Editorial On Being Human

At the time we write this latest edition of the Inquirer, nothing could be more topical than the accelerated rise of Artificial Intelligence in the public domain. Suddenly, churning out answers, essays, reports, even art is no longer limited to the human mind. For some, this is incredible – a shining beacon of the ingenuity of humanity – but for others, it is alarming, as it brings into question the very uniqueness, and perhaps even value, of a ‘human’ thought. After all, what is the point of answering something for ourselves when we could give it to an algorithm instead?

The answer to that is the same that it has always been. As a society, we answer questions, we think, we ponder and we critique (as we always have, and always will), not ultimately because we are forced to –even if much of it at school may feel like that – but because as a collective we want to. Why? Because we have an insatiable curiosity, and it drives many of the progressions and advancements that have transformed humanity throughout the ages, building not only on technologies, but arts, learning and culture. We seek answers, and along that often windy and unclear road, we can indeed find more than we first asked. And so, to respond to a question merely for the sake of answering one; perhaps that is no longer unique. But to answer a question as an exploration and expression of one’s experience of life – to explore indeed the depths of ‘truth’, the self, our world as we understand it - remains a human feat alone, and a hallmark in itself of the consciousness that quintessentially defines the human experience.

Yet, our curiosity does not start with the search for an answer, but with the articulation of the question –and sometimes, that first question is more important that any individual answer it uncovers. Ultimately, this new stage of technology is a reminder that to be human is to think for ourselves, to question and inquire unprompted; and that is the one thing that no algorithm, program, or whatever else may come, can ever take away. The value of the human mind lies not only in its ability to answer, but its ability to ask in the first place. And thus, the danger was never in rendering thought obsolete, but in letting our minds and questions decay. So embrace your questions, arm yourself with curiosity, and go forth to explore our ever changing world not because you have to, but because you choose to.

- Lucas van den Berg

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