Last post, we left off with the existential crisis that AI poses as it removes the need for human labor. This issue centers largely on the ancient philosophical question of “what the good life is.” I argue that three major factors make up “the good life.”
(1) Effective Productivity
(2) Limit-Breaking
(3) Gratuitous Activity
Before we move through explaining these, what precisely is an “existential crisis?” It is a threat to the reason or reasons for a person’s existence. We want to find what contributes to fulfillment but also to find what factors into meaningless. The rather cliché Christian answer to what the good life is goes something like this: “you were made for relationships and relationship with God.” Unfortunately, this answer is terribly amorphous and does not center our attention on how that relationship works.
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly deployable, the fulfillment persons get from their jobs will evaporate. I would dare say many find their identity mainly from their jobs. What happens when being part of a necessary, productive work force is torn away? What happens when “the job” that acts as a main identity-builder is just over? In the West, at least in America, most adults are so consumed with their job much of their happiness/success/accomplishment is tied to it. It is certainly plausible that the masses will undergo an existential crisis: “The job that defined me for so long is now gone, I am unnecessary; who am I?”
Biblically, we know Adam was made to “work the garden.” It is the curse that made labor difficult and painful, so work is a part of the original world before sin and death. God created and worked, then rested. Jesus tells us that the Father (God) has been working ever since. Labor, therefore, is a critical piece of how we express our inherent “God-likeness” and it is part of how we are to relate to God. He creates, we create–albeit not in the same way as Him. To remove jobs from humans is to remove a feature of what fulfills and what represents God. We can of course imagine working without having to do so as part of a job. In part 1, I noted that this is the best outcome we could desire as AI takes away jobs. We must consciously choose community living and work where we produce and barter among trusted and like-minded individuals. I am asking myself as I write this, “why does there have to be produce and bartering?” Work must solve the problem of scarcity and be tied to provision. The way creatures like humans work is different than God since His work involves provision and is not born from necessity. For humans, however, work needs to be effective and provision oriented or else it is simply a hobby. Right now, I work a job to provide food for my family, but I also grow food at my home as a hobby. Both are fulfilling, working my job and doing my hobby. My life would be diminished if I had only one and not the other. We were created to work the ground to produce its goods; this is part of the image-bearing behavior we have as being made in God’s image.
To name number (1) above, effective productivity is part of the good life and helps fulfill us. I say “effective” and not just productivity because we must “enjoy the work of our hands” or “enjoy the fruit of our labor.” It is conceivable that certain productivity is wasteful or unsuccessful. The productivity humans are designed to perform that satisfies us is the effective kind because it most resembles God’s work. Satisfying productivity is inextricably connected to the results of such production–the fruit or work of our hands. The good life takes as a major feature, therefore, effective productivity. We could go into much more detail and discuss how finding the right type of work for your personality can enhance the fulfillment you receive from it, but that only extends and deepens the point. Fine-tuning the right work for increasing your fulfillment underscores the point that effective productivity is part of the good life. I am seeing this post is already getting long, so I will extend this series to write up points (2) and (3) later.
Prime Theologian