Cage Match?
Polymaths vs AI? Or Something Else?
“To boldly go where…”
That is the start of the opening line to the theme song for Star Trek, especially the original series. What is interesting about the original TV series is it only aired from 1966 to 1969, just three years…and it still has an impact on our culture 50+ years later. 1
In our current time, humanity is boldly going into a world of Artificial Intelligence.
Are we truly ready for the transition?
This publication is centered on a vision of a world full of polymaths but can polymaths compete with AI?
Can our current economic, social, and political system support people through that transition?
These are some of the questions that keep my mind racing at times…because when I think about them, I become concerned about the future.
Why worry?
There are many reasons to consider the risks of AI and we have a plethora of cinematic and literary ideas of different scenarios of an AI future from which to examine those risks.
I won’t list those in this article but will skim over something that exists today that is already a problem.
Suboptimal economic incentives of the labor market…especially related to polymathic aspirations.
Down Memory Lane
Around 25 years ago while working in a contact center, I attended a sales training. And something from that training has stuck with me since then.
The trainer focused on an important attribute of a good salesperson…enthusiasm.
But what stuck with me, was an acronym of sorts he created using the last four letters.
Enthusiasm = I AM SOLD MYSELF!
It is a lot easier to promote something when you believe in it yourself. If not, you have to develop some excellent acting skills.
Therefore, it begs the following questions about this publication:
Am I “sold” on the idea of a world full of polymaths?
Am I sold on the idea of a Polymath Paradigm Shift in political and social organizations?
Am I sold on the idea that people can benefit from learning and integrating different subjects, especially financially and economically?
While contemplating these questions over the last several weeks, I came across a post in one of my social media feeds about OpenAI and other AI companies developing Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Super Intelligence.
Below is a snippet from OpenAI:
OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity. We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome. To that end, we commit to the following principles:
If you are curious about the principles, please check out their charter page.
Consider how well the current global political, social, and economic system operates today in terms of benefiting all of humanity compared to this snippet in the above charter about what AGI can potentially do.
…outperform humans at most economically valuable work…
Are we ready for this? If not, how do we close the gap because it is happening?
Can a Polymath Compete?
What would Leonardo Da Vinci be like today? Would he be a famous polymath? Would he be lost in the noise of a fragmented media system to the point that nobody knew who he was despite his intelligence? Would he aspire for intellectual greatness or would he be drawn into other pursuits that didn’t maximize his potential?
How would he fair against Artificial Intelligence?
AI Conversations
To help explore that question, I logged into the free version of ChatGPT and provided only this prompt:
Polymath vs AI
And here was the very immediate response.
That's a spicy pairing—Polymath vs AI. Let's unpack this as a deep and dynamic contrast. Here's a breakdown across several dimensions to explore their differences, tensions, and synergies:
There was a lot to unpack so I will keep it brief with the following few screenshots of the initial interaction. More to come in future posts.
Do you agree with ChatGPT’s statement that Polymaths learn “…through curiosity, intuition, experience, and synthesis”?
Based on these three dimensions alone, what would be your follow-up questions?
How would you solve the limitations of the Polymath, such as time-bound?
Final question
Did you notice the word in parentheses in the AI column for limitations after the term “self-awareness”?
Positive Note
ChatGPT ended the first round of the conversation with this:
Maybe it isn’t Polymath (human) versus AI but Polymath (human) plus AI…
We can say to ourselves, “…time will tell”?
OR
We can say to ourselves, “…what can I do to shape the future”.
Thanks for reading.
If you found this article interesting and would like others to contemplate some of the questions asked, please share.
Very thought provoking article. I shared on FB.