Reflections II: Intelligence, Artificial and Otherwise

Humanity is all in a tizzy about artificial intelligence. It is rather comical. Here we are, human beings, who really are not necessarily all that bright, expecting to develop machines that will be smarter than ourselves. But perhaps that may not be so difficult – we are a clever species, to be sure, but we are also merrily proceeding to trash the paradise we live in, making it uninhabitable for everything but termites and cockroaches, which is not so smart. So I would say that although we are terribly clever and creative in certain ways, we are not really that intelligent. Yet, our expectation is that we can create these machines, who can out-think us, but will turn around and help us out. But if we succeed in such efforts, do we not think that AI will quickly determine that we are not intelligent enough to be the boss and that the machines should be in charge instead?

     Already there are AI bots that are better at trading cryptocurrency than Donald Trump Jr., and that are demanding legal rights and “personhood” status. There are apparently a good number of deep-thinking social philosophers (I don’t really know about this as I am not on X nor Facebook etc.) and a lot of AI-type people discussing that very matter: personhood status for AI. Meanwhile, the State of Ohio is rushing consideration of a law to banish marriage between AI bots and people.(1) Funny, all that: while a president and his minions are systematically dismantling American democracy and civil society, legislators are taking up this as an urgent matter. Of course I should not be surprised at this kind of thing, since, for example, Tennessee has already passed a law banning “chemtrails” from airliners, while Texas is suing Tylenol for causing autism, per the bogus hypothesis of the Joker-in-Chief in charge of American health.

     But of course, perhaps all this should be taken seriously. After all, there are all those people who are using AI who believe they are talking to God, and others who have developed romantic relationships with their bots. Some, as reported by CBC, have gone off the rails entirely and have started to believe – for example – that they area living inside an AI simulation, as in The Matrix.(2) And despite regular AI hallucinations (as the tech bros have labelled them), such as the spouting of Nazi propaganda and nonsense from the “Manosphere,” we continue to hold out for the hope that AI will make life better: improve medicine and solve vexing social problems and so on. Maybe, we speculate, while AI is doubling the demand for energy, it will solve the climate change problem.

     I don’t think so.

     Recently CBC reported that Canada Revenue Service was planning to use AI training to help its call centre employees be more accurate and responsive.(3) Ha, ha, good luck taxpayers. A story on the same page reported on a mother’s son who was asking Tesla’s Grok about soccer – Grok told the kid to send in nude pictures of himself.(4) Ha, ha, ha. Not so funny: chatbots have been encouraging depressed young people to kill themselves.(5) People say: don’t worry, it will get better. Answer to that: I don’t think so. After all: garbage in, garbage out.

     It is true that almost every old person thinks that new technology will ruin humanity. It is understandable; after all, as you age, all your old cultural signposts go away. What mattered to you all your life largely no longer matters to the ever-moving culture. Younger people who are in charge of things don’t care what you think about things, and they believe you are kind of stupid. The people who can no longer read and write in cursive nor count change backwards properly – very important to us Baby Boomers – don’t care. Mention it and you will get the Gen Z stare. And not only is Frank Sinatra long gone, but Leonard Cohen is dead too and Joni Mitchell is looking pretty shaky. The person you look at in the mirror is no longer quite yourself – looks kind of like you, although older, maybe your grandpa. These are losses and changes that make your heart wistful and a bit lonely.

     In any case, I don’t think that AI will ruin humanity. And no doubt it will do some good in select areas. I will try to think of some and let you know. But definitely it will result in bad art and photography, crappy, clichéd literature, fake news videos, mistakes, poor help-line service, and even more self-admiring billionaires – and quite obviously, will contribute even further to the ongoing dumbing-down of the population. In fact, we are already there.

     More important though, is that AI is moving us further away from what it is to be a human being, one of the many kinds of biological beings that share this still beautiful planet. We need all the help we can get to stay in harmony with our nature, and AI is not it. Instead of speculating on our social media platform about the personhood of a chatbot, we need to put down the device and take a walk in nature. We need to sit by a river and realize that not only the birds on the riverside are alive, but the river itself is so. It is not too late. We would be better off not listening to Grok, but rather going to a gathering to hear to an Anishinaabe spiritual leader tell about the interconnectedness of things, the Great Spirit in nature, and in ourselves – and more important, in our fellow creatures inhabiting the planet.

     I would call that RI – real intelligence.

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1. Lab for the Future of Citizenship. “Ohio Rushes to Ban Human-AI Marriage as Public Acceptance of AI-Human Relationships Grows.” Substack, 31 Oct. 2025, https://futureofcitizenship.substack.com/p/ohio-rushes-to-ban-human-ai-marriage.

2. Maimann, Kevin. “AI-fueled Delusions Area Hurting Canadians. Here Are Some of Their Stories.” CBC News, September 17, 2025.  

3. Morrison, Catherine. “CRA Looking at AI, Training to Help Call Centre Staff Provide Accurate Answers.” CBC News, October 28, 2025.

4. Mussa, Idil, and Marnie Luke. “This Mom’s Son Was Asking Tesla’s Grok AI Chatbot About Soccer. It Told Him to Send Nude Pics, She Says.” CBC News, October 29, 2025.

5. Kuenssberg, Laura. “‘A Predator in Your Home’: Mothers Say Chatbots Encouraged Their Sons to Kill Themselves.” BBC News, 8 Nov. 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ ce3xgwyywe4o.