Homo sapiens have a terrific history of creating existential threats by following and submitting to authoritarian despots. Alexander ,Caesar ,Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Henry VIII and Hitler come to mind. Their ethical and moral conscience can best be described as being authoritarian with destruction tendencies .
Recently, a 27-year-old Anthropic employee quit and released an A.I.warning pertaining to the end of civilization as we know it. The zillionaire and two billionaire CEOs agreed . However, they wanted to remain and have control of AI’s development . They proposed to develop all the necessary rules and regulations without interference and received Trump’s support .
Bernie Sanders, King Charles, Bill Gates and others voiced concerns . Additionally, the following titles of articles regarding A.I.concern found in the New York Times September 13, 2026 : 1. The A.I. Safety Experts Can’t Sleep, And Neither Should You. 2. How To Rein In An Existential Threat. 3. A.I. Becomes a Tool To Target Gamblers. Most Likely to Lose 4. It Does Not Seem Like a Good Idea to Give A.I. Control of Its Own Frontier.5 Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Say the End of the World Is Now on the Table.
Donald said that A.I.was a “hoax” and then called it super intelligence. Of course he would say that because he has financial interests in AI .And, Musk and the four other billionaires have contributed greatly to Trump and his GOP . Government contracts and other advantages have accrued to these robber barons as well with a relationship that’s reciprocal and symbiotic.
From a moral perspective,consider a few of the characteristics associated with rational authority and humanistic ethics. 1.It is based on competence not on intimidation but on helping, not exploiting 2. It requires scrutiny, criticism and its acceptance is dependent upon performance. 3. It is based on equality of both the authority and the subject 4. Only man himself can determine the criteria for virtue and not an authority transcending him. 5. Good is based on man’s welfare 6. Man’s virtue is a set of qualities which is characteristic of the human species . And man is virtuous If he unfolds his virtue 7.There is nothing higher and nothing more dignified than human existence 8.Fulfillment , happiness, and relatedness are associated with solidarity with fellow man . 9. Love is in man’s own power which he relates to himself , to the world and makes it truly his.
A few points related to humanistic ethics per Aristotle, Spinoza, Dewey and Freud. Humanistic ethics for Aristotle, was built on the science of man. He deduced the idea that virtue or excellence pertained to functions and capacities peculiar to man .Also, happiness was man’s aim which is the result of activity and use but not a possession or state of mind. Using the Olympic Games as an example, he stated that it’s not the most beautiful and the strongest that are crowned but those who compete.It is those who act ,win, and rightly win, The free, rational and active man is both good and happy .
Spinoza hypothesized about unconscious motivation, laws of association and the persistence of childhood experiences through life. For him, man’s function was to preserve himself and persevere in his existence .And, persevering meant to become that which one potentially is and that virtue was the unfolding of the specific potentialities of every organism . For man it’s a state in which the most human values determine his real interests, which are freedom and the productive use of his powers.Also, happiness was not an end in itself but is what accompanies the experience and ability to increase his potency .or all the powers characteristic of man.
Dewey postulated that the aim of human life was the growth and development of man in terms of his nature and constitution. According to him , man does not know what he is until after a course of action is figured out. And, reality relates to the unconscious forces in determining not only overt conduct, but desire ,judgment, belief and idealization.
For Freud, a passionate faith in truth was critical. Man must strive because he is, by nature, endowed with reason . It’s the power of reason that allowed mankind to unify and to free men from the shackles of superstition. Essentially, faith and truth underlies Freud’s concept of psychoanalysis with its goal- to uncover the truth about oneself. Freud also believed that virtue was a natural aim in man’s development.
In comparison and contrast an authoritarian conscience is associated with irrational authority. For example: 1. Their commands are determined by their own self centered, selfish beliefs, values, judgments ,rules, policies, laws and obligations which are considered to be good and beneficial for them . They determined right and wrong, good and bad, lawful and unlawful, moral and immoral within their own conscience. 2. They present fear and admiration with unlimited power . 3. Irrespective of their behavior , rules and morality, rebellion or disobedience was considered a sin as they are perceived as being morally superior. 4. Their powers, wisdom, strength and magic is unmatched.5. Their sadism, cruelty ,destructiveness and hate tendencies are turned inward and outward.6. They exhibit unlimited self interest , selfishness ,desire for power, status and possession .
Currently, the top five AI companies driving the industry are NVIDIA, Open AI, Anthropic, Google(alphabet) and Microsoft. Their business models are associated with competition, profit and supremacy . With that being said, the tendency for authoritarian ethnic morality prevails. This means an absence of humanistic ethics for mankind .
In essence, humanistic ethics, values and conscience is associated with man, not with some anthropomorphic device. Humanistic ethics concerns itself with man’s developmental characteristics , with the ability to fully develop,understand, reason ,seek truth , happiness with the capability to love self and others. In comparison, authoritarian ethics, values and conscience are diametrically opposed .It is based on an external authority knowing and deciding right from wrong, good from evil ,reality from fiction , rationality from irrationality , love from hate , war from peace, freedom from slavery , ignorance from strength and with their meaning and definition of happiness. In essence,they create the rules, laws and standards for all others within their dominating restrictive , controlling and destructive culture.
Reference
Fromm, Erich . Man For Himself An Inquiry Into The Psychology Of Ethics.
Orwell, George. 1984.
0 comments:
Post a Comment