Natural existence in an artificial age
A thought on the future of being human
In an increasingly artificial world, humans can maintain their cognitive sovereignty by embracing natural existence.
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Ever since the Industrial Revolution, civilization has been on a speeding train toward what seemed to be a desired final destination: transcending the human condition. It was never clear what that meant, but that was the beauty of it—the certainty that, wherever the train took us it would be a wonderful world.
Nearly three hundred years later, the train of progress rushes on. The world speeding past the train’s windows blurs: more human settlements, fewer forests, meadows, wild rivers, and wild life. Round and round we circle the Earth, and the world feels like it is closing in on us.
AI threatens to replace human intelligence and creativity. Humans risk being demoted by machines as the superior species. Our existence is slowly mined to build the new superhuman. We join the rest of life on Earth as natural resources.
For the first time, we start to see glimpses of the end station.
Of what is to come.
Or maybe not.
Perhaps it’s time to step out of our imaginary train and take a hard look at the world we wanted to leave behind. For the first time, we start to feel its pain: our hunger to consume our way to progress is cannibalizing the human species to give birth to a superintelligence devoid of life. And what is a superhuman without life? What is Earth without life? What is the universe without life? What is a human devoid of its body?
Perhaps transcendence means coming full circle: embracing our natural existence as biological beings on the only planet known in our reachable universe to sustain human life. Embracing the fact that human beings are manifestations of life on Earth, part of this planet’s living ecosystem we need to survive. Continuity and flourishing of life on Earth in all its magnificent diversity must be the supreme destination.
Perhaps transcendence means abandoning our animal fear of a predatory natural world, and using our technology not to segregate ourselves from life, but to embrace it fully, secure in the knowledge that we now have the means to protect ourselves.
Perhaps transcendence means becoming once again of this planet in our minds and worldviews. Reintegrate ourselves with the ecosystems that give us life. Fully embrace our flesh-and-blood existence as the only means of being human and alive.
The ultimate goal of this new transcendental human being should be to protect Earth’s ability to sustain the diversity of life in perpetuity.
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This is Part 1 in a series of 3 to 5 weekly reflections on what it means to conserve our cognitive sovereignty as human beings in an increasingly artificial world.
This essay is part of my ongoing project Cognitive Sovereignty, a year-long exploration of society, technology, nature, and the future of life on Earth through aphorisms and reflections.
Thank you for reading,
—Claudia Befu