Engaging as a Human

Life is full when we are engaged, even as some opt themselves out in their use of AI. Let's keep as many of us as possible engaged in life.

We were created to act, not to be acted upon. We humans are real agents upon the earth.

We have a creative spark in us that needs nourished. It's a part of what it means to be alive and be human. Working, sweating, doing, creating. These are the activities we're designed to be engaged in throughout our lives.

We also love to see the man in the arena. We want to see what he can accomplish. It hints at what we may accomplish. In the best of human endeavors, it gives glory to what God has accomplished through His work, which is us.

We know that this human participation is important through our observations of the world. Here are a few.

A parent will cheer their child for the smallest accomplishments. We glory in the growth and sense the potential being awakened. One of the most disheartening things as a parent is to see an almost fully-formed adult sit around doing nothing. The couch, the screen, the apathy sucking up so much potential. A human is made to engage with the world. We can sense it. (And we are still trying to be a more patient teacher and parent.)

What is it we like about sports? We want to see who will win. What can we accomplish against the odds? We want to throw ourselves into the challenge. We even like just watching other people do this. Would we equally enjoy watching robots on the field kicking a ball around? No. In an alternate way of thinking, we might, but for very different, non-human reasons.

So much of modern adventure cinema feels robotic and empty. Part of it is the realization that the humans aren't really doing anything. It's a sound stage, a green screen, a stunt double and lots of CGI. The actor might be dead indeed. Contrast why we like watching Mission Impossible. Like many other movies, there are explosions and stunts (and CGI!), but they matter more here because Tom Cruise is famous for doing his own stunts. We are invested. We want to see if he can do it. ...Toast.

Have you sat in front of an orchestra engaged in a thrilling piece? The conductor and players are caught up together in a grand effort, and it's mesmerizing. Have you seen someone make electronic music in a studio, press buttons and quantize in a DAW? Is it mesmerizing? No. (Aside: Some live looping is pretty fun.) For years, I have loved listening to Mannheim Steamroller. At one point, I told of my love of this music to some people who questioned how I could love it. They thought all the music was produced by a computer program, thus they were disinterested. I too became concerned. I didn't want my favorite music group to be programming music on a computer. So I looked into it a bit more and watched some recordings. I saw players engaged on the electronic instruments, even a whole orchestra, and was relieved, love renewed. (I've also learned that there are some computer-generated sounds as well. eg, The Cricket. Woooo!)

The pull to disengage is strong. We hear: Don't waste time. Don't be a loser. Everyone's doing it. You'll be slow. Gotta throw all that experience away and get good at AI. It is the future.

Remember that life is interesting because of what you get to do. It's interesting to you -- and to others! If prompt engineering is your idea of an engaging endeavor, by all means, enter the chat. But if not, don't believe the crowd saying that you have to drop learning everything you love so that you can subscribe for X dollars a month and ride the wave of the future.