We have reached augmented inteligence before AI

When you install an app or piece of software, what you're really doing is installing new behaviors. New functions. New habits.

I heard this idea years ago and it stuck immediately. Neo in matrix was able to learn kung fu in a seconds, and on some level of abstraction we can "learn" how to navigate the city simply by installing maps application with door to door navigation.

Not just that. By installing Facebook or Twitter we are also installing our habit of checking the feed, the behavior of clicking like. The psychological loop of digital interaction.

So we needed to choose carefully. Shape yourself intentionally and carefully.

That was around 2016. Back then I also thought: because we integrate with software, we're creating an advantage. A programmer who truly integrates with their IDE has an edge over one who doesn't know the shortcuts. We've always had augmented intelligence at our fingerprints in a form of: notes, phones and software. We just never realized that.

Of course software can fail. Google Maps has sent plenty of drivers into lakes. You still need your own brain on top.

And there were always less productive applications like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram etc. Addictive, unproductive ones, with algorithms that tries to harvest on our lower instincts, by pushing controversy, sex, violence, polarization.

But here's this: those apps are also a mirror. Look at your TikTok feed and you see what kind of person you are. Not your opinion of yourself. The reflection of your actual choices. What behaviors win. What you decide to watch.

10 years later

I wrote a blog post about this a decade ago. And the main conclusion still holds.

Back then I was thinking about programming and software, and today I am broadening this philosophy and a way of thinking on AI. The interface — phone, voice, typing — remained the same, but we have new category of solutions to integrate with.

As I said before, we always kind a had augmented intelligence at our fingerprints. You could not remember something? You reached for notes or a phone. You needed to find a location? Maps. You needed to communicate? Phone, mail, chat. All of those were augmenting our natural capabilities.

Funny thing is: we reached augmented intelligence long before we had AI. We just didn't know.

Now with AI it's the same principle but different stakes. The tools are not passive anymore. They are active. They suggest, they generate, they decide. And the mirror we had with social media? It's gone. The algorithm shows you who you are. AI doesn't do that. It won't tell you to call your mate. It won't reflect your choices back at you. You are on your own.

So the question becomes:

  • what habits do you want to install?

  • What behaviours do you want to integrate into yourself?

Because you will. Whether you choose or not.

Are you self aware enough to make a right choices?

Only images in this text were generated/copied — the rest is crafted.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy!