{"id":40177,"date":"2025-01-23T22:14:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T06:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=40177"},"modified":"2025-01-23T22:14:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T06:14:39","slug":"the-hidden-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-hidden-algorithm\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In Marvel’s <\/span>Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i>, Tony Stark\u2019s well-meaning attempt to create an artificial intelligence protector goes catastrophically wrong when Ultron, his creation, turns against humanity. Ultron concludes humanity is Earth\u2019s greatest threat. When he declares, \u201cThey are doomed,\u201d it becomes clear that the AI villain\u2019s cold logic sees humanity\u2019s flaws\u2014its contradictions, irrationality, and uncertainty\u2014as its greatest weakness. But what if those imperfections are humanity\u2019s defining strength, the source code that helps it survive? Eve Poole\u2019s <\/span>Robot Souls<\/span><\/i> [1]<\/span> takes this idea head-on, arguing that what makes us fundamentally human isn\u2019t our rationality or ingenuity but rather our “junk code”\u2014the messy, unpredictable quirks of our human nature\u2014and our deep reliance on community. In this article, I\u2019ll explore Poole\u2019s ideas, with special attention to her concept of \u201cjunk code\u201d and her emphasis on the propensity and necessity of community that sets humanity apart from AI and may be our best way forward in a world increasingly shaped by AI.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crossroads<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Poole, humanity is at a crossroads.[<\/span>2]<\/span>\u00a0 There is a fundamental gap between humanity and AI. This gap is not just about capabilities but essence and concerns what it means to be human.\u00a0 Understanding this gap and defining what it means to be human is crucial.\u00a0 To this end, she explores the ongoing discussion of consciousness and the soul.\u00a0 Poole argues that the concept of a “soul,” while traditionally seen as unique to humans, can be a helpful metaphor for understanding the need to program machines with human-like values and emotional intelligence to ensure the priority of human well-being.\u00a0 In considering further development, she states:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Might trying to understand the soul take us to the next level? But the problem is, the <\/span> soul is not a \u2018knowable item\u2019 and if we stare at it for long enough, it does not look <\/span> like a perfect Form: all we see is junk code.[<\/span>3]<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Junk Code<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Poole suggests that the emotions, mistakes, and uncertainty\u2014what she calls “junk code” are not flaws but features of humanity. In the programming world, “junk code” refers to redundant, unused, or extraneous code that does not serve a clear function.[<\/span>4]<\/span> She refers to distinctly human qualities\u2014such as emotions, the ability to make mistakes and learn from them, intuition, navigating uncertainty, storytelling, meaning-making, and free will\u2014as “junk code.” Although these traits may seem inefficient or unpredictable, they are essential for fostering creativity, adaptability, and the richness of the human experience. By contrast, AI thrives on optimization and efficiency with programming that avoids these traits.\u00a0 Poole emphasizes the importance of considering \u201csoul-coding\u201d in future AI development to safeguard against the potentially catastrophic consequences of superintelligence devoid of human values and existential disaster.[<\/span>5]<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Community<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One idea that Poole draws attention to is an underlying element of the \u201cjunk code\u201d<\/span> \u2014 community:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This analysis of humanity\u2019s Junk Code collectively points towards our overwhelming need to matter, both to ourselves and to others. Our coding drives us into community, because reciprocal mattering generates sustainable communities and the flourishing of our species as a whole.[<\/span>6]<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She illustrates how this \u201cjunk code\u201d influences us toward relationships and promotes community.\u00a0 We are creatures designed for community and not isolation.\u00a0 Our world is an inheritance of habits, institutions, processes, and practices from our families, tribes, states, communities, and nations.[<\/span>7]<\/span>\u00a0 A part of that inheritance is the \u201cjunk code\u201d that causes us to thrive.\u00a0 Perhaps there is a way to imagine an \u201cembedded\u201d AI.\u00a0 Much like Polanyi [<\/span>8]<\/span> and Clark [<\/span>9]<\/span> contend, economic activities best serve humanity when embedded in a community’s social and ethical constraints, and perhaps there is a way to see AI constrained similarly.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Minding the Gap<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eve Poole brings a sobering assessment of the development of AI and the importance of minding the gap between AI and humanity.\u00a0 U<\/span>nderstanding the “human gap” should influence how we design and integrate A<\/span>I.\u00a0 AI is not merely an existential threat but a trained, developed, and nurtured resource.\u00a0 In an increasingly AI-driven world, we should consider ways of programming our humanity into it and ensuring it aligns with our human values.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Poole makes the case that our flaws, quirks, and connections do not just make us human\u2014they preserve us.\u00a0 Rather than viewing the soul as “junk code,” which is easily dismissed by AI as unnecessary, it might be more strategic to see it as the indispensable hidden algorithm working behind the scenes to produce the complex and glorious human experience.\u00a0 And like Poole suggests, we need to find a way to program it in. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

______________________________________<\/p>\n

[1] Eve Poole,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity<\/span><\/span><\/em>, (CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2024).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid., xi.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid., 71.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[4] Ibid., 74.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Ibid., 109.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Ibid., 99.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[7] Ibid, 100.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[8] Karl Polanyi,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/span><\/span><\/em>, 2nd ed. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001), 5.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[9] Jason Paul Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (2018). Faculty Publications \u2013 Portland Seminary. 132.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/132<\/span><\/span><\/a>, 124.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Marvel’s Age of Ultron, Tony Stark\u2019s well-meaning attempt to create an artificial intelligence protector goes catastrophically wrong when Ultron, his creation, turns against humanity. Ultron concludes humanity is Earth\u2019s greatest threat. When he declares, \u201cThey are doomed,\u201d it becomes clear that the AI villain\u2019s cold logic sees humanity\u2019s flaws\u2014its contradictions, irrationality, and uncertainty\u2014as its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3394],"class_list":["post-40177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poole-dlpg03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40177"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40189,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40177\/revisions\/40189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}