The Value of Lived Experience in the Age of Superintelligence

We live in an age when superintelligence (SI) captivates our eyes and ears.

Even as I research SI, I find myself placing greater value on content made by people. There is an irony in that. Photos, videos, voices, music, papers, and essays produced by SI often leave me feeling weary. I have even begun to think that an organization certifying that something was made by a human might be worth investing in.

What truly holds value in this age? What moves us, and what might bring back the feelings we knew before SI arrived?

I think part of the answer lies in what I experience firsthand, through my own body. SI can show me the view from the summit of Gwanaksan, but it cannot climb the mountain for me. One day, technology that connects the brain to a machine may create the sensation of having made the climb. But would it bother to reproduce the dust on my shoes? There would probably be little reason to go to that trouble.

Sitting in a concert hall and hearing classical music with my own ears. Climbing a nearby mountain and taking in the view with my own eyes. Feeling the weight on my body as a plane takes off. In those moments, the fact remains that I was there, that I lived through that time. Could these experiences be becoming all the more precious in this age?

I find myself thinking anew about the importance of the body. We can now acquire more knowledge at a lower cost, but physical experience still demands my own time and effort. To climb a mountain, I have to take one step after another. To build fitness, I have to keep moving.

The price of knowledge has fallen. Does that mean its value has fallen too? Or am I treating price and value as the same thing? Could even my insistence on distinguishing the two be a form of human stubbornness, born of a life spent valuing knowledge?

I do not yet know the answer. But I still feel that living through my own body holds its value.

So let us move more, exercise, and experience things for ourselves.