A Broader View of AI

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A Broader View of AI
A Bit of Security, April 29, 2025
We are going to look at AI beginning from the perspective of literary criticism. In his book “How to Read and Why,” Harold Bloom advises us that if we read carefully and thoughtfully, we can avoid the four dangerous myths of literature.
The first is “The Death of the Author.” When the author dies, the possibility of a further conversation may end, but the depth that the existing writing has does not evaporate.
The second is “Literary characters are just lines on a page.” Anyone who is devout has a closer relationship with Saul and David, or with Jesus and Peter, than thy may have with the folks living three doors down the street.
The third is that “Human character is a fiction.” Note that this follows from unthinking acceptance of the first two. But in reality, we do have stable and deep indicators of character that do not change over the course of our lives. Good writing reveals character, if you read thoughtfully and carefully.
The fourth and most dangerous is that “Language does the thinking for us.” That means anything that is grammatically correct is self-evidently true. Good authors often turn things upside down to make us think a bit more. For instance, in his novel Anna Karenina, Tolstoy begins by saying “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” A moment’s reflection will reveal that this is completely untrue. If you have lived in a happy relationship, you know that each day is a new wonder and blessing – even the hard times are somehow lifted up by the fundamental joy you and your partner experience. And when you are going through an unhappy time, the feeling is very much the same as anyone else’s.
Shakespeare did the same with Polonus in hamlet “Neither a borrower nor a lender be …” he drones on, not a paragon of good advice but a fatuous and shallow man. But to get the joke you have to think a bit about what the words mean and how they are intended by the author. Shakespeare deserves another segment on his own, but fortunately Harold Bloom has done a lot of the work in his book “Shakespeare, The Invention of the Human.”
AI does what a bad author does – regurgitates banal observations, amplifying the consensus, and celebrating the conventional. There is no creativity or spark of human insight there. So when you choose an AI tool to help, please think carefully and deeply about what you are asking and read its advise skeptically and carefully, as you would read a good book. Do not take it at face value – look underneath, question it, ask what perspective it is trying to convince you of. You may find that it is merely moving you to conventional opinions and traditional thought. Consider the alternatives – go beyond the average.
AI can help, but do not hand it the wheel quite yet.
And that’s our Bit of Security for April 29, 2025. I’m William Malik. Be safe.
A Broader View of AI – what Literature can Tell Us.
AI can augment some kinds of work, but it’s not ready to take over anything important yet where human character is concerned. Listen to this -
Let me know what you think in the comments below or at wjmalik@noc.social
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