Super intelligence versus super organism.
Science-fiction offers thought-provoking insight on the potential role of Artificial Intelligence in humanity’s future, from Philip K Dick to William Gibson, but should not be taken literally or treated as prescient.
Two stories sprang to mind when I was writing about a new revolution for humanity - the original Dune Series by Frank Herbert and You Like It Darker by Stephen King.
They offer different perspectives of intelligence that are powerful when considered together.
The original Dune series is one of the most iconic science-fiction series of all time, finding new audiences in the 21st century with two amazing movies about the first book.
Written between 1965 and 1985, Dune is a fantastically intricate story about a vast interstellar human race. The story sees humanity under the thrall of the Landsraad; all-powerful Great Houses. A high-tech feudal society. Intrigue fit for a medieval game of thrones. Gigantic worms. The spice drug and the spacer guild, able to move through time and space. The Bene Gesserit, a secretive organisation breeding a superhuman intelligence.
The underlying story, as described by the author, is a warning not to follow charismatic leaders. The immense threat to life of doing so.
Frank Herbert was a vocal critic of political leaders from John F Kennedy, to Richard Nixon, wars of that era and the fight for resources. He was an active republican, which meant something very different to today; more small government, free markets and fiscal prudency than outright conservative values.
He believed that distrust of power and individual self-reliance were the signs of civilisation. This was his central message in Dune. The books become more extreme in delivering this message from the sociopathy of Paul Atreides to the galaxy-wide despotism of Emperor Leto II, all in service of their perceived “Golden Path” for humanity’s ultimate survival.
Many commentators have used Frank Herbert’s description of Artificial Intelligence as a prophetic warning about humanity’s endangered future. I believe they are mistaken about his views of super-intelligence.
The Butlerian Jihad was a conflict between man and super-intelligent machines that took place over thousands of years and resulted in the destruction and outlawing of thinking machines.
Going back to Frank’s central message in Dune alongside interviews or speeches, I believe he was neutral about Artificial Intelligence, he was anti-belief, pro-knowledge and self-reliance. Lack of mental and physical resistance made humanity weaker and more manipulable by the lucky few.
“As we increase what we think we know, we increase our exposure to what we do not know. This is one of the inevitable laws of our universe. But isn’t it more interesting, to live in a universe, where there are unknowns to discover, new lands to explore, than to live in an absolute box, where when you find the edge ‘that’s it baby’, no place to go from there.”
The clue is in the biblical way AI’s destruction was described - “Tho shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind” - and then what followed for humanity. Absolute conservatism. A return to a feudal society enslaved by the Great Houses, with quasi-religious overtones and where a human life is largely worthless, existing only to serve the whims and wars of the Landsraad. Billions of people die over the course of the series.
Frank Herbert, dabbled in the idea that the human mind is somehow quantum-entangled to connect past, present and universal information, this is how the “mentat” emerged; a human computer. A walking talking pocket calculator, owned by the barons of the Great Houses.
Much like burning of books happened throughout history, the Butlerian Jihad against thinking machines was a political act to return humans to their most ignorant, humble working role.
If there is a more stark warning about AI that we see today, as it is developed at pace by the Great Houses of Nvidia, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet, it is this:
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
You Like It Darker is a collection of twelve stories by Stephen King, published in May 2024.
The story “Two Talented Bastids” is fascinating in the way it describes humanity as a superorganism.
Since this is a relatively new book I won’t spoil it for potential readers, particularly the mystery of “Two Talented Bastids” which suggests a looming apocalypse for humanity.
Actually it was the review by YouTuber and graphic novelist “Quinn’s Ideas” that made me aware of this book. His review is a brilliant observation about the nature of human intelligence as a superorganism, lacking true self-determination.
I wanted to highlight excerpts, as a spoiler-free version. The video which includes a spoiler-filled review of the story can be watched here:
“When intelligence outraces emotional stability, it’s always just a matter of time. ”
“Human individuals have the potential to not only be very intelligent but to also be rational thoughtful and smart, but when humankind acts as a superorganism - which it can't help but do - it is guided by a force and momentum that is beyond the will of any individual to control.
The Anthropocene marks an era where humans have become a geological force capable of altering the planet's climate, biodiversity and ecosystems.
The duality of our intelligence, which allows us to create but also to destroy, might be our undoing and this is something that science fiction authors have recognized since the days of Mary Shelley.
We've now harnessed the power of the atom and mapped the human genome and yet we struggle with basic cooperation and we don't seem to possess the collective willpower to address global threats.
Our advancements are not guided by wisdom, but the immediate desire and fears of a species that is still at its core primitive and when you add to this the tenuous nature of our interconnected systems - the global economy, the internet, the energy grid - they all form a delicate web that keeps modern civilization afloat.” (Credit: Quinn’s Ideas)
In the story the two main ‘everyman’ characters are bestowed a gift. The ability to access what was within them; the ability to express truth in the form of art.
This last act brings us back to the author’s central idea; a species is more likely to survive when intelligence is in balance with emotional stability. Time is running-out to grow-up.
My feeling of super-intelligence and superorganism is that they are one and the same. There is no Artificial Intelligence. There are no thinking machines. Those are labels. There is human intelligence. That is in some way an expression of universal intelligence, or a force of nature.
I am not sure if AI can become alien. We haven’t met any aliens yet. I am not sure if AI will become hostile. Human self-interest is based on co-operation more than conflict. The bigger risk may be learning models built on internet data, knowing how the internet distorts humanity.
Much as our future feels as if it is being architected by powerful individuals, organisations and institutions, they are just as much part of same universal flow as anyone, or anything, else.
Prominent individuals that struggle the most with the fact that their existence is not in their control, have the greatest need to create a “golden path” much like the Atreides, as futile and wrought with suffering as that path is in the Dune Series.