“Origins of AI in cybernetics” is an interesting presentation by Paul Pangaro at Stanford University in 2001. That was well before GPT, but it is still insightful.
The analogousness between artificial intelligence and cybernetics is both true and natural. In fact, it’s inherent.
However, it is erroneous to equate AI with human intelligence. These two are also analogous, but there exists a fundamental difference.
Brain and mind
Part of the reason is that “brain” and “mind” are ontologically different.
Today’s science presumptively, and erroneously, assumes “brain” and “mind” to be the same or at least essentially equivalent.
But they’re different. Ontologically different.
The brain is the “computer” (the hardware), but the mind is the “instructions” (the software). The reason why humans don’t clearly sense the differences because the mind is not merely the input, but is also the output from the brain, the computer. This mixed nature is not that surprising, because that’s essentially what modern computers are becoming, in which the software is no longer mere inputs but itself is a result of the output. This is already true in general, but has become remarkably true with AI.
However, the fact that the “mind” incorporates the output from the “brain” does not change its basic nature: the human mind includes consciousness, which is an “ontological primitive” that exists independent from the brain, rather than something that emerges or is extruded from the brain.
Now, here is the true meaning of the distinction between the “brain” and “mind”:
Because the mind is “instructions”, it has a “reality” or “environment” that is fundamentally different from a normal cybernetic system or artificial intelligence. They are analogous in form, but different in substance.
The “humanness” is not a mere feeling. It is a God-given “reality” with two distinctive characteristics:
(1) the godlike power of the independent observer of the universe (a unique power that marks the consciousness of man fundamentally different from that of animals); and
(2) spiritual inspiration that comes from another realm, which is different from the physical realm.
Concerning the power of an independent observer (the above first characteristic), I have used multiple paradoxes, including the Barber paradox, the Snow White paradox, and the Monty Hall paradox, to illustrate (see AI & Agentic Paradigm).
The human power of an independent observer is the key to making sense of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. While our brain, along with its output that is injected into our mind, is a formal logic system that is fundamentally incomplete, our mind itself has the superpower of an Independent Observer of the universe. It is this superpower that allows a human being to escape the trap of Gödel’s incompleteness. Otherwise, how can a human intuitively know something to be true when logic and mathematics cannot prove and only show inherent inconsistency? (No, this knowing is not a blurry human speculation, but is intuitively and mathematically true, and it constitutes the basis of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. See Man and machine, intuitive logic and arithmetic logic)
Concerning the inspiration from the other realm (the above second characteristic), I write extensively on the subject (see, for example, The natural and the spiritual, or collectively Time & Eternity). I recognize that “the people of science” refuse to even talk about it, much less to formally recognize the reality of the other realm from which human inspirations (spiritual instructions) come. Instead of irritating the bull, I leave it here. But I have a residence there, so it’s all right with me. It may ultimately prove not to be all right with those who are bullish on their scidolatry (science-idolatry).
Conclusion
AI is the greatest creation by man, but it is not and will never be the same kind of intelligence as humans. While some people work enthusiastically to destroy human dignity with pride, the Creator of man defends it firmly and silently with humility, not through an argument, but through the supernatural reality that shall ultimately manifest over our subnature.
The following is a link to a collection of my writings on the subject of AI and the Agentic Paradigm: AI & Agentic Paradigm.
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