[The Typing Baker] The Scary Thing Is Not AI but Musk and Altman

In the AI (Artificial Intelligence) worldview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are often portrayed as ‘rivals.’ The former advocates for loosening the reins on AI evolution, while the latter emphasizes controlling AI. However, according to Joachim Bauer, author of Reality Without Reality, they are the same. Both are ‘transhumanists.’

Transhumanism is the ideology that human birth, aging, sickness, and death should be overcome through science and technology. Disease occurrence is fundamentally blocked through gene editing. The brain is controlled to avoid anxiety and fear, while only happiness is injected. Humans have no pain, disability, aging, or death because human consciousness can be digitized. Digital information recording everything about a human can be uploaded to the metaverse (extended virtual world) and other platforms. Like avatars in online games, beauty and wealth that cannot be obtained in reality can be easily acquired. It is an eternal paradise designed by technology.

'Unreal Reality' Cover

The author declares transhumanism to be ‘nonsense like a drug.’ "The core of transhumanism is a deep hatred of the weaknesses inherent in human beings. In other words, transhumanism does not accept the inevitable weaknesses that come with being human as they are but openly harbors resentment against them." The transhumanist era is no different from the dark Middle Ages. The Middle Ages regarded the body as sinful. Sexual desire, greed, appetite?these were the flesh of desire and the source of sin. Therefore, the church emphasized faith. "Strong faith protects us. Disease is punishment. Let us enjoy eternal life in heaven through salvation." Transhumanism similarly implies that the body causes emotions and diseases and is inevitably finite and mortal. It argues that through ‘human enhancement,’ we can be freed from disease and aging and enjoy eternal life by uploading the mind. Just as indulgences were bought in the Middle Ages, items can be purchased in the metaverse and games.

Today’s digital worlds such as social networking services (SNS), online games, and the metaverse are already spaces where transhumanism operates. Digital narcissism amplified through social media stimulates an anxious inner self. People react sensitively to ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ and portray an exaggerated self. Whenever the digital self and the present self feel inconsistent, anxiety arises. This leads to even more exaggerated self-presentation in the digital realm. The vicious cycle continues.

"Love?love that is entirely real, love that is entirely analog?is the remedy that will rescue us from the digital trap." Eye contact, smiles, conversation. Resonance and empathy. This is the antidote the author offers to enlighten the ‘21st-century Middle Ages.’ Specifically, he proposes three keywords: education, labor, and the relationship with nature. Humans have evolved in a direction of mutual empathy and already possess the inherent power to create an environment where coexistence is possible. Humans cannot survive without bonds with others. "What we urgently need now is not AI technology but strong bonds between humans and warm concern for one another."