Soon AI will be better than humans at translating languages, selling goods by 2031, and conducting surgeries by 2053. AI will become an integral part of our lives, and it is time to prepare for the age of AI by investing in education and training. Will it be able to write from scratch a tale of two cities, replace the travelling salesman, or orchestrate the overall activities of a health system? Will it do away with teachers? Will it scrap trainers? If it does not improve civic education for global citizenship and world peace for the new golden age, let’s nip it in the bud.

Our mindset affects how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world at large. It provides identity and identification. But with AI we may be moving away from who we are to a status of being that which we no longer are or who we are declared to be, namely who we are translated to be. Will memory traced in the brain be AI manipulated so that the engrams of remembering and forgetting will become easier to change as the signal-to-noise ratio in an electrical circuit?

Of great interest are the two Nobel Prizes in science this year—physics and chemistry—one reason is simply because they relate to AI. Let’s not forget Han Kang’s intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life and for which she is proclaimed by the Swedish Academy as this year’s Nobelist in literature. The two science prizes cover the intriguing subatomic and molecular worlds of physics and the bits and bytes of AI, as well as the bridges between them. From quantum numbers to quantum computers to trolling and scrolling; short-range and strong forces holding the nucleus together, longer-range forces and not-so-strong holding the atom together while words are what can pull people together and push them apart.

Of note, Three Mile Island, 35 years on from the nuclear accident that shut it down, will, as it resumes service, supply Microsoft with electricity to meet its growing needs resulting from the development of artificial intelligence.

Al can support a library or a database at the speed of light; LLMs can help write a poem or help make an appeal more appealing; whether the poem is read or the appeal succeeds is another question. A library or collection of books, pages, paragraphs, sentences, and words organises tremendous amounts of knowledge and information infinitely larger than the content of a single brain. What does it mean when someone says that the level of morality expressed by a court ruling is higher than that expressed in the judge’s written statement?

Having participated in a conference as a panellist in search of Europe’s future and from Athens and listening to fellow panellists discuss AI and large language models (LLMs), I latched on to doing my own and t-so-controlled e experiment. My methods and the mannerisms of my experimental ways will slowly unfold. In the said panel I was drawn into a new process of learning, namely how LLMs are being used and how they are driving the increasing quality of computer-generated content in writing.

I was hearing that we humans, and of importance to those of us who write, are finding it increasingly difficult to determine whether a piece of text is human or AI-generated, and so my experiment. No, I’m not worried, but I have asked Busra, my editor, to run my old articles through Copilot, shake them up a bit, and forward them to me for approval on the beach. LLMs are advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can understand and generate human-like language and responses. Trained on large amounts of text data, they have shown remarkable capabilities in natural language processing tasks such as language translation, content creation, summarisation, and answering questions.

I was hearing that AI now used is conversational, and that it is doing well in its mimicry of human writing and empathy. So I wondered whether with AI’s improved expression of any natural language, if human ability would lessen. I also wondered whether the incentive is to create even larger LLMs with the competence to appear even more sentimental or to give us mere humans the ability to differentiate between human-written prose and an artificial intelligent translation of it. So far, I don’t envisage Copilot receiving the Nobel Prize. The best thing it can offer for natural language is to increase competence in Korean, English, and Greek of their respective children.

In continuum, I decided to choose two different texts, one short with content from mythology, which I found on my home computer that, at some time in the past, I had taken from the INTERNET and filed there. My choice and connection with it came from my days in vision research, my interests in Greek mythology, and my knowledge of the analogue computer. The second text is longer and a replay of a contemporary talk and an appeal that I helped draft. The first and short text will be transferred into poetic format, then Al translated, while the longer text will be Al translated. Here is the prose and said text of a well-known story in mythology:

There was once a young Greek man named Tiresias. One day, as he was walking on a mountain in the Peloponnese, he saw two snakes having sex. For some reason, instead of going about his business and letting them have fun, Tiresias decided to grab a stick and strike them. Hera, the goddess of marriage and family, got angry and turned Tiresias into a woman as punishment. He spent seven years in female form until he met another pair of snakes and proved himself (or herself?) wiser by letting them be. He was then reinstated to his original male form.

Some time passed, and then one day Zeus and Hera got into a heated argument. Zeus claimed women enjoy sex more than men, and Hera maintained the opposite. After some bickering, they got an idea. Who would be more capable of answering the question than a person who had lived and had sex as both a man and a woman? (Yes, it seems Tiresias hadn’t let his seven years as a woman pass idly.)

It was a unique experience that not even the gods had ever had. So Zeus and Hera appeared before Tiresias and posed their question. Tiresias boldly answered, “Of ten parts, a man enjoys one, and a woman enjoys nine.” Hera, being quite prudish, was displeased again; this time she struck Tiresias with permanent blindness. Zeus couldn’t heal him, so he granted him a very long life and powerful prophetic abilities in compensation, thus making him the revered prophet we see in the Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, and elsewhere.

What follows is my converted poem or prose poeticised, which took about 2 initial hours and later consumed two hours for refinement as follows:

Faraway places with gods in control.

Once a young man from a faraway place used a big stick to beat upon snakes.

Walking by day and by night, over tall hills and through lonely valleys, came upon coupled snakes in primeval thrill.

Warmed by the sun’s rays, releasing such reptilian passion the young man tried hard to subdue a thrill and passion.

He could, should have left well alone, gone on, made his peace but without rhyme or reason he stopped the snake’s fun.

How could he not have known that nothing goes unknown or unseen as when his stick struck by gods all of Greece.

Anger came fast to Hera and Zeus he said her you must play by my rules, preserve love and life, and ensure it for fools.

You are he bellowed the goddess of the bridal bed and native bliss, get angry much more turn Tiresias into what you wish.

The youth Tiresias changed place took up womanhood spent seven years in girlish form.

She stayed like that and played the field, until she met again by chance a pair of coupled snakes.

Still young now worldly wise he downed his stick let them mate and whereupon Hera took away all of his womanly ways.

Time passed, and Zeus to Hera said sex is enjoyed by women more than men which got her well worked up said tis not so.

They bickered on and on in high dispute tis so says Zeus tis not Hera replied until abruptly they decided to ask someone.

Someone who’d played both roles quite well enjoyed sex with a woman and sex with a man.

One only they knew who’d lived both lives for sure the still young Tiresias who had lived life with and without a stick.

So the young man from a faraway place who hadn’t let seven years slip idly by was now recalled to settle the case.

Zeus and no other god had had such a unique fun stated clearly their query and loudly of his and of Hera’s.

Tiresias now far too big for his occupied boots delivered a verdict, women relish nine men only one if sex has ten part.

Hell hath no fury like Hera’s and now greatly displeased decides to punish Tiresias with all loss of his sight.

Zeus now aghast but with his hands tied, no power to heal him and restore his lost sight so he granted him long life.

Life of a wise seer expert on sex with his erudite knowledge revered by Homer in faraway places and in Oedipus Rex.

What follows is a Copilot version of the above poem, which took a few seconds:

In lands where gods hold sway, a youth from distant realms wielded a stout staff against serpents.

Journeying by sun and moon, across high ridges and through desolate dales, he chanced upon entwined snakes in ancient ecstasy.

Basked in solar warmth, they surrendered to such primal fervour that the lad fought to quell his own thrill and ardour.

He might have passed by, made his peace, yet unbidden, he quelled the serpents' revelry.

How did he not foresee that no act escapes notice, as his blow summoned the ire of all Greek deities?

Swift was the wrath of Hera and Zeus. "You must abide by my edicts," he decreed, "safeguard love and life, even for the foolish."

"You," he thundered at Hera, goddess of wedlock and felicity, "should you rage further, transform Tiresias as you desire."

The lad, now Tiresias, assumed womanhood, seven years spent in maiden guise.

Thus she remained until fate led her to a duo of mating snakes once more.

Now sage, yet youthful, he cast aside his staff, allowed their union, and Hera stripped him of his feminine guise.

As time flowed on, Zeus posited to Hera that women find more joy in love than men, inciting her protest.

Their celestial quarrel raged until they sought one who knew both sides of passion.

Tiresias, who'd lived as both, was summoned to resolve their debate.

No deity had savoured such singular delight as he now declared, with Hera's and Zeus's eager ears,

If pleasure were divided in ten parts, women have nine, men but one.

Hera's fury knew no bounds, and thus the tale grew, and in her ire, she struck Tiresias blind, extinguishing his fire.

Zeus, though saddened, could not undo the curse but granted him longevity, a seer's life, diverse...

The following appeal was first read in Athens during the 15th Dialectical Symposium of the World Philosophical Forum to celebrate UNESCO’s International Peace Day, 2024.

An Appeal to the UN

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Participants Dear Members of the United Nations!

Let me first repeat: education first!

Ban Ki-moon: There is no UNESCO without philosophy! Irina Bokova, and there is no humanity without philosophy! Immanuel Kant. Allow me to address you on behalf of the World Philosophical Forum, whose activities are dedicated to the revival of Classical Scientific and Practical Philosophy, banned in 529 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the teaching of which in all universities of all countries has now been replaced by the teaching of scholasticism, detached from life. Let me say that there is no UN without philosophy! I would like to remind you that the first person to recognise—notice this imbalance in the teaching of scientific and philosophical knowledge in the UN—was the former Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.

Realising this, she initiated the adoption of the "UNESCO Strategy for Philosophy" in 2004. It recommended that scientific and philosophical knowledge be studied everywhere, starting early and in school. At the same time, in parallel, she established the annual celebration of World Philosophy Day in the month of November. She also put forward the slogan "No UNESCO without philosophy!" which essentially meant "No UN without philosophy!" "No humanity without philosophy! Today, we can see clearly the relevance of her slogans and her admonitions. Here and now, not far from Geneva, the 3rd World War is ongoing, flaring up more and more in its 3rd year. Outbreaks of hostilities are increasingly visible everywhere, no more flagrantly than in the Middle East. In both cases—places.

People of all faiths and ages die daily in Ukraine and in Gaza! Such a situation was foreseen—anticipated back in 2012 by the last UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who, not far from Geneva, in Davos during the World Economic Forum, came forward with his “Education First” Initiative, calling on humanity, on all inhabitants of the Earth, to begin studying common, unified civic knowledge and unite into a single global citizenship. Irina Bokova, UNESCO, supported this initiative of Ban Ki-moon by including it in the “UNESCO Strategy for 2014-2021,” in which it recommended that the world's population implement a program of unified lifelong civic education. These initiatives did not receive the support of world leaders, and with the departure of the initiators at the end of their terms, they were consigned to oblivion. Should you open the UN and UNESCO websites, you will not find even a trace of them.

Why is this? Only one organisation in the world today, namely the World Philosophical Forum (WPF), has supported these initiatives of Ban Ki-moon and Irina Bokova. Only the WPF is implementing them into today’s reality. But in the absence of UN and UNESCO support and without financial assistance, this activity is not moving fast enough to achieve the required results while the world is becoming more alarming and dangerous each and every day for the preservation of humanity and life on Earth. For the second year in a row, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists leaves humanity only 90 symbolic minutes away from—until Doomsday—the Apocalypse. In the event of the deployment of nuclear weapons by a hostile agent, experts tell us that it will take only 11 minutes for the complete self-destruction of humanity and possibly all life on Earth. As a countermeasure and fail-safe.

The philosophers of the World Philosophical Forum have prepared a scientific and practical plan for the withdrawal of humanity out of the current situation, to pull back from the brink as defined by the question called "To Be or Not to Be, and if it is To Be, then what to Do?" Most specifically, the WPF proposes the immediate establishment of a limited-term, supranational Emergency Crisis Committee (ECC) with extraordinary powers under the co-chairmanship of Ban Ki-moon, Irina Bokova, and Nicholas Hagger (a prominent British writer and philosopher) with the participation of representatives of the World Philosophical Forum. It further proposes to involve representatives of international standing with a firm desire to save humanity and life on Earth…

To be and to well be! To be and to be well! The ECC’s mandate is preventative here and now: to develop and implement a specific management plan for the efficient and effective withdrawal of mankind from its current and Ddeadly crisis, the most dangerous ever in history, a crisis enveloping the entire world and all living things on our planet within the international community. To do and to do well for humanity's well-being! The work of the ECC will begin immediately after the reformation of an International Organising Committee (IOC), which already exists and is working.

Unfortunately, the existing world order does not have the authority or the algorithmic means to do this. To do otherwise is to do nothing! As the world trembles, it is incumbent on all people of good will and practical, rational reason to do and to be. We have to neutralise and cancel all enemies of all humanity and living things on Earth, glaringly obvious or well hidden! We have no other choice! Indifference spells disaster! The future fate of environmental and biological continuity is at stake. If it is not now, it will come.

A truncated copilot version

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Participants Dear Members of the United Nations!

Let me first repeat: education first!

Ban Ki-moon: There is no UNESCO without philosophy! Irina Bokova, and There is no Humanity without philosophy! Immanuel Kant. Allow me to address you on behalf of the World Philosophical Forum, whose activities are dedicated to the revival of Classical Scientific and Practical Philosophy, banned in 529 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the teaching of which in all universities of all countries has now been replaced by the teaching of scholasticism, detached from life.

Let me say that there is no UN without philosophy! I would like to remind you that the first person to recognise—notice this imbalance in the teaching of scientific and philosophical knowledge in the UN was the former Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. Realising this, she initiated the adoption of the "UNESCO Strategy for Philosophy" in 2004. It recommended that scientific and philosophical knowledge be studied everywhere, starting early and in school. At the same time, in parallel, she established the annual celebration of World Philosophy Day in the month of November. She also put forward the slogan "No UNESCO without philosophy!" which essentially meant "No UN without philosophy!" and "No humanity without philosophy!"

Comments

My experiment worked by feedback to me of revised information on what I have written as well as some insight into how I might rewrite my poem. My initial reaction is that a form of fuzzy logic is at work that relies on hunting to arrive at some optimal position or piece, say, as for a shuttle to dock for the safe exit of its passengers or, in my case, for the writing of a perfect poem. The difference is that alighting safely from a vehicle is singular and unique, while a poem, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.

My experiment was fun, and I can say it was stimulating. Differentiating between generated and human-written content is important for navigating the modern world and seems important. The incredible brain sees things that are not there and desires things it has never seen. And when there is no vision, as in blindness, some think, believe, and are convinced they can see. There are as many mindsets in our world as there are people.

According to Silpaja Chandrasekar and Joel Scanlan, empathy gives humans an edge: The study found that empathy is the key factor where humans outperform AI in writing, particularly in relationship advice tasks, but when empathy isn't required, AI closely mimics human output. Trying to be human: Linguistic traces of stochastic empathy in language models falsified philosophies without wisdom verities without truth. Why shouldn’t it be what it isn’t if what it isn’t is what it is and reality seems something else? Erudite scripts, brilliantly clever, have been created with different designs and plots, some destructive and some beneficial. Empathy puts politicians on edge. Ambition can never be restrained, so I’m looking to be the Digital Poet Laureate in the next realm.