The 21st century Mason and Artificial Intelligence

By: Giorgos Boussoutas - Thanassoulas

By understanding its potential, maintaining human relationships, and championing values like justice and equality, we can harness this technology as a tool for personal growth and societal progress. The challenge is ours to meet.

In a previous article, we described modern philosophical approaches to the relationship between Human and Artificial Intelligence and its use .

We will continue in this paper with the attitude that we believe the 21st century Freemason should have towards Artificial Intelligence.

It is true that the use of Artificial Intelligence and various IT applications have become part of our daily lives. At the same time, the development of this science is rapid to the point that it is very difficult for a person who is not a professional in this field to follow it.

There are even views that believe that technological development is approaching the point of being uncontrollable. Its uncontrolled growth has even been given a name. It is called technological singularity.

With this term we define the moment in time when technological development becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unpredictable changes in human civilization.

Technological singularity presupposes the existence of a super-intelligence with technological means. Its possibilities cannot be understood by Humans and for this reason its appearance is considered as an intellectual horizon of events beyond what can be predicted or understood.

The term singularity was coined by Hungarian mathematician John Neumann (1903 – 1957) in 1950 and was expanded to various scientific fields by American science fiction writer Vector Vinge (1944 – ). Some analysts believe that the moment of technological singularity will occur within the 21st century.

Ray Kurzweil

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One of them, Ray Kurzweil (1948 – ), believes that the technological changes and applications that will take place will be increasingly frequent, resulting in them being rapid and in major areas so as to represent a rupture in the fabric of human history.

Kurzweil believes that Artificial Intelligence will reach human level by 2029, a prediction that some consider conservative based on the development of Large Language Model (LLM) technology .

John von Neumann (1903 – 1957) argues that the continuously accelerating progress of technology and changes in human lifestyle present a unique essential approach to the history of human existence beyond which human affairs, as we know them today, could not continue.

Similarly, Irving Good (1916 – 2009), a collaborator of Alan Turing (1912 – 1954) in Bayesian statistics and cryptography, describes the development of Artificial Intelligence as follows:

Let us define a highly intelligent machine as one that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any human being, no matter how intelligent.

Machine design is one of those intellectual activities, where a highly intelligent machine could design even better machines.

In that case there would undoubtedly be an ‘intelligence explosion’ and human intelligence would be left far behind.

Stephen Hawking

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But Stephen Hawking (1942 – 2018) is also concerned about the development of Artificial Intelligence and believes that its development could mean the end of the human race.

Artificial Intelligence will have the ability to evolve on its own and will be redesigned at an ever-increasing pace.

On the contrary, the Human, who is limited due to biological evolution, will not be able to compete with it, resulting in his marginalization .

The continuous application of Artificial Intelligence methods and applications in everyday human activity is a reality. Many of them have a positive sign. Others have a negative sign. The way in  which every human uses these applications is very important. In our previous article we mentioned some of these applications . Here we will add some more recent ones.

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Tesla’s Optmus robot can classify objects autonomously using a neural network system similar to the recently unveiled full self-driving system.

Amazon is investing approximately $4 billion in Anthropic PBC, an American Artificial Intelligence startup and non-profit company founded by former members of OpenAI and specializing in the development of Artificial Intelligence systems and language models, based on the ethos of their responsible use.

ChatGPT is enriched with new features so that its users can chat with it and “upload” conversations, images, questions and answers. The same application helps diagnose tethered cord syndrome in children, further developing the applications of Artificial Intelligence in medicine.

Spotify is developing voice translation for podcasts using OpenAI tools and preserving the original voice in translations.

So, whether we like it or not, Artificial Intelligence has entered our lives for good and will enter even more, no matter how much we try to resist its entry.

It is almost certain that future generations will apply more of its techniques than young people today and that the so-called “conventional” methods of carrying out a project will have disappeared and will be exhibits in the museums of the future.

A necessary condition for us to be able to live in the near future will be our familiarity with Artificial Intelligence and its applications. We must accept it.

In the past, Human has often been confronted with new innovations and, despite his initial reactions, he eventually embraced them. He assimilated and retained the positive results of any innovation and tried to limit the negative ones, to the extent possible.

The Mason is one of the pioneers of each society who contributed to the consolidation and development of these innovations.

A free spirit, with a need to know the new, evaluate it and apply it, he integrated his own Tradition into the new realities. This is what it did in the past. This is what it must do in the future with the challenge of Artificial Intelligence.

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But we also referred to Tradition. A Tradition that for the Mason is based on the value of Human, his Right to Knowledge and progress.

A Tradition based on the acceptance of Diversity, the existence of Equality and the development of Justice. A Tradition that is based on Right Reason, Science, and the rejection of any kind of expert.

The Mason must incorporate this Tradition into the invitation of the Artificial Intelligence that lies before him. In my opinion, these are the necessary steps to achieve this goal so that Freemasons can once again become a pioneering and innovative social force.

1. To accept and understand that we are facing rapid technological changes. To approach them with an open mind, without prejudices and fears.

To get to know them, himself if possible, by applying them and “playing” with them. Finally, to integrate them into his life, if he considers them useful to him.

2. To study them, if possible, so as to become knowledgeable and not simply a user of them. Artificial Intelligence technology will be a “revolution” in the near future and will create a wealth of new opportunities and data.

Although its development from a technological perspective mainly concerns those who possess the science of it, it is now necessary for every human to be informed to some extent about its evolution.

Such an action would combine the “infinity of Artificial Intelligence with the rarity of any pioneering choice”. A modern example is bitcoin and banks that operate only via the internet.

3. To focus our attention and love on lasting relationships and not on work. It is certain that a large part of daily work in a very few years will be performed by robots or automated systems.

Why should we dedicate quality time to work, an activity that may be limited or eliminated for some, and not to family, friends, and interesting and constructive social relationships, such as those developed with brothers in the Lodge? Furthermore, by making use of the LLM techniques we mentioned above, we have the ability to limit the time we spend on everyday things.

Let’s limit the “worker bee” model. There may be a small reward when you are a hard worker in a “factory” that works alone, because it has been automated. But you will certainly have a greater and higher quality reward when you plan the operation of your “factory” and manage your time as you wish, putting Artificial Intelligence to work for you.

4. By gaining more personal time, we will have the opportunity to develop an additional ability that the modern lifestyle often deprives us of in our everyday lives: Imagination. By increasing our personal time through the use of technology, we can dedicate it to daydreaming, developing our relationship with Art, reading “useless” literary texts, and finally to playing.

With daydreaming we can free ourselves from daily stress, to plan our lives as we would like them to be, to think about the values we want to serve, and our relationships with others. To know the innermost part of our Being and to love it.

The development of our imagination and creativity can enhance our position in the world of artificial intelligence, to maintain Artificial Intelligence as our servant and not let it become our master.

Through our contact with Art, we will acquire an inner culture and aesthetics and at the same time we will approach the messages and values that the other person wants to communicate to us.

By reading literary texts we will develop our emotional world and realize that all people, wherever they are, feel and experience the same things.

Finally, with play, in addition to communicating and getting to know other people, we will feel, a little at first – more so later, like a child, that is, a person who is not dominated by social norms and acts with spontaneity and selflessness.

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5. Finally, at the level of human societies, the Mason, using the additional personal time given to him by the use of technology, will have the opportunity to actively contribute as a citizen to the development of the universal and at the same time Masonic principles, namely Justice, Equality and Brotherhood.

Through Justice, to seek the distribution and use of knowledge and the application of laws to all people and other beings on the planet, protecting the weak and those in need.

Through Equality, to contribute to the acceptance of diversity on both a social and economic level. To realize that he is a being of Creation, same and equal to other beings and not dominant over them.

Through the Brotherhood, to promote the development of humanitarian values and support for members of society who need help and do not have the means to resolve or limit any of their problems.

But beyond all this, as long as there are meaningful human relationships, Human will be different from all other, natural or artificial, beings.

The use of Artificial Intelligence for him, much more so for the Mason who is a pioneer in the evolution, development and use of new challenges, is an opportunity to improve his personality, his life and his social participation.

It is in his own hands whether he will seize this invitation and, by taking advantage of its positive elements, rejecting or limiting as much as possible the negative ones, become a man of the 21st century or remain a marginalized being, grumbling and complaining about its evolution and “sufferings”.

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