Internet and a marginal cost close to zero mobility, is based on sure technology improvement. This is a not risk-free bet because who’s going to lead this decisive advanced on technology towards those levels of excellence and perfection absolutely necessary to face such critical problems? The rich and “advanced” countries maybe? The same who fail miserably to reach an agreement on such great evidence as climate change? Or those who live comfortably doing the least to solve an obvious planet inequality?

Performing a situation reason-guided analysis, it could seem obvious to say that only large tech corporations have today the ability and resources to bring technology to the desired level. In fact, I’ve got enough shreds of evidence to say they are not the only ones who know how to do it. But despite these other kinds of collective efforts pursuing the same computation and Artificial Intelligence improvement objectives and collaborative initiatives based on trust, open-source and knowledge sharing, reality demonstrates us that major advances in those key areas are being achieved by a few companies thanks to huge investments. Unfortunately, the battle to win a prominent space on the glory is not fair because the race to improve fast technology to provide the desired solutions come accompanied by hidden intentions normally. Large tech companies’ business models are based on data and that’s what they look for desperately. It’s a vicious circle with obscures consequences you understand once you read the book "The filter bubble: what the Internet is hiding from you" by Eli Pariser. That’s a very revealing book. After reading it, you realize how easy it is to control ideas and emotions from people’s minds through tablets, computers, mobile phones or any other device connected to the Internet. The bad ones have been able to influence and interfere on countries’ presidential elections or other decisive choices for their future. If today we can do that, imagine what anybody could do to come out well in the humanity’s problems savior photo beside Superman.

So, I need return to the imperceptible balance and question me, do I have to trust the technological solutionists who proclaim the end of our problems with their interested inventions? Or should I distrust the data I receive daily through customized massive information channels and complain against those evil companies? As a computational designer I am, I know that my digital trail will be accessible to many, even if I try to prevent it as much as I can. Moreover, I don’t waste my time on that. I simply act on the net randomly sometimes, searching for rare things or following odd hobbies. This is the way I try to make their job as difficult as possible to profile me.

What should I do? My inner dilemma is served. In one hand, I should recognize I‘m totally convinced about the radical and traumatic change humanity will suffer from Strong Artificial Intelligence arrival or any other kind of Super Intelligence that may arise. If you don’t, It’s time for you to read the book “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" by Max Tegmark. If you aren’t a reading lover, I recommend you read just the prologue, the twenty most enlightening pages in your entire life. But on the other hand, I consider myself a kind of a radical activist for society re-humanization. As John Maeda says in his book "The Laws of Simplicity", the problem is not how to make the world more technological, it’s about how to make the world more human again. Again, on his new book "How to speak machine", this computational design guru makes a deep enough reflection about how current trends in AI application on organizations and markets represent a society’s weakness. He remembers how at the beginning of computer technology men acted as our own computers, mentally calculating for hours and hours. Now there are machines doing better that job. The question then is what’s next? Who will do that job in the not so distant future? And, where will the human being remain? A long time ago I translated an incredible article published at MIT Technology Review in 2015 and written by David Byrne, formerly Talking Heads music band leader, about the pressing current need to eliminate the human from the perfect equation, something very technological solutionist minded. The matter is things remain the same, or maybe a little worst.

Regarding those intangible facts, my decision is made. Don’t let us society reach that point of inhuman AI devotion. Let's put the human back in the equation as he deserves. In their daily work, John Maeda and Tricia Wang strive to make that happen. They try to make the Thick Data concept prevail over the technological standard that Big Data has become. Both authors agree to return to give a decisive role to people’s needs and problems understanding as they are, and not as something that should be solved by the simple fact technology allows it. That’s not the way. Perhaps the way for all of us should be to learn the lessons about computation and machine language that Maeda expresses so well. Perhaps the big techs need also to learn about inclusive Computational Design. In any case, John Maeda reveals without no doubt we must learn to speak machine to realize there’s no turning back in the exponential race towards a new civilization origin, a new one marked by Artificial Intelligence and computation.

While humanity waits for technological singularity, the balance between solutionists and skeptics ideas will continue to exist. The serious problems we face too. So, let's face them from a human perspective. Let's work together with machines to understand the problems’ essence and evaluate the implications of nowadays proposed technological solutions over real people. Let's get humans involved along the entire solving problems process. Because the price of not doing so is too high. Because the small error margin we’ll have playing with General Artificial Intelligences will make useless all the efforts done separately by each country or organization to get the largest slice of a cake that simply will not exist.

Dear humanity: There are no miraculous future solutions without Data Analytics, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. There’s no Data Analytics, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence without people. So, there’s no choice. We must work with Thick Data and a more human Artificial Intelligence. That’s the right direction to solve our problems in a really intelligent way.