The Yin to AI's Yang

I'm amazed at the many ways AI has enhanced the lives of myself and those around me. While it brings intelligent productivity to my life, I experience "AI fatigue" at times. What I mean by this is that my brain can only handle so much extra insight and intelligence at a time. I find myself relishing face-to-face interaction with other humans, spending time in nature, and even boredom. I'm not about to give up AI, but I need to counter the hypervigilant state resulting from vibe coding or trying to decide if something is AI generated.

Recently, I came across Taoism and the concept of Yin and Yang. In my own words, these are opposing forces that balance each other. Light and Darkness. Pleasure and Pain. My example (not sure if I have this completely right) is war and diplomacy. You can solve conflict peacefully or violently. I prefer diplomacy, but diplomacy works best with a threat of war. And, wars never end themselves; they need diplomacy. 

So if AI is the yang, the aggressive, power hungry, competitive, growing, rapidly changing, disruptor; what is the yin? This is my proposal for the yin to AI's yang.

Enough

It's possible to have enough. Enough of a meal. Enough sleep. Enough money. Sure, you may always want more, but it's possible to change your mindset and have enough. We may be tempted to ask AI to fill in some hole in our knowledge, but if that knowledge is not immediately used and soon to be forgotten, what's the point? Can we have enough of what AI offers?

Uncertainty

I like to say, "Things are going to get better and things are going to get worse; and not necessarily in that order." I tried for years to predict the future. I would collect information and try to create models. My model would predict the future until some factor I ignored caused reality to deviate from my predictions. I've given up making predictions and I have accepted the uncertainty of the future. I still do my best to prepare for the future.   

I heard a financial advisor tell his client "I can tell you how much money you need to retire, if you can tell me when you are going to die."

AI can create the illusion that certainty is attainable, but this can be a vain pursuit.

Boredom

The modern world gives us an abundance of distractions that need not be listed here. AI provides the ultimate distraction with unlimited knowledge accessible with simple prompts. But our minds need down time; time for the subconscious to process without interruption. This is where creativity is born. AI Large Language Models are amazing at predicting what might come next based on everything that has been written before; but, is it possible that there is an entirely new thought yet to be created that doesn't exist in a data centers deep mind? Would AI have come up with the theory of relativity before Einstein? Calculus before Newton?

Boredom is the antithesis of AI. Boredom creates novel data. AI dies without new data.

Street Smarts

I'm always amazed at people with street smarts. They understand unwritten social rules, can read a situation and pivot expertly. It's like social Judo. AI is your awkward book smart friend that can't read the room. Will AI replace street smarts? Never.

Conclusion

I am not capable of listing all of the yin elements to AI's yang, but hopefully these few items get you started on recognizing the rich human experience not being replaced by AI. 

The AI Software Baby Boom

I like to joke with people that vibe coding (using AI to assist writing software) is like having sex. It's really fun but there's always a chance that you'll make a baby that you'll have to take care of for the next 18 years. This is not an argument against vibe coding. I've read the arguments against vibe coding and they sound a little contrived, more self-protection, like the senior dev bashing a talented, productive junior dev; something like "Yes, but they don't know X, Y, Z." Sounds like fear.  

I've had the experience of developing software over the last several decades. I loved providing solutions to solve peoples problems with software. I loved seeing users get excited because they now could do things that were difficult or impossible.

Recently, I had the experience of vibe coding. I love being able to focus on the high level features of the software and not get caught in the weeds of implementation. I think this AI-assisted software generation is going to be a true baby boom. People on the front lines of business and science being able to write software that helps them do their jobs better and faster! I can hear the wheels of industry churning as people imagine new software solutions.

But, like I said earlier, writing software is like having a baby. At first, they are cute and cuddly, but then they become more demanding. If you're not careful, those babies can consume your life. How does this apply to software?

You have a task you do on a regular basis, or maybe a new business opportunity for an app or webpage. You use the latest AI tools and make an app. Instantly, it's doing your work for you and enabling you in new ways. You realize more features you want, so a little prompt here and there and magically they appear. Your software keeps growing and suddenly becomes a bit complicated. Nothing that another prompt can't fix. "Help me rearchitect my software for all the cool new stuff we've added." You have to be smart with your prompts to make sure all of your new features play nicely.

Then there's the sharing with others. You think others will want this. Maybe they'll pay for it! So you find a way to start sharing it. They start asking for new features or want you to tweak old ones. Some of the tweak requests conflict with each other. People complain about a change in the interface. They have problems and want tech support. You need marketing, sales, and support departments. You might be able to provide these with AI agents. Meanwhile, you've had 10 other ideas and created 10 new "babies". Not only that, but there's a 100 million people that also had 10 new "babies". That's a billion new software projects that need to be nourished. Most of these probably do the same thing and could probably be replaced with a few hundred apps. If you wanted to evaluate other software, you might have a million options for the "read my email and give me a summary of stuff I should pay attention to" app. But AI can evaluate the million apps for you. Or can it? Has AI started getting overwhelmed yet with being the developer, researcher, and therapist for millions of people?

Here's another challenge. I've written hundreds of applications. Many of them died a sad death. Some of them were inherited as I move off onto other projects or to other companies. Inevitably someone comes to me to ask me about my software...even after I've left the company. Or, even worse, I've had to go in and look at my software. What was I doing? Why did I do this? How did this ever work? I feel like the dead beat dad that neglects his kids. 

And what about the evolving tech stack. First, it's version updates as older versions are no longer supported. Look at the status of Python versions, where the rate of new versions and rate of end-of-life versions is about one per year. Not a problem, we just tell our AI to refactor to the new version. But first we need to install the new versions and update all of our modules. And then there is the actual change in technology. Dynamic web applications have gone through Java Servlets, Flash, Angular, React, etc, etc. And what about UX. Does it matter that the cool app you made looks outdated? 

With the AI-Assisted Baby Boom, another problem is that your friends will be too busy taking care of their software babies and not have enough time to play Pickleball or Tennis or grab a coffee. Hopefully, this doesn't happen. Hopefully, people will realize how being more productive means that they can spend less time working. Only the future will tell.

Critical Thinking with AI

 You just finished a session with ChatGPT (or your favorite LLM) and you've never felt more empowered. Not only do you feel like an expert in your new area of inquiry, but AI has affirmed that you are unique/clever/insightful/etc.!

Then you read a headline that says AI is degrading our critical thinking skills. How can that be? Don't you feel more intelligent?

This is how I use AI to help with my critical thinking skills (just some ideas). During (or after a learning session, ask:

• "What are some things that I haven't thought about? Do I have any blind spots?"
• "How might I be wrong in the conclusions I have come to?"
• "What biases do I have that may be preventing me from considering all of the facts?"
• "Is there anything that you (the AI) may be missing or be inaccurate about?"

Basically, challenge yourself and challenge the AI. I use ChatGPT primarily, but I also cross check with Perplexity, Grok, and Gemini. Today, a friend told me that he trusts Claude more certain tasks. I find that each has it's strengths and I'm learning which I can trust more. But I have to be careful that I don't select an AI for a topic because of my own confirmation bias.

Be careful to avoid "paralysis by analysis." What I mean, is that you do a critical review of some information which results in more information. Then you do a critical review of the critical review. Now you feel confused and depressed, as though you can never know the truth. I prefer discovering a limited number of blind spots. This can help your confidence in the sense of widening your understanding without unraveling your mental model.

Of course, you can also ask your preferred AI to help you understand the concepts behind Critical Thinking and even ask it to help you develop Critical Thinking skills.

Example 1 - Healing Back Pain

In 2014, I read the book "Healing Back Pain" by Dr. John Sarno and it helped resolved pain I was experiencing at the time. I've been having shoulder pain for the last 2 years, so I asked ChatGPT, "Can this book help shoulder pain as well as back pain?" It confirmed that it could and I started reading it again. Some red flags were going off about some of Dr. Sarno's claims, so I inquired "Can you provide a critical review of the book Healing Back Pain by John Sarno?" I then asked "Is there a better, more current book related to pain management?" I got several suggestions, and asked follow-up questions. The resulting suggestion was "The Way Out", which I just read. I found it more helpful and I'm trying the things I learned. I still feel there is some validity to Dr. Sarno's claims, but "The Way Out" gives me another way to frame my pain. (NOTE: I just asked for a critical review of "The Way Out" which resulted in me adding the "Be careful..." line above.)

ChaptGPT, AI and the Singularity

 I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring with all of the talk on the future of AI. 

ChatGPT

After playing around with ChatGPT a little, I've decided to make it my life coach. I'm serious. For example, last night I asked ChatGPT "How can I get more people to buy the book I self-published on Amazon?" I got a very helpful, actionable response.

The Singularity

In case you haven't heard about it, the "Singularity" is this prediction that technology advancement will keep accelerating until it surpasses human ability to understand or control it. If you think technology is advancing fast now, just wait and it will advance even faster. Then keep repeating the last sentence until your head spins off.

A mathematical singularity goes to infinity at a certain point. For example, if it's determined that the singularity will happen on a specific date, then technological innovation will be infinite on that date.

My problem with this is hopefully represented by an example. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, nobody knew how big it would get. I started tracking the numbers and attempted to find a mathematical function that could be used to predict how big it would be. I found a very good fit with an exponential growth curve. But there was a problem. It predicted that as time went on, more people would get COVID than there existed on the planet. The function didn't account that COVID would run out of people to infect. (See My COVID post).

I believe that there are other similar systematic constraints with technological advancement that will prevent a singularity. I don't know what they are just like I didn't think of the constraints early in the pandemic. Maybe it will be limited by how much electricity we can produce, or by computer memory (an AI with infinite abilities will need infinite power and storage). Maybe it will be a fundamental limitation, like our programming languages don't support what this AI will need. Or, maybe the AI will need humans to help it replicate (it doesn't have an opposable thumb, yet), and there are only so many humans that will be able to do this. All of these are potential limitations.

AI

I've listened to several of Lex Fridman's podcasts on AI and the most recent one resonated with me: his interview with Manolis Kellis. I'll summarize my impression with what I think is likely to happen with AI. 

Currently, many of our highest paid fields require intelligence. For example, doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, software developers. With our very diverse population, there may be people more ideal for these roles, but they are exclude by intelligence filters. Only the intellectually elite can make it into these roles. For example, what if there was a grandma somewhere that had the right bed side manners, love, wisdom, perspective that would make her a better doctor, but she just doesn't know all of the technical doctoring stuff. In the future, she won't need to know the technical stuff, she can use AI trained on diseases and treatments to help her with this part. I know I'm oversimplifying as I would want to know that grandma had some level of training and competence. 

Today we have a similar case with machinery. You don't need the fastest runner if you have a car. You don't need to strongest with a pick and shovel if you have an excavator. You don't need the person with the loudest voice if you have a microphone (or a blog). AI has the potential to be just another tool that humans use.

I saw a funny post on Reddit r/ProgrammingHumor. Someone posted a text they got from a friend that used ChatGPT to write code. They asked their programmer friend "Now what do I do with this code? How can I use it?" Similarly, a home builder uses many tools to build a house, but those tools can't build the house on their own. You need a skilled person to use all of the tools. 

Can AI do harm? We'll find out.