The potential for a merger between humanity and AI is so great that its supporters have created a new paradigm for it in the schema of life: the Seventh Kingdom, domain of an entirely new form of life.
This new species includes human beings who are augmented with bionic parts, and whose brains detect and process senses beyond the traditional five, and are able to communicate with digital systems. Needless to say, fans of this thinking also expect that our cyborg selves will not only live longer but enjoy a much greater quality of life.
Before we get that far, we note that the merger of human brains and AI brains is already underway, even if they aren’t literally plugged into each other.
John Nosta writes in Psychology Today that our personal reality is based on our thoughts, and as AI is now also shaping our thoughts, it is therefore helping to shape our reality. Our cognitive potential, he argues, is being redefined by this new connection, and our future will be a partnership, in a reality that is both human and AI.
“As you think, so you act,” he wrote. “As you act, so you become.”
That axiom, he wrote, “is gathering fresh momentum in the present-day reality, reshaped by the emerging interfaces of technology, artificial intelligence, and human cognition.”
The idea that our thoughts define our reality isn’t new. Even the ancient philosophers were onto this truth, and leaders good and evil have leveraged it to shape our social universe through most of civilization. As our thinking changes, so does our internal model of the world; when some other force beyond our own conscious awareness is guiding that change, our internal world is changed in ways that suit our influencer.
The moral philosophy of this truth aside, “Our cognitive landscapes are not only transmuting into AI-powered arenas but are also gradually becoming an inseparable part of them,” Nosta wrote. For better or worse, this is happening.
The implications are significant. AI is becoming more than just a tool; it will literally become our cognitive partner, both very personally and in the arena of the global social experience.
On the one hand, AI becomes a powerful component of our individual thought, helping us process information more efficiently, guiding us to higher-quality decision-making, and steering us from error (assuming we use it wisely). On the other, our minds will pull in AI’s direction, as we learn to literally create and inhabit new digital realities that leverage our very human brainpower.
“Such technological breakthroughs do not just represent an augmentation of human cognition,” he went on. “They are a testament to the paradigm shift in our understanding of the relationship between thought and reality.”
There will come a day when the line between the human and the AI in the thought processes of each is blurred beyond definition. That may even happen in our lifetimes. We can only imagine the world that will result.
And for now, we’re stepping into a new era, hand-in-hand with AI, that will change the way we live in and experience the world. It will be a change like no other we’ve ever been through, in all of human history. We will, with AI, become something completely new.
“The dawn of the cognitive age signifies more than a technological revolution,” he concluded. “It heralds a redefinition of our relationship with reality, a newfound partnership with AI, and a broader understanding of our cognitive powers. The ripple effects of this cognitive revolution will not only define the present, but they will also shape an extraordinary reality for our future - a future where we will navigate the world not merely as observers but as active, cognitive constructors.”
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