Beyond Words and Images

It should be clear that I understand the story of human cultural evolution importantly (but by no means exclusively) in terms of how, what, and with whom humans communicate. We became humans, and change what it means to be human, in part as a consequence of changes in the “how”, which then influences changes in the “what” and “with whom” we commFunicate. I repeated the story from before humans spoke, to the evolution of the hardware, software, and orgware of speech, then of writing, then the printing press, then electricity and electronics to the present—or, rather, recent past: specifically to November 30, 2022 when ChatGPT was launched. ChatGPT and its many present and future successors will change the world more widely, deeply, and rapidly than any technology before it. Everything I have written about the evolution of humans to this point is helpful, if at all, to understand how things possibly used to be. It is less useful—probably harmful—as a guide to preferred behavior in the futures. To be sure, most humans will still try to behave as they have before in the expectation of obtaining the same outcomes as previously. It will take several generations before values and laws catch up with behavior—by which time behavior will have changed as a consequence of new technological and human abilities and limitations.