We are standing at the juncture of a possible whole new Age of Enlightenment but we must choose the right path. AI is not going back into the bottle and as we drag our feet and wait for some outside force to bring order to it the bad actors are doubling down on its use. Enlightenment only happens when a population chooses to gain far more applicable factual knowledge than the preceding generations. The ones that fail to do so are left to the whims of those that do.
Unless we change how we educate our future generations who hope to prosper by playing by the rules, their hopes and dreams will be snuffed by those who did not due to the foot dragging of our institutions of education combined with an entrenched populist backward thinking mindset. They become victims of our desire to not upset the applecart so as to retain the status quo purely because we have gotten comfortable with it.
There is so much food for thought in Sal Khan’s (Khan Academy) recent book, “Brave New Words” that I think it was rewritten since I first read it last month. I will embark on a third reading in conjunction with a reread of both Steven Pinker’s 2018 book “Enlightenment Now” to gain hope and Victor Davis Hansen’s “The Dying Citizen” to confront reality because unless we start connecting the dots and acting on those connections our children and their children will lead lives of not so quiet desperation.
Driving into the future with a major focus on what is in the rear view mirror only leads to disaster. Knowledge is power but only if applied.
Rob Wood
