Read December 2017 - January 2018
Humanism has waxed as the dominant religion over the last several hundred years. The tenets of Humanism claim that the human experience is the most valuable thing in the universe. Humanism can be divided into 3 sects:
- Liberal Humanism claims that each individual is an “in-dividual,” and that there is no higher authority for a person than that person. Truth can be found by getting in touch with one’s “true self.” Individual freedom is a value of Liberal Humanism. Western democracies are an example of institutions founded on Liberal Humanism.
- Social Humanism claims that the greatest ideal is the good of the society (as opposed to the individual). To judge the value of something, one should look at the effect that it has on the society. Does it increase or decrease equality and social cohesion? The Soviet Union and other communist societies are examples of institutions founded on Social Humanism.
- Evolutionary Humanism claims that the success of the human species is the highest ideal. To further that end, evolutionary humanism does not shrink from competition, and has no qualms about making value judgments about the relative merit (or fitness) of individuals, societies, works of art, etc. Examples of institutions founded on evolutionary humanism are Nazi Germany and other nationalist movements.
Humanism is a religion, not in the sense that it is a collection of superstitions, but rather in that it is a belief system which claims tenets of truth that are “laws of the universe” or otherwise emanating from somewhere other than humans themselves. Recent developments in science are undercutting the axioms of humanism - first, that a human is an “individual,” i.e. that there is a “true self” that cannot be divided. In fact, we find that humans have many conflicting desires and drives, and further, that these drives are easily manipulable. Secondly, science is chipping away at the idea that we have freedom of will.
It seems the most likely new religion that will supplant Humanism is Dataism. An example tenet of Dataism is Freedom of Information. Note that this is a right that is not purported to be possessed by humans (as is Freedom of Speech, for example), but rather a right that is possessed by data itself. Humans have had incredible success because they possess algorithms that are supremely powerful at processing data: we call these algorithms “emotions” and “intelligence.” However, we are developing algorithms that are even better than we are at processing data. Human intelligence (and other animal intelligence) has been inextricably tied to consciousness. However, as we develop increasingly powerful algorithms, intelligence and consciousness seem to be increasingly divorced (as far as we know, since we still don’t have a very good theory on what consciousness is all about.) Furthermore, with machine learning and artificial intelligence, we are creating algorithms which can design and improve themselves. There exist now powerful algorithms which no one human is capable of understanding.
Already, we have “legal fictions” such as countries, corporations, etc. In the future, might algorithms be able to own property? Might they be able to govern? It seems far-fetched now, but perhaps this isn’t such a leap from the legal fictions to which we already grant rights.
My favorite quote from the book: “The entire modernity contract can be summarised in a single phrase: humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power.”
Over all this book was as fascinating as it was depressing. 10/10.