Everyone is worried that AI is going to make humans obsolete, but they are wrong.
AI is great at integrating inputs and making calculations, but cannot do things that are truly human.
Fear of AI is based on lack of perspective.
Crucial skills that make humans happy are not things that AI is able to do.
Here are five crucial skills that humans can do better than AI
These five skills are inspired by my favourite philosophers.
Number five
Developing a lifelong passion.
Michel de Montaigne spent decades writing his Essays. not because someone told him that it was the optimal use of his time, but because he became fascinated with history and philosophy.
As a result, he lived happily for decades.
That’s how a genuine passion contributes to human happiness.
It gives our life continuity.
AI can generate a thousand essays in seconds, but cannot wake up every morning and think, “I want to spend the rest of my life doing this because it makes me happy.”
Only humans can choose one craft, one pursuit, one passion, and devote their lifetime happily to it.
That passion becomes a source of meaning for them.
Number four:
Allocating our time wisely
Seneca warned that the problem is not that life is too short.
The real problem is that we waste so much time.
Our lifespan is limited, and we are the only ones who can allocate our time wisely.
How much time for work, how much for family, how much for friends, how much for sports, for learning, for holidays, and so forth.
The difficult part is deciding how much of our time goes into each area.
AI can optimise our calendar, but cannot decide what our life is for.
That’s our responsibility.
Because a perfectly optimised schedule can still lead to a wasted life.
Number three:
Knowing when to take action and when to let go.
Lao-Tzu called this skill Wu Wei.
It means staying away from counterproductive action.
It means that sometimes, it is better to wait and see.
It means circumventing obstacles and steering away from trouble.
Sometimes the right move is to push.
But sometimes it is better to wait.
And other times the wisest thing is simply to let go.
AI is good at finding actions to take.
But only humans can perceive the totality of a situation and decide to let go.
Wisdom is not just knowing what to do.
But also to know when it is better to do nothing..
Number two:
Thinking about our own thinking.
Schopenhauer warned us against mistaking our immediate desires for rational decisions.
When we get angry, we tend to make sub-optimal decisions.
When we get scared, we tend to make short-sighted decisions.
When we get overenthusiastic, we tend to overlook the risks.
Thinking about our thinking creates a gap between impulse and action.
And that gap can help us avoid dire mistakes.
AI can tell us what might happen next.
But we still have to assess if we want to do it and what for.
And finally, the most important skill:
Number one.
Knowing what we actually want from life.
Aristotle told us that a good life is not just about achieving goals.
It is about setting the right goals in the first place.
He called this teleology: understanding our life in terms of its ultimate purpose, or final cause.
And this is the biggest difference between humans and AI.
AI can help us get to a destination faster.
But we are the only ones qualified to choose the destination
Happiness should be our first priority.
It would be a mistake to pursue goals that, in the end, will make us miserable.
AI is great at optimisation.
But it is much more important for us to decide what is worth optimising.
AI can help us to get there.
But we are the only ones who can decide where to go.
If you are interested in applying rational ideas in all sorts of situations, I recommend my book “The 10 Principles of Rational Living.”