In his 2017 New York Times bestseller, Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, MIT professor Max Tegmark argued that AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology. Five years before ChatGPT made the risks and opportunities of AI the overriding topic of conversation in companies and society, Tegmark asked the same questions everyone is asking today:

What career advice should we give our kids? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? How can we make AI systems more robust? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle?

In the book’s press materials, readers are asked: “What kind of future do you want?” with the promise that “This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time.” But was it Tegmark’s book that empowered us to join a conversation about the implications of AI? Or was it the AI technology itself?

The Question Concerning Technology

I have previously referred to the German philosopher Martin Heidegger in my articles here at Forbes. In “This Existential Threat Calls For Philosophers, Not AI Experts”, I shared his 1954 prediction that unless we get a better grip of what he called the essence of technology, we will lose touch with reality and ourselves. And in my latest piece, “From Existential Threat to Hope. A Philosopher’s Guide to AI,” I introduced his view that the essence of technology is to give man the illusion of being in control.

Heidegger has been accused of having an overly pessimistic view of the development of technology in the 20th century. But his distinction between pre-modern and modern technology, and how he saw the latter evolving into what would soon become digital technology, also suggests an optimistic angle that is useful when discussing the risks and opportunities of the AI we see today.

According to Heidegger, our relationship with technology is so crucial to who we are and why we do the things we do that it is almost impossible for us to question it. And yet it is only by questioning our relationship with technology that we can remain and develop as humans. Throughout history, it has become increasingly difficult for us to question the influence technology has on how we think, act, and interact. Meanwhile, we have increasingly surrendered to the idea of speed, efficiency, and productivity.

But, he said as early as 1954, the advent of digital technology suggested something else was coming. Something that would make it easier for humanity to ask the questions we have neglected to ask for far too long.

AI Reconnects Us With Our Questioning Nature

While the implications of AI on science, education and our personal and professional lives are widely debated, few ask why and how we came to debate these things. What is it about AI that makes us question our relationship with technology? Why are tech companies spending time – and money – researching how AI affects critical thinking? How does AI differ from previous technologies that only philosophers and far-sighted tech people questioned in the same way that everyone questions AI today?

In his analysis of the essence of technology, Heidegger stated that “the closer we come to the danger, the brighter the ways into the saving power begin to shine and the more questioning we become.” This suggests that our questioning response to AI not only heralds danger – the existential threat that some AI experts speak of – it also heralds existential hope for a reconnection with our human nature.

AI Reminds Us Of Our Natural Limitations

The fact that we are asking questions that we have neglected to ask for millennia not only tells us something important about AI. It also tells us something important about ourselves. From stone axes to engines to social media, the essence of technology has made us think of our surroundings as something we can design and decide how to be. But AI is different. AI doesn’t make us think we’re in control. On the contrary, AI is the first technology in human history that makes it clear that we are not in control.

AI reminds us that it’s not just nature outside us that has limitations. It’s also nature inside us. It reminds us of our limitations in time and space. And that our natural limitations are not just physical, but also social and cognitive.

AI brings us face to face with our ignorance and challenges us to ask who we are and what we want to do when we are not the ones in control: Do we insist on innovating or regulating ourselves back into control? Or do we finally recognize that we never were and never will be in control? Because we are part of nature, not above or beyond it.

AI Makes Us Wiser By Reminding Us Who We Are

Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, AI presents us with a choice: Either we ignore our ignorance and pretend we still know everything there is to know. Or we live with the pain that comes with knowing that we don’t know everything. We can tell each other stories about when and how AI will help us transcend our natural limitations. How it will enhance our thinking and ability to speed up innovation and productivity. But by doing so, we miss a historic opportunity to become wiser as a species.

Wisdom is not about what we know or how we define and try to design artificial intelligence, cognition, or even consciousness. Wisdom is about what we don’t know and how we deal with the fact that we may never know. It’s about seeking a deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationship to and responsibility for our surroundings. It’s about asking – and continuing to ask – questions about who we are, why we are here, and what is the right thing for us to do. And it’s about never trusting AI, tech experts, or even philosophers to answer these questions for us.

We may never be able to fully understand what is it about AI that makes us question our relationship with technology. But the fact that we do makes us wiser – and empowers us to join what definitely is the most important conversation of our time.