My AI – Is Aesthetic Intelligence Dead?
“Imagination is intelligence with an erection.” Uh – what?
That blunt quote is from creative and aesthetic critic Stephen Bayley. He laments his disappointment with the virtual world, that it has degraded the culture of things, of the analogue world, of our ability to use our senses.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I got hooked into a three-day AI Advantage program headed by Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi. They are excited and optimistic about AI becoming an open resource of abundant intelligence. Even better, we will no longer be tied to a screen. AI will require not functioning with screens. AI won’t be looked at, it will be worn; a tool to be utilized by us.
I understand Stephen’s reticence, but I think we have been in a period of transition. Transitions are always ugly. It feels rudderless and incomplete, with a loss of coherence and any aesthetic. Things become nostalgic; we long for the taste of the old days, the simplicity, the resolution, the inspiration of great design.
Where we are now has neutered the involvement of the five senses, the visceral immersion of experience. Do we really care about, do we even see, great aesthetic design, great art, anymore? Whether you agree or not, I think we can agree there is less of it. The current use and recognition of AI appears to be threatening our ability to both create and observe beauty, resolved forms, and positive peaceful emotions or the simple joy of excitement.
So, where are we headed? I think it’s beyond anything we can currently imagine. AI will shortly become a tool. If we are wise, we will learn to make AI our agent, our ally, our partner. We need not fear AI. We need to be the people who learn to use it. Those who do will not be replaced by AI, they will be enriched by it.
That is the message going forward, a message we need to take to heart, to visualize, to commit to. I believe our aesthetic will recover. Humanity moves in cycles. It’s an exciting time, full of change. With change comes doubt, even fear. It’s good to continue to keep our eyes and ears open, but this is a time for optimism.
What with COVID and the emergence of AI, this decade has experienced wild swings in the outlook for our lifetime. Now, the greatest changes in human history are on the horizon. That includes a resurgence of a great aesthetic, and a much-needed return to optimism. Why? Because I, and millions of others, believe it.
