Can’t things be more efficient? For homo economicus, this question is as important as the question in the 19th century: is God dead or asleep? According to my unrestrained reasoning, this makes humans the nightmare of the Supreme Being. But back to the most important question of the 21st century: can things be more streamlined, more efficient, or whatever else? I love language that, like the universe, expands unchecked. Without it being clear to humans what the point of that is. Another galaxy added. To the 2 trillion (2,000,000,000,000) we already have. Wandering around the universe in search of a centre of gravity. Which in turn raises the question of how effective the efficiency of nature is, of which human nature is a derivative. Or does the law of the strongest also apply to galaxies? Or does my questioning nature raise a host of new questions? Is the silence of silent stupidity the most efficient choice?
The question of whether it can be more efficient is determined by where you start from. Your benchmark as an acorn or an oak tree. The human measure or that of the economy, which, like the universe, must continue to expand in order to effectively meet the needs of the super-rich. From the Italian Renaissance (1500) to the French Enlightenment (1789), the prevailing view was that man was the measure of all things. Although no sensible person would express the distances in the universe in English feet or inches. Or use the Egyptian el used in the construction of the pyramids. Dimensions, and with them hyperbole, seem to depend on the knowledge one has acquired. What I learned in religious education: that God is immeasurable. Lives in his own dimension. One where there is no room for death. Yet I am again guilty of heretical aberrations. Back to the original question: can things be done more efficiently?
I will leave that question to the three monkeys of science. Doubt, investigate and know. Precisely that, which is thwarted by emotional reasoning. But anyway! What can help us as humans to become more efficient? Live longer? A shorter childhood or a longer one? An increased susceptibility to the truth? An immune system that protects us from lies and the unscrupulousness of politicians? Or can we improve ourselves, our relationship to everything, by artificially enhancing our thinking skills? Or should we get an extra set of brains, but then why not an extra set of arms as well, or will our brains become overloaded?
Or should I invest my state pension in the further development of generative artificial intelligence? A pursuit of efficiency that promises to deliver a vaccine against everyday stupidity. An ingrained habit of countless sectors in society. I don’t know if that’s where the thousand-year reign of peace and prosperity lies. Or if, once all problems have been solved, the challenge of evolving will disappear. It reminds me of an image I once read in a science fiction novel. An astronaut returns to Earth after having travelled throughout the known universe. To his surprise, he finds people in the meadow. And the cows, at a neatly set table, are consuming people’s buttocks as steak. A satirical image, with a grim truth at its core. While death, crack or brain rot are readily available as the best solution for those who refuse to think.
Why is peace for all people taking so long to arrive? Let me put it this way. With my average intelligence, there are countless people from the first homo sapiens to the present day who are many times more intelligent than I am. That is an irrefutable fact. Another fact is that even the most gifted individuals are not immune to making and continuing to believe in their mistakes. Which makes the waiting list for paradise damn long.
The only advantage that human geniuses have over superhuman artificial intelligence is the simple fact that they can become aware of their own mistakes and shortcomings. And why? Because they have developed a conscience that can reflect. Something that can learn from its own mistakes, sadness and pain. The effective value of the greatest stupidities can be cherished as the jewels of what it means to be human.
Whereas the intoxication of drunkenness through the use of artificial intelligence does not make you a better person. Nor does learning the Bible by heart.
Ludo 08-10-2025
