We should not try so hard to emulate machines

"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind"

Our greatest strengths as human beings lie in our ability to empathize and care for one another. It is surprising, then, that we are often pressured to think and act like machines. The above command was the rallying cry of the fictional “Butlerian Jihad” that took place in the sci-fi/fantasy classic Dune. Even before the advent of AI, the author (Frank Herbert) saw the dangers of conferring our value judgements to the computer rather than to humans. We see the dangers in that from evidence of racial bias in artificial intelligence algorithms.

In many stories, a lone hero often goes against the directions of authority or protocol and instead uses their best judgment to save the day. The example that’s top of mind is Chuck. The eponymous lead character, Chuck Bartowski, consistently prioritizes his friends and family’s safety over abstract ideas like “National Security”. It’s not that national security isn’t important—rather, it illustrates the dangerous slippery slope of using individuals as a means to an end to justify nebulous goals. Chuck consistently finds ways to respect individuals as ends in themselves while saving the day. A machine wouldn’t do the same. Instead of trying to be more like our technology, we should instead design better ways to work with them (an idea Don Norman explores in The Design of Everyday Things).