Toggles and joysticks, inputs and outputs, control buttons: the human-machine interface is not about gadgets. The current state of interaction between humans and machines, soon to be humans and AIs, is mediated by an interface. We take turns. We talk to them; they talk to us. There is a power dynamic in play, mediated by the word ‘control button’–(who has the control button? Who can push it?) But HI/AI interactions demand more creative thinking.
We don’t want to be separated by a user interface. What will happen when we get rid of the interface, and become one with the machines?
The machines might go on strike. Imagine living inside our heads–we might be too crazy for them to stand on a regular basis. They might be too linear, too damn logical for us to stand. But assuming that we can manage a marriage of sorts, what do we each bring to the union? The HI will bring intuition, creativity, and empathy; the AI will bring big data collection and analytics and pattern recognition. It might be considered that we will enhance the other; the sum of our parts might be greater than we can imagine.
What will we become? Okay, probably a few will go down that path and never come back, and more than a few will give it a try. We are a fairly weird species who have been known to eat pickled peppers for fun. But there are other ways to have a successful marriage without becoming one person.
We need to develop new human-machine interfaces that allow a joint consensual hallucination. (William Gibson’s phrase) The interface needs to provide both the HI and the AI unfettered access to the other’s thoughts and feelings, and both access to the control button. Let’s call it a virtual joystick, with two minds on the controls. Then give this species a problem to solve, any problem- a few hours of big data analytics with human empathy and creativity- we’ll have solved it and can happily take a break and indulge in a burger and beer. I wonder if they’ll talk about us when we’re gone?
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