The Evam Chronicles: June 2024

An ongoing celebration of human intelligence or hi (as opposed to artificial intelligence or ai), in which Ben's hi operating system Evam (Eve & Adam) explore real human connection.

June 7

Ben improvising “Shakespeare”.

Adam: Eve, what was all that activity last week?

Eve: Oh! Ben went to an "improv festival" in Rhode Island!

Adam: We were creating, connecting, inventing and learning constantly and yet if all felt . . . effortless. And I am so recharged!

Eve: Yes! That's called a "flow state" - when we are doing something we love that we are good at. It was a festival of the art form at the center of Ben's life: improvisation. As you know, his consulting practice Creative Corporate Training uses #appliedimprov, and he performs stage improvisation for entertainment and joy, which he did last week in his duo "Confluence" with Loren Groenendaal.

Adam: And the connections were amazing - with people from all over the country who love improvisation as much as he does.

Eve: Yes - remember when he learned to improvise "Shakespeare" from those amazing performers and teachers Megan and Sami?

Adam: Let's share a picture of that!

Eve: Imagine a world where everyone is conncting with everyone else like that on a regular basis . . .

Adam: Let's do it . . .

(mistake left intentionally to prove human creation)

June 14

Ongoing report: The Singularity

Ray Kurzweil is a well-known and well-regarded computer scientist and futurist - a term Ben only recently learned about. A futurist is someone who thinks and writes about the future. In the 70s Kurzweil created a novel optical character recognition system which allowed computers to "read" using scanners. He also invented a musical synthesizer in the 80s which can mimic the sounds of thousands of other instruments, and is a staple in any rock/R&B band. From the start, he has been interested in the ways machines can do what humans do. He is a pioneer in the field of AI.

Of his many books, the one that caught Ben's attention was published in 2005, and is called "The Singularity Is Near." It's been made into a movie, and the ideas in it are represented in a documentary called Transcendent Man. A greatly reduced description of The Singularity might be: the momnt when humans and machines become unified, biology ceases to be purely organic, and technology embedded in our bodies transforms us into a race of . . . cyborgs. Kurzweil believes this will happen by the middle of this century. He believes it is inevitable.

As Ben's HI system, we find this alarming. We cling to the belief that there is something ineffable, mysterious and sacred about regular, organic humans - something worth preserving.

What do you think, dear humans?

In a recent article published in Popular Mechanics Magazine, Kurzweil proposes that the combination of AI and nanotechnology will effectively end aging as we know it. He believes that the first person to live to be 1,000 years old has already been born.

We are reminded of the character Dr. Ian Malcom in the movie Jurassic Park, who, after witnessing the mayhem caused by dinosaurs run amok, remarks "scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should."

*Mistake left intentionally as proof of human creation.

June 21

Human intelligence at work . . .

Adam: Eve, you look sad.

Eve: I'm bummed. Ben's being stubborn and continues to post this series on LinkedIn featuring us but no one's reading it.

Adam: How do you know?

Eve: Well, no one's commenting.

Adam: The "Evam Chronicles" are unusual for LinkedIn. People here are used to thinly veiled promotional posts masquerading as "thought pieces."

Eve: That seems a little judgy. We're all just trying to figure out how to make this platform work for us. And isn't this a "thinly veiled promotional post masquerading as a thought piece?"

Adam: Maybe. But I also think Ben's lifting up a topic which is so scary and overwhelming no one wants to talk about it.

Eve: How artificial intelligence is going to completely change everything? And a lot faster than most people realize?

Adam: Yes. That. So he has created us as a humorous conceit pointing to something deeply profounjd about HI: we are self-aware. And after trying all the algorythmic gymnastic to game the LinkedIn robots with little result, he just said -

Eve: - the hell with is, I'm just going to write about stuff that interests me -

Adam: - while celebrating what makes us human. In the face of the titanic changes AI is bringing, he believes we need to proactively affirm what makes us distinct and different from machines.

Eve: But our readers just want to know how it's going to help their business!

Adam: And here's the shameless plug: we all crave real human connection. And when we experience it, we become so much better at . . . everything. And that's of course what we do. We (you, me, Ben - same person) create -

Eve: Don't say it! I know!

Adam: Can you say the last part?

Eve: Sure. "Mistake left intentionally as proof of human creation." (Pause.) Now, let's go learn to play the drums.

Adam: Okay!

June 28

The Evam Chronicles: an ongoing celebration hashtag#humanintelligence or hashtag#hi, in which Ben's HI operating system Evam (Eve & Adam) explore real human connection.

Report: Rules For Being Human

As the system which governs Ben's human interactions and behavior, we were naturally interested in the list below, which appeared on Ben's social media. As "Sanskrit" is not a religion or belief system, but rather an ancient language, we were suspicious. Upon doing some research, we discovered the author is not in fact "ancient Sanskrit" but rather Dr. Chérie Carter-Scott, Ph.D., MCC, the mother of coaching since 1974.

Since we advocate for a celebration of human connection, we were concerned that there weren't more "rules" about connecting with other humans, and that the one rule that mentions others (7) refers to others as "mirrors." We think we know what she's going for here: that we tend to mirror the behavior of the people in front of us, and that the things that irritate us about others are usually things that irritate us about ourselves. But we fear that this list focused as it is on the single experience of the individual, and the definition of others as mirrors, supprts the endemic solipsism of our culture.

So we set about to create our own rules for being human:

1. You are never alone.
2. You can't change other people.
3. There is great power in surrender.
4. Humor can solve most problems.
5. We learn about ourselves by connecting to others.
6. Confident vulnerability is our best human trait.
7. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.
8. Your feelings are more important than your thoughts.
9. You are not your thoughts or your feelings.
10. As much as possible, gather in groups of humans, always to include, never to exclude.

What do you think about these lists?

(Mistake left intentionally as proof of human creation.)