Firstly, society is divided in air tight compartments. And they react with each other in an extremely superficial way. Mostly based on commerce. Meaning, based on buying and selling of products or services. The interactions are plainly just negotiations between two parties. There’s no human or emotional element involved. Intellectuals dwell somewhere near the apex. Office workers, menial workers and labourers are at the bottom.
Secondly, who really are intellectuals ? Are they the ones, who are educated or who are rich? Or are they the ones, who can read or write a few sentences or some articles or some books ?
Thirdly are intellectuals the cream of the society ? Should be they highly regarded, just because they can do some mental gymnastics. Nowadays, that kind of work can be done by an AI or even a simple PC also.
So what separates humans from machines and AI. It’s the ability to connect. We have somehow forgotten the human connect. An emotional and social connect. A connect where there is no give and take. A connect where there is no immediate or future benefit. A connect which can provide just small amounts of satisfaction or happiness but that may stay with one, for a longer period and even appreciate better than the stock market. And to achieve that one need not to be an intellectual. Just a plain human being, stripped of all ranks and positions of the social, economic, educational and many other hierarchies. A human being, who may not be able to solve complex problems. A human being, who may not be able to write books or thesis. But a human being, who can easily read and instinctively understand the emotions on somebody’s face or eyes.
As a society we are placing a very high premium on intellectuals. That’s where we are going wrong. Because all humans are capable of connecting with each other on a deeper level. Deeper than the superficial economic level. Deeper than the superficial formal level. Deeper than the hierarchical interactions. That is the most important attribute, society should place more emphasis on . For that alone can bring a lasting peace to our troubled planet, that we call home.
Comments, opinions and counters are welcome.
©️ShashikantDudhgaonkar
Great perspective, appreciated
👍🏼
I still prefer human interaction to interactions with AI… so, I like hearing from human intellectuals – it’s not just about the “function” they prefer – it’s also about our shared humanity.
Yes. Agree.
We humans are categorised into multiple compartments. And intellectuals and non-intellectuals is one of them.
I would prefer human interactions without any labels. For all humans are cogs in the huge and complex machine of society. Each doing their function. Which may be lowly or highly rated. But should we judge those cogs based on their the functional designation ?
well – it’s not a matter of judgment per se – I mean, of course, there’s judgment, but I turn to different people for different things – I don’t turn the clerk at my local minimarket for intellectual political analysis, for example, but I do turn to him for friendly conversation.
Yes Correct.
👍🏻
although – you’re making me think about this more now –
I think if I had to replace only one of the two with AI (either the political analyst or the store clerk) I would replace the analyst and keep the human store clerk…
Hahaha.
I think it’s how we connect to another person. They could be similar to us or completely opposite.
That’s the most important point. We are all cog of a big machine. No cog, lesser or greater than others.
Exactly true.