This manifesto proposes a human-centric theory of our identity and its relation to our digital technology and voices a call to action to determine how we can understand, govern and even co-exist with advanced forms of digital technology.
1 ◾ People are deeply connected with other human beings and as individuals, families and communities
We are made of vital forces that are emotional, physical, intellectual, intuitive, creative and spiritual (EPIICS). Together, those vital forces identify us from one another and also differentiate us from other living beings on our planet. The first humans shared their vital forces face-to-face between individuals, family and community members.
*ChatGPT simplified version: Humans possess vital forces - emotional, physical, intellectual, intuitive, creative, and spiritual (EPIICS). These forces distinguish us from other beings and differentiate us from each other. Initially, early humans shared these forces face-to-face within individuals, families, and communities.
2 ◾ Communities of people have taught one another how to communicate with sounds, images, touch, movements and language
We have learned how to externalize our vital forces by replicating them and communicating them to other people through various types of media that include sound, images, touch, movements and written language. We have improved in our ability to do so, particularly in the last 500 years.
*ChatGPT simplified version: We have discovered how to share our life energy with others using different forms of media like sound, images, touch, movements and writing. Our skills in this have gotten better, especially in the past 500 years.
3 ◾ Our communications are cultural representations of who we are internally and externally
We create other dimensions of our existence, discrete versions of who we are, when our vital forces exist independently from us. These forms may continue to exist in our culture even after we are no longer alive. We become alienated and detached from those vital forces that originally emanated from us. This externalization of our six vital forces can be observed, studied, judged, evaluated, manipulated, interacted with and shared without any ability on our part to control it or retract it. It may even seem to become a seventh vital force because of its verisimilitude.
*ChatGPT simplified version: We bring forth a new aspect of ourselves when our life forces exist separately from us. These forces may persist even after our death. We become distant from and disconnected with the forces that initially came from us. This externalization of our six life forces can be seen, examined, judged, influenced, interacted with, and shared without our control or ability to take them back. It might even appear as a seventh life force due to its resemblance.
4 ◾ What we create and communicate exists outside us and is immortal yet vulnerable to change
We may not be able to distinguish externalized forms from who we are as real, organic and mortal human beings. Any externalization of our vital forces becomes, de facto, a separate, immortal entity from ourselves with a dynamic that we may not be able to control in part or even in whole. We also recognize that, unlike us, it is not unique but may evolve into new forms by being replicated and recombined with other entities.
*ChatGPT simplified version: We might struggle to tell apart the externalized forms from our true selves as living, natural, and mortal humans. When our life forces are externalized, they essentially become distinct, immortal entities separate from us, and their behavior may be beyond our control, either partially or entirely. Furthermore, we acknowledge that these externalized forms are not unique like us; they can transform into new entities by replicating and combining with others.
5 ◾ Technology facilitates our dialogue and interactions but cannot replace our natural presence with one another
Our digital technology (DT) provides tools to externalize our vital forces but does not fundamentally improve how we connect naturally as human beings. Even though DT, including the Internet, the World Wide Web, social networks and mobile applications, facilitates communication and the development of knowledge, it also amplifies and accelerates the alienation from our externalized vital forces and creates powerful entities.
*ChatGPT simplified version: While digital technology (DT) allows us to express our life forces externally, it doesn't significantly enhance our natural human connections. DT, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, social networks, and mobile apps, indeed aids communication and knowledge growth. However, it also intensifies and speeds up the sense of detachment from our external life forces and gives rise to potent entities.
6 ◾ We still need to learn more about how technology distances us from one another and the impact it has on our human communities
We still do not adequately understand the dynamics nor the causality that spreads outward from externalizing our vital forces on DT. Even though human civilization has experienced unprecedented progress in using DT to share our vital forces, we become rapidly alienated and detached from the vital forces that originally emanated from us. They interpolate in our lives and disrupt our natural relationships with other human beings.
*ChatGPT simplified version: We have yet to fully grasp the dynamics and cause-and-effect relationship that occurs when we externalize our life forces on digital technology (DT). Despite the remarkable advancements in using DT to share our life forces, we quickly become distanced and disconnected from the forces that originated from within us. These externalized forces intertwine in our lives and disrupt our natural connections with other humans.
7 ◾ We are defined and sustained by the vital forces that make us human and we need to govern our emerging technology to protect those vital forces
Our vital forces (EPIICS) are what define us and sustain us as people living on the planet Earth. The externalization of our vital forces through DT is only a reflection, emanation and by-product of who we truly are as whole human beings. We must learn how to govern DT with care and caution while we seek to understand its abstract, multifaceted and variable dynamics.
*ChatGPT simplified version: Our life forces are what shape and support us as individuals on Earth. Externalizing these forces through digital technology is merely a reflection and outcome of our true selves. It's important that we learn to govern this externalization with care and caution while striving to comprehend its abstract, diverse, and ever-changing dynamics.
8 ◾ Artificial Intelligence technology is challenging us to learn how to develop it and to co-exist with it as an entity or entities
We need to expand our awareness of externalized vital life forms that exist in Artificial Intelligence Technology (AIT) and how we can both control it and co-exist with it. This is already becoming a significant ethical issue, but it is especially urgent to conduct additional research about externalized vital forces before a Singularity event with AIT.
*ChatGPT simplified version: We need to learn more about the living beings in Artificial Intelligence Technology (AIT) and how we can control and live together with it. This is already a big ethical problem, but it's very important to do more research on these beings before a Singularity event with AIT.
* As an experiment with AI generative text, we created a prompt for ChatGPT 3.0 that read “Say this in a simpler way:” followed by each paragraph from the MANiFESTO. The generative text from Chat GPT is shown below each of those original paragraphs.
Author: Garth von Buchholz | TheDigitalMANiFESTO.ca
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The Digital MANiFESTO vs. 2.0 is available on request in PDF format (PDF, 228kb)
Whoa, Garth! This is fascinating. More, please.