We’re much more than dumb terminals

Data isn’t the source of knowledge. Knowledge isn’t induced from data. Knowledge comes from explanations, and presently people are the only universal explainers.

By extension, there is not yet a platform for creativity. There is no known solution for truly creative, conjectural knowledge. And a network of such activity cannot be induced from networks of data.

The remnants of my past explanations (that is, my “data”), don’t serve as a source for what comes next. In those cases where the system is fairly static and bounded, that data may be used to make predictions. But in the dynamic realm of human creativity, prediction engines are lost. Against the backdrop of our human flourishing, these bounded applications of prediction are extremely rare.

This isn’t to challenge the merits of a “free the data” ethic or to discount the problems in data stockpiling. Only that this data-centric view of AI will not endure, how utterly ridiculous that may sound.