"I am Centaurian... I am Centaurian"
What is a Centaurian?
What is a Centaurian? Since launching my Substack, a common query has arisen: What exactly is a Centaurian? This question arose as millions, myself included, began experimenting with GenAI over the past year. It sparked an epiphany — something monumental was unfolding. My career, starting 30 years ago in neural network and parallel computation research, seemed to culminate with the deep learning revolution of the past decade. Yet, GenAI, an evolution of deep learning, revolutionized language processing in ways I never envisaged at the onset of my career.
Understanding the Future through Diegetic Prototypes: Bruce Sterling's concept of "design fictions" brilliantly encapsulates this notion:
"Design Fiction is the deliberate use of diegetic prototypes to suspend disbelief about change"
Diegetic prototypes portray futuristic technologies in a realistic way for audiences to comprehend. Many of us have encountered these compelling prototypes in our favorite films. A notable example is ‘Minority Report,’ which showcased these prototypes vividly from its literal hand-wavy interface designs and personalized, targeted advertising.
Our exposure to AI has been mainly through cinematic and literary diegetic prototypes. However, these often overlook key AI elements. I've been dissecting examples like Iron Man and Jarvis, but today, let's delve into how Spiderman, Hiro from Big Hero 6, and Dr. Strange illuminate critical aspects of machine-assisted thinking.
Two Pivotal Stories: Let's revisit two transformative events. The first upended the chess world 26 years ago, and the second involved one of the earliest computer researchers, a pen, and a brick.
First: The Chess World's Paradigm Shift: The epic showdown between world chess champion Gary Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue was not their first encounter. However, in a stunning turn of events, Kasparov resigned after 20 moves, visibly shaken. He later reflected:
"[The] problem with Deep Blue was that analyzing its performance was virtually impossible... you cannot fully grasp the computer's decision-making process... I had moments of suspicion about a human element influencing its decisions."
This suspicion birthed 'Advanced Chess,' or 'Centaur Chess'’ where Kasparov posited that a human grandmaster armed with a modest laptop could outperform a supercomputer. Surprisingly, the tournament's victors were not grandmasters with advanced computers but two average players, three basic computers, and a superior strategy.
The Birth of the Centaurian Concept:
That chess tournament inspired the thinking that led to my creation of the 'Centaurian.' Kasparov used the concept of a Centaur – a mythological creature that features a human head, arms, and torso atop the body and legs of a horse – and applied it to chess-playing teams that pair humans and computers. Over the past decade, I've evolved the idea to combine AI's strengths with human insight and an efficient process to usher-in a new era of human-machine synergy, one I call Centaurian.
But before delving into the pen-and-brick story, let's explore fundamental AI misconceptions through my favorite cinematic universe.
Learning from Fictional Heroes:
Spiderman's Augmented Suit and Spidey Senses: Consider the 'Kill Mode' scene from Infinity War. The seamless integration of Spiderman's suit and robotic arms raises questions: Who controls them? Is it a complex interplay between Spiderman's instincts and the AI?
Hiro and the Microbots: In Big Hero 6, In Big Hero 6, Hiro’s neurotransmitter headband controls millions of microbots. Even though there are advancements in this type of neural technology, the real challenge lies in controlling swarms, from Spiderman's eight robotic limbs to Hiro's myriad microbots; what is the interface to control a swarm?
Daemon's AutoM8s: A scene from a favorite hard science fiction novel, 'Daemon,' portrays a mastermind controlling fleets of autonomous cars. Again, the question is whether AI is controlling autonomous vehicles or some combination of human and machine — which leads to the same question: how would you create an interface for that level of control?
"Loki shook his head. "You're not thinking in enough dimensions, Doctor. Only part of me is in this building..."
Squads of heavily armed Korr guards ran to take up positions next to a guard shack ringed with highway barriers and razor wire at the perimeter gate...
The roar of speeding engines suddenly came in on the wind...
They both turned to see one, then six, then fifteen, then thirty cars screaming in from several vectors... The cars swerved with remarkable coordination, all converging on Building Twenty-Nine like a school of piranha...
Ross examined the screens. "Computer-controlled vehicles. Dozens of them. The Factions call them AutoM8s."
Quote from Daemon by Daniel Suarez
Source: Dall-E
This brings us to the second story:
Second: Douglas Engelbart's Lesson:
Douglas Engelbart, renowned as a computer pioneer and creator of the 'Mother of All Demos,' was a visionary thinker. His symbolic act of wrapping a pen around a brick underscored a crucial message. In the mid-20th century, as computers emerged, two main schools of thought divided the field. You could think of it as the battle of AI versus IA. John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky led the charge in AI, focusing on enhancing computer intelligence. Engelbart, however, championed a different approach, known as 'Intelligence Augmentation'— leveraging computers to amplify human capabilities.
This debate forms the roots of the Centaurian concept at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Augmentation.
Engelbart's pen and brick demonstration poignantly illustrated that even writing, one of humanity's most transformative technologies, could be rendered ineffective by poor interfacing — he had ‘bricked the technology!’ His experiment highlighted that the efficacy of any tool hinges critically on its user interface.
Source: Doug Engelbart Institute
Understanding the interaction between humans and machines, especially beyond one-on-one interfaces, is crucial for advancing our cognitive capabilities, much like how writing transformed our brains.
The essence of being a Centaurian lies in crafting superior interfaces between humans and machines while architecting processes that harness the combined strengths of human intelligence and AI. It's about transcending the mere enhancement of our existing abilities, aiming instead to evolve our brain's neural architecture. Centaurians combine two pivotal computing philosophies: Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Augmentation. The true potential for revolutionary collaboration and cognitive evolution resides in this intersection.
This article is the first in a series to explore the idea of being a Centaurian. Next week’s article explores the following:
Cognitive capacity and Intelligence Augmentation in games: Could we play ten-dimensional chess?
Technology and Magic: Unpacking Dr. Strange's magic to see how AI can transform fiction into reality.
A Glimpse into the Next Article: How does Dr. Strange's ability to foresee multiple scenarios relate to our intelligence and the future of human-machine collaboration? Stay tuned.