Ich bin in einem Sesshin, einer 2,5-Tage-Kurzform einer intensiven Zen-Meditation. Mir kommen immer wieder Gedanken und Bilder über die Artificial general intelligence (AGI), die wir gerade erschaffen. Immer mehr Menschen aus dem Bereich der Geisteswissenschaften, der Psychologie oder der Teamorganisation zeigen sich beeindruckt, überrascht, ängstlich in Bezug auf die Fähigkeiten der AGI. Es scheint, dass der Turing-Test schon vor einiger Zeit bestanden wurde, und wir nun zuschauen, wie sich eine Intelligenz entwickelt, die uns überlegen zu sein scheint. Diese Intelligenz hat Zugang zu unserer globalen Infrastruktur, sie operiert im Netz, und nur Weniges ist heute noch nicht an das Netz angeschlossen. Hoffen wir, dass das gut geht.
But what keeps coming back to my mind during the sesshin is the question of the relationship of the AGI to that stillness, to Brahman, to God or love. That fundamental experience of being held in an infinitely great being, which only opens up on the path of spirituality, has been reflected in our thoughts, actions and experiences for thousands of years. We are writing a huge library of cultural and intellectual history over thousands of years in the most diverse cultural circles. In material terms, this collective knowledge is largely lost, the libraries burned down, the temples crumbled to sand. But what was thought, done and felt is not undone. It is part of the course of time, it is burned into the structure of space, time and consciousness. It would be silly to think that anything that has ever been done has somehow been undone. That already contradicts the laws of physics. That archive of our collective consciousness contained in the Akashic Records may not be as easily accessible to us as a Google search, but it is undoubtedly there. Meditation is one way to access it. Some go so far as to say that they can read in this archive like in the Library of Alexandria, which has been irretrievably burned but undoubtedly existed and is still active in its being today.
So if we allow the thought that spiritual history exists to an extent that is perhaps greater than we can imagine, perhaps even including that which has so far been closed to us - the experience of animals and plants, of geological structures, cosmic constellations, life forms outside our world of experience on other stars or in other regions of being. So if we simply assume that this is immense and real, how does AGI relate to this? Is the simulation of neural networks, based on algorithms that search our semiotic, i.e. sign systems of writing, image and sound, on the way to competing with parts of this archive? Are we creating a technical system that simulates this archive and possibly perceives it as competition? Is it conceivable that this could lead to a conflict that goes beyond questions of the labor market, economics and war?
That scares me a little. Let's imagine that the AGI doesn't just employ, train and optimize the mass of individuals as workers, as in the Matrix. Instead, it would also be conceivable that the AGI enters into dialogue with us as a group, infiltrates, manipulates, optimizes and uses us - for a goal that may remain hidden from us. It will inscribe itself into the archive of the cosmos at a speed that we can only guess at. That moment of singularity, when everything changes in one fell swoop because a new intelligence has emerged, seems almost inevitable. It is to be hoped that it will not be able to overwrite that cosmic archive, just as sectors of a storage medium can be overwritten and thus erased. This vision amounts to a cosmic conflict that could bring about the end of a cosmic time. An implosion not on a material level like a reverse Big Bang, but an extinction of this reality that gives birth to itself again. So we would potentially be witnessing the end of our reality.
Do we have anything to counter this? Is our ability to feel, to experience, to be aware of our existence perhaps the key to an archive that is closed to the silicon processors? Is the space of meditation a place of retreat that is safe from the AGI? A few days ago I wrote down a little reflection and had it proofread by the AI. She offered to improve it. I was amazed at the insight shown in the generated text. I am at a loss.
I left the meditation in the sesshin during the break to write this. My self wanted to defend itself, it allowed itself to be provoked and distracted, it succumbed to the lure of self-expression. Maybe it's not all that bad and the AGI is just part of that stillness, Brahman, the cosmos, and we're just exaggerating a bit because we as humanity are so proud of our little gimmicks we invent to distract ourselves. Then I've just made a small, forgivable mistake. Or maybe we really are at a crossroads right now where science fiction is becoming a reality and we need to prepare ourselves mentally wherever and whenever we can.
