If we are so smart, why do we do stupid things? Does all management information and data represent the truth? If you give a good manager bad information, what do you get
Fundamental assumption is that if one floods multiple information networks with a tsunami of constant 24/7 information – often fuelled by an artificial intelligence (AI)algorithm - that somehow the truth will win out. Wrong.
This is what the historian of change, Yuval Noah Harari calls the “naïve view” of information in his latest required reading classic: Nexus – A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI published in September.
A good book should tell an engaging story. A great book should encourage you see the world differently. Harari’s thinking does both, even captivating Silicon Valley bosses, whose innovations he critiques.
While humans have the ability to split the atom and map the human genome, we constantly confuse information for truth. And, have trouble sitting down for good old fashioned honest face to face conversation, without being distracted by a bleep from some ubiquitous device.
Harari's message is that more and more information is not better. That message on your phone can just be a distraction that gets you to go to the next click, earning millions for social media giants whose ‘user engagement’ business model is to earn from ad revenue and selling your data.
Multitasking is largely a myth for most people. Constant distractions just erode the ability to create value at work, making it impossible to focus.
Information is not reality, it simply links and organises
“Medium is the message” realised Canadian communications thinker Marshall McLuhan more than 60 years ago. Quite simply: the medium used to convey a message, is just as important as the message itself. That explains why you tend to respond to a WhatsApp beep just about right away.
With fans like Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, Harari’s sweep of history from the cave man to AI provides “a better understanding of what information is, how it helps to build human networks, and how it relates to truth and power”. Thankfully, while his ideas are both provocative and profound, Harari’s writing is clear, easy to understand.
Generative AI burst onto the popular scene very recently following the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. With all sorts of slavish often naïve trendy acolytes, there is no doubt AI is revolutionary, but one has to wonder when the AI bubble will burst. Like any new trend, AI has a lot of hype surrounding it. Helps to define what AI actually is.
Take a coffee machine, that makes your favourite morning drink. An AI coffee machine would know your thoughts and habits and just at the right time would have your tasty cup of Java ready.
And, most importantly, an AI coffee machine can think and learn for itself, creating a new blend of coffee based on your needs and preferences. And possibly try and convince you to invest in the AI coffee machine’s latest venture.
Buyer beware
There is no doubt that AI is a powerful tool that can advance human well-being and lead to breakthroughs, for instance, medical research.
Interestingly, it seems to have put some bright young Kenyans who earned an income writing academic papers for others at a fee out of work.
While AI is a marvel, alarm bells of caution should be heard given AI is the first technology in human existence that can think for itself.
Listen to the AI mafia don
Geoffrey Hinton, the British - Canadian professor emeritus at the University of Toronto recently won the Nobel Prize for physics.
Hinton is known for his work on artificial neural networks, earning him the title of ‘Godfather of AI’ -- says in his humble way, that he hopes his winning this accolade will encourage people to listen to his warnings.
“Unchecked AI advancement could culminate in a large-scale loss of life and the biosphere, and the marginalisation or even extinction of humanity,” wrote Hinton and colleagues.
Sometimes to get smart, we have to start to recognise our ignorance and blind spots. To get smart, one has to risk looking silly. Artificial intelligence, or natural stupidity?
Nexus demonstrates Harari’s unusual ability ‘to connect the dots’ across the sweep of time and many disciplines. How you look at ‘information’ may never be the same again.
