ilyĀIMY

Ugh. This concept of “worth” is still bugging me. At the root of “should I listen to AI music if it’s not harming me to do so” won’t leave my head because at the root of it it’s about what we value, right? And somewhere we’ve got to have a line… this is worth my time, effort, money, attention – and this over here is NOT. And on a macroscale that can affect the very existence of those things. This is worth my attention and therefore it is saved, this is NOT worth my attention and therefore I don’t even notice when it vanishes. Are we precious about the continued existence of the thing? Even if *I* don’t care about it, do I feel that it has or could have worth to others. Will I feel guilt at the event of its demise?

That homeless man, this caterpillar, a species of caterpillars, that person’s profession. Someday, perhaps, we’ll Live in a “post-consumer” society and maybe even evolve our society past capitalism. It’ll require not simply a rethink of how we Live and distribute the (theoretically limiltless) resources, but a redefinition of “worth” to the point of requiring a revamp of our mental framework and language. “Spending” as a concept of time rather than monetaty value, length of Life. Sci-fi’s given us plenty of examples…

But, with the exception of the most dire grimdark dystopias, we as human beings are always assumed to have some semblance of “value”. Even slaves had value. But the concept of replacing a human with a machine, whether in the factory (should I care if my Saturn was made by factory workers or robots?) or the in the restaurant (should I care if my coffee’s served with a smile or by a dispenser?) or on the street (should I care if the person I just passed has a good Life or not?).

Seriously, I’m glad not to have an elevator operator and I think we’d all be better off if all the cars were automated, but should I care about going places ifI get a hi-def movie that looks like I’m going somewhere? Do I care about AI-generated porn or a sex doll vs a real Lover? Do I care if the bathroom attendant has a job if the floor’s clean? *I* don’t want to do it and I take no pride in a clean rug. Bring me a Roomba!

Do I care if a robot takes care of my mother in the hospital if she’s not well enough to tell the difference?

It’s interesting how this couples in with the latest books by James S.A. Corey – the Captives War books really posits the ultimate case of humans being solely worth their output, and sans that output, their relationships and emotions and art and existence are worth nothing. I think, at this moment, that feels like the endpoint of this idea – that if we don’t care if the things around us are “real” or automated, that their value becomes zero, their existence moot. *I* don’t want to Live in that world and so I need to take a line somewhere – and you have to give that line some breathing room.

So yeah, it’s all about what kind of world you want to Live in. If you value people or not. I sure don’t value ALL of them. If I was the one to pick and choose the world would be… slimmer… but I’d choose to value us as a species. We give the universe a little flavour, so show some taste.

Ha. Maybe that’s what “Chicken Wings” is REALLY about.