Changing the World

A Modest Proposal

When the Industrial Revolution transformed society in the 19th century it changed our relationship with our bodies. For all of human history most people earned a living through physical labor, be it farming, woodworking, weaving, blacksmithing, sewing, or any of the myriad activities required to support civilization.

As machines started taking over these tasks, more and more people found themselves leading more sedentary lives. The decline in manual labor led to a decline in fitness of the average person.

This gave rise to a new concept - exercise. People needed to specifically make time to move their bodies. Around this time, you see the rise of “physical fitness” as something that needed to be pursued. Prior to this people just naturally “exercised” - it didn’t need to be something one consciously did.

Not coincidentally, this period also saw the rise of organized sports still played today, like baseball, basketball, and rugby. These also arose as a way for people to use their bodies.

We are now entering an AI revolution. How this will play out is impossible to say.

(note: AI is a complex and nuanced topic, but rather than break the flow of the essay here I put some thoughts about it as a postscript for those who are interested.)

I have been reading and learning about how AI is impacting education, and it is sobering. I highly recommend this report from MIT and the upcoming book Collison, both of which pull together a lot of current research.

It all points to the same conclusion - using AI to do your work for you hinders your ability to learn, but using AI as a supporting tool can make you more productive in something you know how to do.

A key to learning anything is struggling with it and through it. Without struggle there is no learning. If someone or something just does it for you, you won’t get better. Failure is part of learning.

Except for Schoolhouse Rock of course. Schoolhouse Rock makes learning everything easy.

We can’t let students use AI to short circuit the learning process. We don’t let elementary school students use calculators when they are learning their multiplication tables, and we shouldn’t let them use AI when they are learning to write an essay.

Education is about the process of learning how to process information, and ultimately how to think.

But once we learn to do something, using AI as a tool can make us more productive. A key though is not just having a human in the loop, but having a human using AI as a tool to assist. Not vice versa.

Inevitably though, people will be ‘thinking’ less, or at least thinking in different ways.

This means that as a society we need to facilitate what happened in the Industrial Revolution. Then, machines replaced physical labor. Now we have invented thinking machines that can replace mental labor.

Then, we had to dedicate time to exercise our bodies.

Now we will need to exercise our minds.

We need to set aside time to continue to think, problem solve, and use our brains in an enjoyable way.

At the same time, AI reduces social contact between people, as assistants help coordinate activities or people are more able to work from home.

We need to create an activity that brings people together to problem solve and exercise their minds.

Or perhaps we’ve had one for thousands of years.

Tabletop Games.

Puzzles help keep us mentally sharp, but they don’t have the social aspect. Parties and other social gatherings get people together but don’t exercise the mind.

Games do both.

Plus, they are naturally AI-free zones. No one (at least no one I want to play with) is bringing their AI assistant with them to play Dune Imperium. When we play a game, we have to be present and make our own decisions with no crutches.

Role Playing Games allow us to creatively problem solve and tell stories. They will always be at their best with a human game master, collaboratively building a world with the players.

I truly believe that games must play an increasingly vital role in a healthy society. I am confident that part of the reason for the increased penetration of board games into society is people intuitively realizing they need to get together with other people and disconnect with technology for a little while.

At the same time, we need to push for regulation and safe, sane, responsible use of the technology. We should not just roll over and let AI run roughshod and hide behind our games. But while fighting for that we can also work to elevate games as the way to keep people mentally sharp and connected.

Maybe other hobbies or activities can do this. Perhaps this is a case of me just having a hammer, so everything looks like a nail. But I don’t think so. I think it is clear that tabletop gaming uniquely fills a void that will be growing.

As a hobby I think we need to promote ourselves as a critical part of our routines. Just as we make time for exercise, we need to make time for gaming. Game Cafes are the gyms of today.

Of course, people don’t exercise like they should, and probably most won’t mentally exercise like they should either. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t elevate the idea that as machines take some of the load off our minds that we need to fill it not with mindless scrolling, but with mental agility.

Collectively we need to make this happen.

Postscript

As promised above, here are some of my bullet-point thoughts about AI.

• First off, anyone who says they know what will happen is lying.

• AI absolutely started off by stealing other people’s work. Several of my books were caught up in the Anthropic lawsuit. It probably continues stealing.

• In its current form AI takes an inordinate amount of resources. There are signs that over time this may improve.

• AI has created a stock market bubble. There will be a correction.

• While it will be disruptive to the job market (as the Industrial Revolution was), it will not create a job apocalypse. I employ about 60 people, and I can’t think of a single one whose job can be replaced by AI. Will AI tools make some of those people more productive? Absolutely.

• AI should be used as a tool wielded by people, not as a tool that wields people. I highly recommend The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Corey Doctorow for more about this concept (and an excellent discussion about AI in general).

• The main way I currently use AI is as a coding partner. I have coded since 1981, and I find it very useful to be able to offload certain rote tasks to the AI that I know I could do given the time, and also have it help me learn about new techniques I may not have been aware of. It has absolutely made me more productive.

• I have also used AI to help write policies for my business

• I always take what the AI coughs up as a suggestion and make sure I understand it and modify it for my use.

• AI can be used for good and ill.

• AI will not destroy humanity

• I have been wrong before and will certainly be wrong again.

• Anyone who says they know what will happen is lying