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The 21st Century Philosopher's Stone

For millennia, humans have sought to obtain the coveted Philosopher's Stone. The discovery of such a technology would mean limitless wealth and knowledge. Alchemy touted the Philosopher's Stone as capable of transmuting materials into precious stones like gold and silver, presumably for the monetary benefits it could derive. But the search for the Philosopher's Stone was much deeper than that. It was thought to be capable of creating the Elixir of Life, generating physical and mental rejuvenation. This reveals to us that the ultimate riches are universal, non-tangible commodities - the limitless quantity of time, perpetual youth and beauty, and endless knowledge. Ultimately the Philosopher's Stone grants its owner an object of desire as old as humanity itself - eternal life, divine creation, and the answers to the universe. It would make Man into God. 

Man has labored over the search for these omnipotent qualities since the dawn of civilization. For some, that search lived in the spiritual realm. They believed that God-like wisdom and eternal life could be obtained through the exploration of the metaphysical. For other's, the riches of the universe were accessible with enough power. Emperors and Kings could obtain all the worldly possessions that were available - wealth, sex, and mandated human compliance. The most cunning of both these two groups combined efforts, where the supreme leader was himself a deity, therefore elevating the worldly possessions he could obtain and granting eternal life as the reward of his struggle to greatness. In another way, humans have sought the incontrovertible qualities of the Philosopher's Stone through the exploration of matter, of the physical realm, of technology. Alchemy became chemistry. Chemistry became material sciences. Material sciences became physics. And physics became the Hubble telescope, vaccines, smelting, fracking, propulsion and the atom bomb. God-like power. 

It is reductionist to simplify the efforts of humanity to a singular motivation, becoming God. But the Philosopher's Stone is both a real example of that search, and a microcosm of the search in general. After all, in the Abrahamic religions, the first act of mankind was to eat the Forbidden Fruit, from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man's first action was to search for God-like qualities. And this search continues today. Man's latest endeavor, and perhaps the most promising - Artificial Intelligence. 

Pause for a moment and listen to the various phraseology associated with AI. The following is a brief summary of the purported outcomes of AI. 

-> It will create superintelligence, either vastly improving the quality of human life en masse, delivering to us the Promised Land, or destroying all of humanity in an apocalyptic, Book of Revelations scenario. If we harness it correctly, we could eliminate illnesses and suffering, generate immeasurable wealth, cease to toil in our mundane jobs, and answer the questions of the origins of the universe. But if we fail, it will manifest ultimate evil, enslaving or wiping out humanity as we know it. 

It's as if humanity has discovered the Philosopher's Stone - God-like power - and we are grappling in real time with the path forward. Will the Angels of Our Better Nature take effect, and equip us with the power of God to bring about utopia? Or will the Jungian Shadow of humanity bring about results which are familiar to history; enslavement, coercion and destruction? Perhaps there is a third option. The Philosopher's Stone isn't real. It has never been real. And while the search for such a technology to deliver such outcomes is inherent to the human condition, it can be overridden and overcome. Perhaps AI is not the key to the Garden of Eden or the final words of the Book of Revelation. Perhaps it will be a mirror for humanity, to further illuminate our insufficiency, misdeeds and sin, and also our beauty, achievement and perseverance. Perhaps it will be a tool for progress and regress. And humanity will take the next step forward in the long arc of history, as humanity and not as God's. 





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