Five Rhetorical Questions To Ask The AI Advocate

“The Upanishadic verse runs as follows: nityo nityanam chetanash chetananam. The purport is that amongst all the living entities, both conditioned and liberated, there is one supreme living personality, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains them and gives them all the facility of enjoyment according to different work.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 15.17 Purport)

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The early warning signs are practically screaming out. The rate of adoption is astronomical. In a short amount of time, so many people have begun bypassing the traditional methods. In a short while, our world will change forever. No one will even think about the traditional ways of accomplishing tasks, researching new ideas, and finding enjoyment to pass the time. This is because AI will accomplish everything. You see, just think of a few inputs and you will have something brand new.

In fact, you won’t even have to think anymore. The generative AI engine will constantly run in the background. It will not have to wait for the inputs; it can guess them. In the mood for a sad song? The AI will produce one for you. It will be brand new, but also familiar. It will elicit the same emotional response as the classic hits played on the radio. In a matter of minutes you will have sentimental attachment to something never touched by a human being.

Want to watch a movie? The AI will create something for your viewing pleasure. It will feature every component to a classic compelling story. The setting. The characters. The sudden injection of difficulty, such that the later release to television will have a perfect moment to break for commercial. There will be the false finish, where it looks like the bad guys are about to win. Then there is the dramatic ending, all to leave you spellbound. No production company required. No highly paid and pretentious ensemble cast. No months spent on location, shooting film that will mostly fall to the editing room floor. Nope, just a machine.

This is the sales pitch, if you will. It might also be a warning, that human beings will not be relied upon as much as they are today. The wise person can respond with pointing out obvious flaws to the presentation, but in this case they opt for a set of questions. These are rhetorical in nature, as the sober and rational person already knows the answers.

1. Did AI give you a mother and a father?

“Wow, your presentation sounds so cool. I can’t wait for AI to do everything for me. Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if AI could give you guardians? You know, from the time of birth. I am just brainstorming here, but maybe we could refer to those guardians as ‘mother’ and ‘father’. Don’t ask me where I came up with the names. One is female and the other is male. Perhaps the AI-produced guardians could teach us things, like how to walk, how to share, and how to respect others. I can’t wait for that day. That will be a gamechanger, for sure.”

2. Did AI produce the sun?

“Wow, your presentation sounds so cool. I can’t wait for AI to take over my life. Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome if the AI could produce a brand new source of energy? You know, something that provides heat and light, but entirely on its own. No external source of fuel. No maintenance schedule. I am just throwing out random ideas here, but what if we called that object ‘the sun’? It could give heat and light to everyone. I can’t wait for the day.”

3. Did AI make it rain?

“Wow, your presentation sounds so cool. I can’t wait to finally shut off my brain entirely and replace it with AI. Hey, just a random thought here, but wouldn’t it be cool if AI created a mechanism whereby people could get water whenever they needed? I am talking lots of water, enough to cover an entire community. It would fall from high above, at periodic intervals. The system would manage itself; you would never have to ask for anything. I can’t wait for that day.”

4. Did AI grow the food in the ground?

“Wow, your presentation sounds so cool. I can’t wait to be lazy the entire day and have someone else do everything for me and not complain about it. Hey, just an idea here. What if AI could produce food? You know, by perhaps generating a tiny 3D object that is smaller than the pill. We could then take that object and place it somewhere in the ground, perhaps surrounded by soil. I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out. What if that tiny object then produced a massive tree, which gave fruits? Yes, you heard me correctly. I am talking about food to eat. What if AI could do all of that for us? This is a million-dollar idea I am giving you. You better run with it.”

5. Did AI give you memory?

“Wow, your presentation sounds so cool. I can’t wait to finally turn into nothing and never think rationally again. Hey, speaking of thinking, what if AI could give us something to hold thoughts, observations, aspirations, and conclusions? Sort of like a bank of information, to be kept safely. This way, we could bring up images from the past, whenever we wanted. We could identify others based on their names. We could know the difference between different objects based on how they look. I know, I know, this sounds crazy, but just imagine if AI could offer us something so valuable.”

…

As His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains, both the living beings and the highest being of all are eternal. The Sanskrit word is nitya. Both are also living. The Sanskrit word is chetana. The distinction is that the one living eternal happens to be maintaining all the other living eternals. The above hypothetical review provides a glimpse into the mechanism. The chief eternal creates seemingly autonomous mechanisms that provide for the dependent eternals.

The lights would go out, literally and figuratively, if the sun ever ceased to function. If it ever deviated from specification. If it ever went on the fritz. If it ever broke down after the warranty expired. The same for the rain that falls from the sky. The earth already contains the seeds necessary for the continuation of food production. The sky is the resting place for all the stars. Goswami Tulsidas intelligently uses these two reference points to explain how the Supreme Lord and His name are the complete whole in terms of the different implementations of religion, which can be known as dharma.

जथा भूमि सब बीजमय नखत निवास अकास
रामनाम सब धरममय जानत तुलसीदास

jathā bhūmi saba bījamaya nakhata nivāsa akāsa
rāmanāma saba dharamamaya jānata tulasīdāsa

“Just as within the earth are found every kind of seed and within the sky live all the stars, Tulsidas knows that Shri Rama’s holy name is the reservoir of all dharma.” (Dohavali, 29)

No machine can ever replace the position of the chief eternal. The generative models ultimately rely on human beings, both past and present. This means that it is a product of the eternals, who are always dependent. They will continue to remain dependent. They should use the gifts provided by the chief eternal for returning to the original way, which happens to involve loving service and connection with that chief eternal.

In Closing:

On scale beyond belief,
Of guardian eternal chief.

Who the other eternals to maintain,
Like life sun and earth to sustain.

Rainfall managing on its own,
Not matched by best machine shown.

The tools for rescue provided in turn,
Connect and to transcendence return.