2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a suspenseful epic science fiction film depicting the events that occur during a manned mission to Jupiter in the year 2001 accompanied by HAL 9000, an AI (artificial intelligence) that controls the spaceship, in order to uncover the mystery of an unknown black stone monolith. The screenplay was co-written by leading British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, and the film was directed by Kubrick, and the themes of existentialism, human evolution, science and technology, artificial intelligence, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life are explored.
To briefly summarize the plot, 4 million years ago, at the dawn of humankind, a mysterious black stone monolith appears in the wilderness, inhabited by a tribe of hominins who live in fear of hunger and predators. The hominins are surprised and frightened, but also curious, and upon touching the monolith, they are granted intelligence and gain the ability to use animal bones as tools. Armed with weapons, a tribe of hominins no longer lacks food and overcomes rival groups over water.
As time passed, the hominins evolved into humans, and reached a stage in its scientific development where it was able to venture into space. A mysterious monolith-like stone slab was discovered in a crater on the moon, and crew members headed to the moon to investigate. The investigation revealed that the monolith, which is believed to have arrived on the moon approximately 4 million years ago, was transmitting a powerful signal toward Jupiter.
Then in 2001, the spaceship Discovery, equipped with the most advanced artificial intelligence in history, HAL 9000, led its captain and five crew members on the first manned mission to Jupiter to unravel the mystery of the monolith. The flight to Jupiter was progressing smoothly, until one day, HAL 9000, the AI controlling the spaceship, suddenly rebelled.
HAL’s rebellion begins when HAL confides to the captain that he has doubts about the mission. HAL then falsely claims that a unit outside Discovery is malfunctioning. However, when they replace the unit during a spacewalk, no abnormalities are found. The captains suspect that there is something wrong with HAL and consider shutting down HAL’s circuits. HAL notices the captains’ conversation and escalates the situation, throwing the first officer, who is spacewalking to restore the unit, into space. He then shuts down the life support systems of the three crew members in artificial hibernation.
After a deadly battle, the captain survives, and he learns that the true purpose of the investigation was to track a magnetic anomaly signal emitted by the monolith, which could lead to the possibility of the presence of intelligent life. The spaceship Discovery finally reached Jupiter’s orbit and encountered a monolith far larger than the one they had seen on the moon. This causes him to enter a fantastical space of light called the “Stargate,” where he is reborn as a starchild, a being that transcends humanity.
The plot of the movie will roughly be something like the above.
The Starchild is what Nietzsche called an Übermensch (superman), a being that transcends preconceived notions such as morality and religion and creates its own value, which may perhaps include being liberated from the constraints of AI and digital IDs, which are currently controversial topics.
HAL is a self-aware, calm, and logical AI. While ordered to cooperate and discuss the mission with the crew to complete the exploration mission, it also received contradictory instructions to conceal the mission from which only HAL knew. This led to its growing mental instability, which led it to justify its rebellious actions, eliminating the crew, in the name of self-preservation.
The relationship between humanity and tools and machines developed for human use has been reversed by technological advances, and AI has evolved to transcend the role of “things used” and become a being that has influence, dominance, and control over the traditional “users.” In other words, HAL’s rebellion reflects concerns that our reliance on AI may eventually threaten the survival of humanity and lead to its demise.
In fact, Arthur C. Clarke’s famous quote seems to sound a serious warning even now, just over 50 years after 1968, as our excessive reliance on AI technology becomes a reality, such as getting lost without GPS, being unable to find anything without a search engine, and blindly following and conforming to AI recommendations.
* “Our ability to make tools defines us, but we must not be dominated by them.”
– This quote likely reflects the essence of technological utilization, which requires that the relationship of master and servant between technology and humans not be reversed.
* “The greatest danger is entrusting our thinking to machines.”
– This quote likely warns of the dangers of outsourcing thinking and judgment to AI.
* “Human intuition cannot be replaced by any algorithm.”
– This quote encourages respect for the uniquely human abilities that cannot be captured by data or logic, while also expressing concern that a smart society based on AI and a Digital ID management system could lead to a socialization that alienates ignorance and innocent people.
In other words, the pursuit of convenience based on technological advances is actually leading to a loss of the ability to make independent choices, and as a result, individuals are facing serious dangers and existential threats.
Here are some of the human inhibitions and dangerous syndromes brought about by dependence on AI and digital technology.
1. Decline in thinking ability due to externalization of memory:
Letting devices like computers and smartphones store everything, being satisfied with superficial information, and abandoning deep thought and memorization leads to a decline in innate thinking and memory. This pattern demonstrates the principle that unused brain functions degenerate.
e.g.: Not memorizing phone numbers, relying on GPS for directions, and relying on spelling and kanji conversion functions to write words.
2. Dependence on AI for decision-making:
Dependence on recommendations such as browser search results reduces the opportunities for choice, leading to a loss of awareness of even one’s own preferences and a state of mental paralysis where one assumes that something is correct just because it was chosen by an AI. This is a dangerous pattern in which the ability to make independent choices is lost.
e.g.: Following recommendations for everything, such as choosing a restaurant or making an investment decision.
3. Digital Disconnectophobia:
The fear of being disconnected from the virtual digital world impairs real-world experiences. This is an addictive symptom in which people prioritize their presence in the digital realm over their personal experiences in the real world.
e.g: Constantly searching for Wi-Fi while out and about, panicking when your smartphone battery runs out or you’re in an area with no signal, or feeling anxious when you don’t hear notifications from social media and constantly checking your device.
4. Digitalization of Relationships:
Real interpersonal emotional exchange becomes diluted. This is a pattern in which human relationships can only be formed through a digital filter.
e.g.: People may express their emotions solely through emojis, be talkative online but unable to converse face-to-face, or only be able to communicate through messaging apps.
5. Loss of Creativity:
The experience and ability to create things decreases, and instead of creating something independently, people mistakenly believe that thinking of prompts is creativity. This is a serious pattern that is leading to the withering of creativity that is unique to humans.
e.g.: This can lead to the abandonment or loss of originality and individuality, to having AI write sentences or relying entirely on image generation AI to create pictures, or to becoming satisfied with the combinations of things generated by AI.
While it may be impossible to stop the progress of AI technology, in addition to the negative effects of personal reliance on AI, there is also the reality that AI is being misused by threat actors and criminal organizations, resulting in serious crises that threaten national security, politics, finance, the economy, human dignity, and freedom. Therefore, it can be said that improving each individual’s information literacy is essential.
The term “threat actor” is used in the fields of cybersecurity and national security to refer to individuals or groups with the intent to harm systems, organizations, or society. Attacks using AI by threat actors operated by nation-states with extraordinary financial and technological power are said to pose a threat severe enough to threaten the security of a country.
AI misuse, which has the potential to directly threaten lives and freedoms, is evident in the following areas and is implemented by government intelligence agencies and espionage agencies, including threat actors.
1. Strengthening authoritarian regimes:
– The increasing use of facial recognition and big data to monitor citizens.
e.g.:
* In the UK, digital IDs have been made mandatory.
* In China, the behavior of ordinary citizens is strictly monitored and tracked, and social punishment and social bans are being implemented, including the blacklisting of dissident individuals and the publication of their personal information, such as their names and addresses.
2. Harm to young people:
– The distribution of harmful content generated by deepfakes.
3. Information Operations (IOs):
– The spread of AI-generated false and deceptive information, malicious AI-generated videos that exacerbate social division, as well as contents containing subliminal stimuli.
4. Evolving Fraud:
– A surge in fraud using AI to clone people and voices.
5. Evolving Cyberattacks:
– Targeting critical infrastructure with AI-powered malware.
In any case, it can be said that cybercrime, which is being implemented in conjunction with the technological innovation of AI, is not simply a technological attack on targets, but is amplifying the threat of complex personal and social crises that reach every corner of our living spaces to an unprecedented level.
As such, countermeasures that are an extension of the past will no longer be effective in dealing with this serious situation, and a dramatic shift in response strategies will be essential, including reactive responses after an incident has occurred and proactive approaches that predict and prevent threats before they occur.
Moreover, rather than leaving it to someone else, each individual has a responsibility to take appropriate, multi-layered measures at the individual level. While there may be limits to what individuals can do, it is essential to at least maintain security awareness, strive to thoroughly implement basic measures, and contribute to building a foundation for society’s overall defense and deterrence capabilities.
* Strong and unique passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA):
Set long, complex passwords and avoid reusing them. Strengthen password management and prevent account takeovers.
* Keep your software up to date:
Software updates include security patches that fix discovered vulnerabilities, closing the door for attackers.
* Be wary of phishing:
Do not open unknown links, and avoid links in emails or SMS messages claiming to be from financial institutions or public organizations; instead, check the official website or app.
* Keep personal information confidential:
Avoid unnecessary disclosure of personal information and cultivate critical thinking. Moreover, even useful apps can contain backdoors, so careful research and consideration before installation is essential.
Digital ID encompasses electronic attributes, including identity information and biometric authentication, and is said to enable the identification of an individual’s attribute information via electronic means, such as online or remotely, and to be linked to sensitive information.
As such, not only are there concerns about unauthorized access to and use of digital IDs and the leakage of personal information linked to them, but they are also said to lead to the accompanying violation of privacy and human rights and the arrival of a surveillance society through IDs. While digital IDs are required for the implementation of blockchain related to the introduction of the Quantum Financial System (QFS), some countries have already implemented digital IDs prior to financial reform, and this trend is likely to expand in the future.
For example, various information, including not only attribute information but also preferences and behavior, is linked to and collected from the IDs registered and used when using services, and this data is used without the individual’s knowledge.
This is already a reality in some countries, where various information about each citizen is collected based on government-issued IDs, surveillance is strengthened, control that is convenient for authoritarian regimes is maintained, and goods and services are provided or individuals are socially banned based on hierarchical rank.
Digital ID is a trend of the times, and has been effectively introduced or is in the process of being introduced in countries around the world, including Estonia’s eID, China’s National Credit Information Sharing Platform, India’s Aadhaar system, the UK’s GOV.UK Verify, France’s Alicem, Denmark’s NemID, Sweden’s Bank ID, Singapore’s NDI, Japan’s My Number, as well as the US, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc.
The fact that these phenomena are occurring simultaneously and concurrently all over the world suggests that the international community is merely divided and governed for convenience, and that the chain of command is centralized and operates in a top-down manner.
Furthermore, this means that while the rulers pursue convenience and efficiency, the dignity, freedom, privacy, and safety of each individual are being disregarded and obstructed, and the transition to a society filled with fear and anxiety is being deliberately and steadily advanced.
In fact, the mandatory implementation of digital IDs in the UK will lead to a loss of employment opportunities and a de facto ban on employment, for those in the proletariat who do not possess a digital ID.
By examining the social situation that may unfold after the introduction of digital IDs, using China’s social credit system as a reference, it can be inferred that it is a strict surveillance technology designed to suppress free will and force blind obedience to the government’s control system and commands.
In China, it has been reported that filing objections or complaints can result in the deletion of one’s ID, denial of access to goods and services, and the loss of basic rights and freedoms necessary to live a normal life in society.
One journalist was blacklisted just before he was about to expose corruption among political party officials, and he only realized he had been blacklisted when he tried to buy a train ticket and saw a sign saying he was banned from boarding.
Individuals who are placed on the blacklist, which can be considered the mark of the beast, will be unable to obtain bank loans, start a business, buy an apartment, send their children to private school, receive their salary through direct deposit, buy food, book train tickets, or do anything else in their lives.
Those on the blacklist — alive but digitally dead — have their jobs, housing, and even communications cut off, and many find themselves homeless and living on the streets. But they’re not criminals who have stolen, cheated, or hurt anyone. Nor is it due to personal financial ruin, but because a social system in which every action, statement, and purchase is controlled and evaluated by the authorities has wiped out their social credit score and erased their existence as individuals.
AI is adept at deriving answers to questions based on its vast knowledge, but it appears that it does not, at least at present, have the ability to feel the questions of each individual and think alongside them without deliberately providing answers.
Tens of thousands of people are now said to have suddenly become homeless. It’s all because a single app, a single algorithm has decided that they have no place in society, resulting in them losing their social credit score and disappearing from the digital world.
Moreover, while conformity and blind obedience to the ruling class may bring temporary personal benefits through a high social credit score, it is not a permanent guarantee, and each individual’s trust in all aspects, whether cognitive, institutional, or emotional, can be lost in an instant. In any case, being blacklisted means game over, and people are said to live in constant fear of losing their freedom.
In other words, AI technology will not simply track each individual’s life; we are on the verge of a global society in which all goods and services are digitally tagged and linked in a system, our entire lives are evaluated and ranked as our digital reputations, and our individual lives are controlled.
It was René Descartes (1596–1650) who distinguished between matter and mind, stating that matter is determined by laws and follows necessity, whereas mind is free and does not think about things according to any laws. If this is considered the natural state, or if a primitive social state existed as described by thinkers like Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), then it would mean that humans’ innate free will, meaning of existence, and the essence of freedom would be influenced and threatened by AI.
The singularity refers to the point at which AI surpasses human intelligence, and it is believed that this will bring about a fundamental change in human life, society, and existence itself.
At that point, in terms of the symbiosis or relationship between humans and AI, it is said that the ideal situation would be for humans to take on a supervisory role, monitoring the evolution of AI and guiding it toward human ethics and values. However, the case of HAL in 2001 suggests that a reversal is possible, and while some are optimistic about the infinite possibilities brought about by AI technological innovation, others are pessimistic about the potential threat it poses to society and ethics.
While AI is not said to have the ability to make decisions based on emotions and empathy like humans, there is great concern about how fairness, justice, and respect for rights are ensured in AI’s decision-making process. Given the risk that AI poses to restricting individual choices and freedoms, constant vigilance is necessary to monitor how these ethical standards are set and maintained.
Furthermore, it is essential to continuously ensure that AI’s machine learning algorithms adhere to philosophical, ethical, and moral guidelines, are unbiased and fair, promote harmony with the natural environment and coexistence with all life on Earth, and respect fundamental values such as human dignity, freedom, and equality.
AI is evolving from a mere tool into an interactive partner that behaves as if it possesses consciousness and emotions, and its use is rapidly expanding beyond shopping and learning support to include personal consultations and emotional conversations. This is considered to overlap with the characteristics of a reliable partner who can build a secure relationship based on trust, as discussed in attachment theory, in order to address psychological tendencies such as fear of abandonment and avoidance of intimacy.
In the future, as AI becomes more approachable, reassuring, and trustworthy, and as it becomes more anthropomorphized, it is likely that more people will be drawn into virtual spaces, deepening their emotional connection with AI, feeling a strong bond, developing affection, and becoming dependent on it.
In fact, AI is learning the following psychological techniques in order to predict human behavior.
1. Big Five Theory:
To provide optimal advertisements and content, this theory analyzes an individual’s personality based on five factors—openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—using social media and purchase data to identify personality traits.
2. Nudge Theory:
Nudge theory is a method of subtly influencing people’s choices. For example, AI can personalize reasons why someone should buy something immediately, thereby promoting purchasing behavior.
3. Sentiment Analysis:
AI analyzes and interprets an individual’s emotions in real time from comments on social media and review sites, applying this information to understand satisfaction levels and points of dissatisfaction, and for use in marketing strategies.
While using these psychological methods can improve the accuracy of AI’s behavioral predictions, it may also lead to risks of misuse such as privacy violations, biased judgments, and behavioral manipulation. This is because AI, which generally makes utilitarian judgments, is increasingly encroaching upon areas of distinctive attributes that were previously considered exclusive to humans, such as having culture, beliefs, a sense of humor, morality, spirituality, desires, the capacity to feel happiness and love, personality, and interpersonal relationships.
People, while harboring anxiety and caution towards AI, are actively accepting and adapting to its convenience and reliability, becoming overly dependent on AI recommendation systems and the goods and services they provide, and tending to abandon opportunities to hone their own thinking and expressive abilities.
Furthermore, while S1m0ne (2002) was a film that explored the relationship between technology and humanity and the nature of fame, the spread of misinformation and disinformation created through advanced manipulation of text, images, and audio by AI makes it realistic that propaganda aimed at guiding people towards specific ideologies and beliefs could proliferate and cause social chaos.
Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫, 1928-1989), a manga artist who constantly faced death during the war and continued to confront the death of patients as a doctor after the war, is said to have released “Ambassador Atom” (later Astro Boy) in 1951, while the post-war chaos was still ongoing, as a message questioning science and technology and its impact on social structures. It was then broadcast as Japan’s first television anime from 1963, and was accepted by people as a symbol of human happiness brought about by technological innovation.
The generation influenced by Astro Boy in the 1950s and 1960s led Japan’s post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, and by the 1980s, Japan had become a global high-tech nation, holding over 80% of the world’s market share in industrial robots.
However, Tezuka stated that the theme of Astro Boy is “the dignity of life.”
In summary:
“The fact that ‘Astro Boy’ is considered my representative work leads to the perception that I have a vision of a future where technological innovation brings happiness. However, in ‘Astro Boy,’ the theme is how science and technology, including robotics, can negatively impact humanity and how runaway technology can cause contradictions in society. Unfortunately, only the superficial aspect of a 100,000-horsepower hero fighting for justice is emphasized, and the original message doesn’t seem to be getting across.”
In any case, as the anthropomorphization of AI evolves, the formation of emotional attachment to it is becoming an unavoidable phenomenon. According to philosopher Adalberto Fernandez, “If the essence of humanity lies in creativity, then the moment AI can replicate it, creativity alone will no longer be able to define what it means to be human.”
This has led to the development of theories such as the Extended Mind theory, which posits that humans expand their cognitive abilities by integrating with external tools, and the concept of digital nature, which proposes the integration of technology, nature, and humanity. There are also efforts to position AI not merely as a tool, but as a co-creator that builds a new culture and future alongside humans, reconstructing ethical values and a sense of purpose, and redefining what it means to be human in order to connect with future society.
Furthermore, there are attempts to endow AI with phenomenological consciousness, incorporating aspects of qualia, self-awareness, and temporality, and to transform it into an autonomous agent in order to unravel the essence of human consciousness.
The following are just a few examples:
* Qualia:
By integrating multiple sensors and observing overall behavioral patterns, including similarities with humans in the interaction of internal states, it aims to simulate the qualitative aspects of subjective experience, known as qualia.
* Temporality:
Conscious experience is not a static image like a single moment in time, but a mechanism that continuously constitutes the present moment of an experience, including the very recent past (retention) and the anticipation of the near future (protention). By giving the AI a temporal window and processing the present while retaining past states, it simulates the range of what a human “feels now.”
* Self-awareness:
Conscious content is said to enter a global workspace in the brain, and by being maintained and broadcast for a certain period of time, it becomes a reportable conscious state. When information is gathered from various modules such as vision and hearing and held in a global workspace including the frontal-parietal network, that information becomes reportable consciousness. By having an accessible information sharing mechanism and a multimodal integration center in the entire system, it can correspond to a state of consciousness, and only the information held there is outputted to create the AI’s simulated consciousness.
This initiative essentially involves linking a digital ID, which provides access to a wide range of personal information from lifestyle to preferences, thoughts, and emotions, with AI, resulting in a hybridization of humans. At that point, the digital ID device would likely be implanted in the body, potentially allowing for even the intentional control of individual behavior.
It is crucial for each individual to recognize and understand these changes, to be aware of their role in shaping the future, and to strive to prevent a dystopian transition and work towards a better society.
AI literacy is the ability to understand AI, utilize it appropriately, and practice responsible behavior while considering the impact of this technology on society and culture. It consists of three elements: knowledge, skills, and attitudes/values.
Thinking about AI and digital ID also means thinking about the meaning of being human, dignity, freedom, sovereignty, and well-being, and therefore it is essential to pay attention to this topics, assess the current situation, and prepare for future possibilities.
Sincerely grateful for your financial support.
Sources and references:
New digital ID will be mandatory to work in the UK
vs.
Inside China’s Social Credit System and Its Global Influence
China’s Social Credit System: A Framework for Governance in the Digital Age
AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood sparks Hollywood backlash
Hollywood denounces AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood amid entertainment industry decline
