Drop a Talmudic discussion into a free web-app and it spits back an audio workshop elucidating the text. Dump a profound text of kabbalistic theosophy to another free app and you’ve got a podcast with all the humanlike umms and coughs elucidating its meaning. Hey, Mom! You gotta hear this! Look what I made!
Of course, you made nothing. But the app has certainly done something. It’s run a steamroller across this text and flattened it into the landscape.
The bumps and swerves along the path of the Talmud that open avenues for intellectual journeys have been smoothed out as though they were never there. The profundities of the kabbalistic texts have been neatly blended into the platitudes of perennial philosophy’s all-enabling “religions are all one and the same.”
You could say, “It’s so neat. So cool. So messianic. Let’s build it to the sky!”
Or you could say, “What am I providing the world that is unique and authentic, that only a human being can provide?”
There are ways, amazing ways these tools could serve and enlighten humankind. Most, if not all, are collaborative.
We face monumental challenges today in areas of highly complex systems. Specialization has hindered medical care from seeing the holistic human being. Other holistic sciences, such as environmental studies, energy conservation, and urban planning present complexity beyond the pale of our current tools.
In the short period that LLMs have been available, advances have been made in these and other beneficial fields that were inconceivable prior to the advent of the LLM. In each of those instances, these models are being applied with a clearly stated and well-defined purpose. Those implementing them are well aware of why they are using them and of their limitations.
They’re not piling bricks one on top of the other and saying, “Let’s see how high this monster can go!” These are people who are consciously and deliberately contributing to the welfare of humankind. And these are projects that feature an unprecedented degree of collaboration, each individual providing their own unique and valued contributions.
In these projects, what shines through is the realization that we are truly many souls that are one, in a world that is astonishingly one in its multifarious ways, reflecting the absolute, infinite oneness of the Creator.
The dispersion of Babel is paying off. Indeed, perhaps it wasn’t a punishment after all.
Perhaps G d truly admired what His creatures were doing. But He said, “You need to do this right. And to do that, you first need to appreciate the gamut of your diversity, scattered over the planet with many thousands of languages, thousands of cultures, and billions of individual perceptions of life.”
“Then you can come back together and build this tower. So that each one of those unique experiences will shine within it.”
It’s Up to You
It’s easy to say, “There’s nothing I can do about this. I’m just a cog in the wheel.” And it’s true that much of technology abuse is the fault of the fiduciary infrastructure that governments have largely ignored, or perhaps helped create.
But a large part is up to the individual. Before you engage any tool, clarify for yourself two questions: What do I want to achieve? And what unique value does this achievement provide to the world?
Most likely, you’ll want to get others involved. And you’ll discover that today that’s become possible in ways never before imagined.
Call it a Moshiach mindset. Because Moshiach is not just a person. It’s the notion that this world is worth our investment. That it is essentially good. More than that, it is essentially divine. It’s just up to us to reveal that.
The ultimate tikkun of the Tower of Babel will be the Bet Hamikdash—the temple in Jerusalem to be built by Moshiach. It will be a building with purpose. Not for the sake of grandiosity. But to shine divine light in the world, to illuminate each creation with its meaning, and each individual with his or her purpose of being.
In each thing you do, with whatever technology you use, add another stone to that magnificent structure. Now that humanity can be one again, this time ensure it will be a beautiful, diverse oneness.
