Constant Questioning: The Socratic Interrogation of AI

Navigating the modern technological labyrinth using ancient wisdom

Imagine Socrates in the bustling, information-driven landscape of the 21st century. Donning his classic robes amidst a backdrop of servers, neural networks, and endless lines of code, Socrates would perhaps be the most discerning critic of our digital age. His maieutic method — the art of questioning to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions — would be a sharp tool in dissecting the essence of artificial intelligence.

Socrates, a philosopher never content with surface-level observations, would likely first challenge our very terminology. “What do you mean by ‘artificial’?,” he might ask. “What do you mean by intelligence?” “Does not every tool man creates, from the humblest of pottery to the most sophisticated machine, stem from human ingenuity? Is there anything truly ‘artificial’ about a creation born from human intellect?

This line of thinking lies at the essence of “First Principles Thinking”, a trendy approach in the modern era to consider a very complex problem by examining it’s most fundamental building blocks.

Then, diving deeper into the core, Socrates would probably dissect our relationship with these machines. “You say these creations ‘think’. Yet, do they…