The usually reasonable Arnold Kling, one of my favorite bloggers going back 25 years, has been using ChatGPT to build an essay-grading app and might have taken one too many sips of the Kool-Aid. Consider:
Imagine what will happen when these AIs are connected to physical tools. These physical tools might be custom robots or all-purpose robots. You could be a farmer who never has to go into the fields — just explain to the robots what you want. Or you could be a chef who gives directions without being in the kitchen. Or a scientist who conducts experiments without having to spend all day in the lab.
Let's extend that further. You could be a sailor who never needs to step foot on a boat; or a composer who never needs to touch a piano; or an artist who never needs to pick up a brush; or a friend who never needs to meet for coffee; or a spouse who never needs to help around the house; or a parent who never needs to take your ("the"?) kid to the playground. Get the AI robots to deal with messy realities while you sit in the metaverse telling them what to do! (Ignoring the fact that you won't know what commands to issue unless you have some experience and understanding of those messy realities in the first place.)
Is this a world that any sane human being wants to live in? Is this the path to greater human wisdom and fulfillment?
We are physical beings and embodied selves, not disembodied minds. Sure, reality is messy, but that's where learning and flourishing happen: in going into the fields, experimenting in the lab or the kitchen, feeling the wind in your face, doodling at the piano, mixing paints, venturing out for coffee, working side by side with your partner, holding your child's hand. These fantasies of transcending our bodies and our physical interactions are so deeply misguided that it's hard to know where to start in critiquing them, other than to feel sorry for those who indulge in them. (To be fair, I don't think Kling is one of them because he often writes about the inherent pleasures of activities like grandparenting and Israeli dancing, I just think he got carried away.)
(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)
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