Intelligence

Collective Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and resistance to change

If intelligence is the ability to solve problems, then what matters is not solving the problem independently and in isolation. That is inefficient. It is narcissistic, and it seeks to be able to say “I did it on my own”. You rarely arrive at the best solution, because most problems are not “blackboard problems” with a single solution. Most of the time the hard part is defining the problem.

I have a friend whom I have seen on more than one occasion organize calls with very diverse people to talk and share opinions on various topics. As a solution, it is brilliant. It is using collective intelligence to solve his problems, and everyone wins in the process. We arrive at a better solution than the one each of us would have reached on our own, and we take the chance to socialize.

For a long time I refused to buy an electric screwdriver. It seemed like an unnecessary tool to me, since I could do the same thing with a regular screwdriver. But one day I saw one on sale, and I bought it. And it has been the best tool I have bought. It is incredible the amount of effort it saves you, and the freedom it gives you to rethink how furniture is put together. The fact that it takes less time and costs less effort makes me take on more projects than before. The value is not in the tool used, but in the project and the result. There is no more value just because it cost more or less sweat.

Why is collaboration with AI so controversial? For several reasons: * The first is the issue of the copyright of the data that trained the model. * The second is that it turns out to be too easy to use the AI’s answer without understanding it or questioning it.

Getting something easily feels like cheating. It makes something that used to be difficult too easy. And we resist that. There is a similar story. “Box” cakes. Before, the mix came with all the ingredients and people only had to add water. But they didn’t sell well. It was too easy and people felt that it wasn’t a proper way to prepare something or to serve their guests. It felt like cheating, even though the result was good (by the standard of a box cake). So box cake manufacturers started asking people to add eggs and oil. The final result was the same in terms of taste. But people felt better, and they started buying and using box cakes, even though they had to put in more effort.

Nowadays using artificial intelligence to solve some problems is the most efficient path. But I believe the time saved must be invested in learning other things that give us value.