Save Our Souls

I am descended from Morse folk that were part of the 1635 Great Migration and founded Dedham Massachusetts, but not directly linked to Samuel Finley Breese Morse, a painter and inventor of the telegraph. The language used for the telegraph, Morse code, utilized a 3 letter message for distress, S.O.S., which was later given the meaning Save Our Souls. But it wasn’t created to express the message, it was random letters that were easy to read and transmit, 3 dots/ 3 dashes/ 3 dots—-

The Morse code message was adapted for ease of use—human centred. The acronym was added later, an unnecessary literal meaning layered over the utility of the code. If only AI’s layering over reality with the abstractions of math and language offered the same focus on human need. Our tools/technology should fit us and help us to grasp the world, and not be designed to tell our stories, make our pictures, sing our songs. Morse code had enduring use beyond the telegraph wire, in wireless radio, aviation, maritime safety, and today providing a language for assistive technology utilizing eye tracking and sip and puff devices.

Share

The tapping out of messages seems like such a quaint and distant practice, as we share every moment of our days instantly. The telegraph was our first step in compressing the time and distance of communicating with each other. The interface still demanded our attention and consideration to fashion our thoughts. The first message shared over a distance by the telegraph, “What God Hath Wrought.” Each successive communication technology has changed how we communicate. The endless stream we now swim in centres us as the devices the technology is communicating through. We are the interface.

This is the central problem of AI, we are biological beings and our reasoning is not tied to language. Words and language are abstractions that we use like Morse code, they are less than the sum of us. The language of thought is not defined by natural language. (See this new research article) We have created a technology that is constructed on an abstraction, on the dots and dashes of our communication and we think this has something profound to express about our embedded and embodied cognition? How stupid are we?

In Toronto, we organize for public transit, bike lanes, against jets at our island airport- - we are concerned about how we move across the city. But we are complacent about the vehicles that carry our ideas and our culture. The critical paths we use to communicate, and inspire each other through are owned and operated by private companies that have no interest in our needs. There is a very strong, unhealthy dose of inhumanity in AI development. The telegraph was one of the first technologies of mass communication and it’s telling that the enduring memory is the S.O.S., a cry for help, supporting human need and our new tech tools offer enshittification, slop, and polarization.

The tech super highways plow through our lives with our permission. Every TOS we ignore and every barely conscious tap and swipe, builds more of the road that cuts us off from each other. I still think we can steer into the skid and reclaim the space and time of meaningful engagement with each other. We must demand more accountability from our governments and institutions in how AI is being used and deployed, but it comes down to each of us and our choices. If you teach, you are likely being offered AI training or being surveyed on what training you need to use AI effectively. Push back at administrators on the questions not asked, and the assumptions made. Schools should not be in the business of promoting commercial products that damage our students learning and each of us has a part to play in Saving Our Souls.