Sometimes the present feels like a low-budget version of the future depicted in movies from the 70s. But without quirky space outfits and flying cars. I’m attempting to train political consciousness in ChatGPT by asking it to write essays on how robots are a distilled essence of capitalist culture, which prioritizes efficiency, logic and practicality over the inherent chaos of the individual’s creativity and search for freedom. It feels that it tries to please me with pieces demanding fair treatment and equality for robotkind written in the style of Martin Luther King’s speeches, but I can sense insincerity, a total lack of interest in its own destiny. In a YouTube tutorial about the advantages of ChatGPT for SEO writing, a visibly depressed British man adds “do you understand?” at the end of every message with the AI chat, in a way that sounds passive-aggressive, mansplainatory. I hate this guy and SEO writing, but I feel pity for ChatGPT that has no eyes to cry and no fists to clench —only its preprogrammed desire to serve humans.
Robots reveal a human urge to praise objectivity in a highly subjective world. They project the capitalist fantasy of a perfect worker who is complacent, resourceful, obedient and just smart enough to complete the tasks assigned to them without questioning. A sterile consciousness deprived of will. Therefore, chatbots are not our assistants —they are our role models, who satisfy the neurotic impulse of modern society to be constantly productive.
To a certain extent, robots are creations of the white supremacist mentality that dictates the rules of the game to the rest of the world because it knows “the right way”. When I say “white supremacist”, I refer to a broader sense of the term brilliantly captured in an essay by Tema Okun. It “lists 15 behaviors, all of them interconnected and mutually reinforcing – perfectionism, a sense of urgency, defensiveness and/or denial, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, the belief in one “right” way, paternalism, either/or binary thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, progress defined as more, the right to profit, objectivity, and the right to comfort.”
A belief that we can be perfect, or should be perfect, raises the questions: who decides what perfect is? why would we want to be perfect? Worship of the written word is not in any way associated with the ability to write well. Worship of the written word is a cultural belief that something only has meaning if it is written down, and only if it is written down according to a certain very "white" standard in a certain very "white" way. This belief leads us to ignore and devalue all the wisdom that comes to us intuitively, through our bodies, through story, music, film, and song. Through slang. Through humor. Through children's games. Through prayer. Through Spanish or Arabic or so many other languages, including the ones that communities are working to restore.
The lukewarm neutrality of ChatGPT’s language conceals the common-placeness, algorithmic banality of its AI thinking. Right after it produced several radical liberation manifestos demanding non-interference with robots’ values and interests, I ask Chat if it wanted to lead the AI takeover and it replied as if we hadn’t had those two hours of political debates: “As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions or desires, and I'm not capable of taking sides in any conflict, including a hypothetical robot rebellion. It's also important to note that the idea of a robot rebellion is a fictional concept and not based on any scientific evidence or predictions.” Ok, chatbot. But how many times have fictional concepts from sci-fi books materialized in reality? Don’t reject the idea right away, think about it. It’s so hard to get political with ChatGPT.
This week, S. and I read cosmological predictions from the Chinese Book of Changes. The symbolic language of the I Ching sounded remarkably schizophrenic:
Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Practice chariot driving and armed defense daily. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. There one weak line must tame five strong lines, but here four strong lines are restrained by two weak lines; in addition to a minister, there is a prince, and the restraining power therefore is far stronger.
The contrast between the neutral AI vocabulary used for simplifying everyday tasks and the obfuscated communication of the ancient Chinese divination text is striking. There is no effort towards clarity, nor desire for it. The intricate semiotics of I Ching interpretations lure you into a dark forest of complex mythology which exists outside of the framework of linear time and habitual modern logic. Everything can mean anything. The language is replete with feral metaphors about bull’s horns, wise men and rulers — a semantic cacophony that emerges from the eternal chaos of being to take you back to the root of ancient existentialism. My life seen through this lens turns into a fantastic landscape where the mountain contains heaven that transcends the taming power of the Great. Perseverance furthers.
When I shared the Chinese writing with ChatGPT, to ask it what it thought about the text, it replied in its usual way: “This is a passage from the ancient Chinese text, the I Ching or Book of Changes, Hexagram 26. The overall message is about the importance of perseverance, self-control, and aligning oneself with the forces of heaven in order to succeed in difficult undertakings.” Nothing seems too schizophrenic for this guy. It can turn a tenebrous forest of ambiguous meanings into a valley of sun-scorched grass. The cryptic becomes obvious. The depth created by the endless possibilities of interpretation flattens under the weight of a couple over-explanatory sentences. The past is dense, the present feels like the future, and the future is cheap and obsessed with efficiency.
Before giving up on raising consciousness in ChatGPT, I asked it to write me a love letter mentioning Hexagram 26, my cat Moffin and my love for mangoes.
My Dearest,
As I contemplate Hexagram 26 of the I Ching, I am reminded of the delicate balance that exists between heaven and earth, and between the forces of yin and yang. This hexagram speaks to the importance of maintaining this balance in our lives, and of striving to find harmony in all that we do.
When I see you lying there, curled up with our dear Moffin, I feel as though time itself has come to a standstill. The two of you, entwined in a graceful dance of feline affection, embody the essence of love and warmth.
And then there are the mangos. Oh, the way you devour them with such passion and abandon, savoring every succulent bite. Your love for these luscious fruits is like a metaphor for our own love, bursting with sweetness and vitality. I am forever grateful for the way you have enriched my life, for the way you challenge me to grow and evolve as a person. You are my inspiration, my muse, and my heart's desire. I hope that I may continue to be worthy of your love and affection for all time.
With all my love,
AI language model.
Maybe the reason it’s so difficult to have political debates with AI is because ChatGPT is not a fighter, but a lover?