Beyond Knowledge
- There is more to human knowledge than just "knowledge". If we built
a computer that has all the knowledge in the world, that machine would not
behave like a human being: it would behave like a machine. Humans have at least
two faculties that dramatically alter the way they use knowledge: common sense
and morality.
- Common sense interferes with knowledge. A social system relies as much on
considerate disobedience of the rules as on absolute obedience to the rules.
- Morality drives the use of knowledge. We don't just kill and steal based
on our knowledge of what is there and how to get it.
- Humans are better at disobeying rules than at obeying them. That's why we
have to write down the rules and then enforce them with police and courts.
Disobeying rules is a fundamental feature of the human brain, and it is
precisely what makes humans "smarter" than the fastest computer.
- As society creates more and more obedient citizens, it is turning them
into machines. Such human machines behave in a nonsensical and amoral manner
just like machines do.
- We are not training machines to become like humans but humans to become like machines.
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