Our Humanness

Let’s kick off the Christmas season with some information about our brains. We humans developed a big brain mainly because we needed to. Early cave people didn’t last long in their harsh environment.

Hunting for food was stressful. They had to deal with things like: will I eat today or will I be eaten today?

Hmm, modern grocery shopping, anyone?

Back to the cave people. Hunter/gatherers had to out-think the animals. In short, humans had to get smarter. Our brains grew. We developed tools, fire, machines, and the list goes on.

The processes morphed from food gathering to transport and manufacturing. The entire body of human knowledge in the Middle Ages was found in several books.

Today, if all books were converted to digital format, the file size would take approximately 1.44 zettabytes. (1 zettabyte equals 1 trillion gigabytes). That’s a numeral one followed by 12 zeroes. Kind of dwarfs your mobile phone’s monthly allowance of 40 gigabytes.

Fast forward a little further to AI (artificial intelligence), where I have a bold statement for you:

AI will never replace our humanness.

Our capacity to think emotionally sets us apart. Yes, AI will be excellent at developing new techniques and processes. Contrast that with how many decisions we make based on emotions alone.

Here’s a thought: have an AI bot choose a Christmas gift for <insert name>

Now, you choose one for the same person.