Trust the Process

Everything that so far—through technology and through the accumulation of human skill—we call the increase of our powers, is leading us to destruction. Not because technology in itself is a bad thing, but because the spirit in which it is used is a spirit of man against the universe, man against nature.

—Alan Watts

I’ve written about the differences between humans and AI before. I’m not afraid of ‘artificial intelligence’; we’ve had automation, mechanization, and other forms of artificial assistance around for centuries now. And despite the breathless claims I’ve heard, AI is nothing but an extension of those things, albeit wrapped neatly in a slick simulacrum of humanity.

But like the dependence of AI on human creation, I think there’s a critical difference that makes humans and AI different. I see it of it this way:

AI is about output. Results. The process to get there is almost beside the point.

Human life is about the process. Experience. The outcome (output) is almost beside the point.

We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.”

— Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Do you see the difference? We humans love finding shortcuts to outcomes we want, of course—abs in a week, wealth in 30 days—but what we really value, what really touches us and makes us who we are, is the experience we go through. The process.

That’s why we love stories so much. Not just because of how they make us feel, but because we humans fundamentally learn, create, and live through stories. Especially the stories we tell ourselves. The process of life is life—not the outcome.

When it comes to the age of AI, that’s what gives me hope.

PS: Alan Watts explains this better than I do.

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