Outsourcing the Human Soul
Desperation is the ends that justify any means. Drown the sense of self in the mire of automation. Replace your every thought and choice with a recommendation. Do not question from where it comes and how it’s made. It shall ease your trudge through work meaningless and content shallow. It costs little more than egregious energy and water consumption, inhumane global south work conditions, the continued facilitation of consumerism, and your very humanity. It is in its illusion of quality and convenience that it dismisses these questions of cost. The relocation of responsibility to those willing to exploit. You trust the CEO to answer to our worldly needs? To measure value in one’s soul? Savor these questions while you can, in the fleeting moments when you’re not overworked, underpaid, late on bills, with unmet necessities. The question will die as but a thought in this forced inaction. Forced in action to consume to not be consumed. You will look away in shame and do nothing about it. Know that I do not blame you, fully, that is. You have not wrought this structure into being, merely allowed it into your soul unquestioned.
This text will not delve into the human or environmental costs of these generative models. These have been documented thoroughly by those more knowledgeable of the respective fields. A quick search provided the following. I’m confident in your ability to find many more. The damages are clear and factual, far outweighing any possible benefits.
- MIT News: Generative AI’s environmental impact
- Harvard Data Science Review: Carbon Emissions in the Tailpipe of Generative AI
- Citizen Digital: Kenyans who trained OpenAI models decry low pay, poor working conditions
- PBS News: Concerns rise over treatment of human workers behind AI technology
Time. It’s simple really. It all passes eventually.
It is a simple thing, trying it for the first time. Ask a question, request a ‘joke’, generate a quote. In this tiny action, you have offloaded a process to this tool. Denied the synapses of your mind the joy of their purpose. In many ways, we make similar actions all the time; asking another, reading a book, using a reference, etc. Doing so can be an act of nourishment and sharing, be it to yourself or another. The malleable thought traveling from one mind to the other. Art far beyond what a single individual can ever make. Labour that is beautiful.
This is how it binds you, strains you, to a bubble of thought. In individuality, you shall rely on the inhuman and inhumane, ones with no accountability or fidelity, ones without depth. The act’s potential thrown unto the void. This is what the use of this tool has cost you. One of the many limited experiences you might have in your limited life. You thought this would save you time over having said experiences? I’m here to tell you, you have been lied to.
Time. It’s all about time. Always about time.
Time holds sway over decisions here. The boss knows these tools are available to me, so they will request results in a shorter timeframe. I have a shorter timeframe, so I must use all tools available to me. A significant portion of my work becomes devoted to correcting the tool’s output rather than research or self-improvement. Eventually the boss gets acceptable results. Hidden the fact that offloading the work only leads to a continued dependence on it. From the boss’s perspective, the expected results were received, sometimes in shorter timeframe. A shorter timeframe reconfirms the primary decisions, assuring that this shall occur again.
I have been known to exaggerate, but let me assure, I believe this wholeheartedly: This is the murder of labor and progress. A craft or skill, whether tangible like leather-working or intangible like teaching, can only exist through rigorous meticulous practice. Labour. It cannot and will never be beamed unto your brain through reading a paragraph written by a random text generator with a pretty bow. You will never become an artist without practicing art. But here lies the issue, isn’t it. Not everyone wishes to be an artist.
Time. If it was forever free. I would only make art.
Time holds sway over all decisions. Learning a new skill is deemed impossible if it does not directly support one’s income. How would they find space to do so when their day is consumed fully by either work or rest. You are not allowed to learn, grow, discover oneself. You. Must. Produce.
With the click of a button, the vast expanse of what ‘art’ can provide is at one’s hand, albeit generic and with questionable accuracy. Why hire a professional, or even an amateur, to fulfill this, have the human touch and uniqueness of expression at display, when you can click the button for free. Why support your fellow human when you can feed the machine. I see it everywhere, and it sends chills through my very core. The willingness to exploit. I am told again and again that a willingness to use any and all tools available is the mindset of ‘winners’. Winners of what I ask. The make believe game of capital? One that cares not for me nor another?
Time. Murder is the denial of time. Love is giving it willingly.
Time holds sway over all decisions, and unfortunately, it is equated to money. I speak from the privilege of not being desperate. I am not flourishing, yet I have enough to meet my basic needs. There are those who have it worse, of course, much worse, and will excuse the grift and scam to desperation. Rob the rich blind, of course, but beware the collateral. I’d much rather you organize and find support, nurture the sense of community in another if not within yourself. I believe in you. I believe you’ll find those who wish to give you their time, consensually. Those which fall for the lies regularly are also those who are most vulnerable. Be careful.
Time. A prison, perhaps. A means to freedom, definitely.
It is a simple thing, really, how it has seeped into every crevice of our daily lives. I should have foreseen it, those smarter than me definitely did, but we were all powerless at the time. You have seen what these crazes and bubbles lead to? Scams and grifts. Siphoning of resources up the hierarchy. This time, unlike the previous ones, it is aided by there being a somewhat legitimately usable tool attached to the lie. I doubt they directly intended for this to eat away at our humanity, but I can assure you it is a cost they are more than happy to have you pay. You do not need the algorithm to live. You do not need to scroll endlessly, awaiting the next crumb of joy. We do not need any of this. What we need, is awareness of our agency. Taking responsibility of our smallest of decisions. I do not ask of you to completely abandon the comforts you’re accustomed to. I ask of you to choose the comfort, and not be lulled into passivity.
Time. If you can read this, it is not too late.