The voices of artificial intelligence (AI) are filling the world. If you ask a question, the answer will be immediately answered, and complex writings will be written in an instant. Even ‘writing’ is no longer a unique human domain. Some say that ’emotion’ is unique to humans, but is it. Some psychologists describe emotions as algorithmic structures called ‘information input → processing → output’. Isn’t it evidence that AI algorithms are good at expressing emotions. All of these flows eventually lead to burying. What makes humans human.
I find the answer in Death Awareness. We all know that one day we will die. A being who knows finiteness, and a being who can ask the question “why exists” in the face of that finiteness, that is human. The question begins with me personally and extends to humanity, nature, and space. Science, philosophy, and art were born in the process of exploring the essence of existence from me to the universe. In the first place, humans were able to raise civilization because they had that question.
In this sense, science is also two-pronged. One is the science of technology for application, and the other is the basic science that asks the source of existence, including humans and nature. No matter how advanced AI is, at the bottom of the technology is the root of basic science. Since AI mimics the neural network of the human brain, it could not exist without basic research on the neural network. Without the language of ‘mathematics’ found to explore the nature of nature and the universe, it was not possible to design an ‘artificial neural network’ called AI. In the end, the question of “why” asking the nature of existence was the basis for making AI possible.
But we are now too easily forgetting that foundation. In the presidential office, the AI officer is sitting above the science and technology secretary with the title of ‘Chief’, and the Minister of Science and ICT is also an AI expert. The policy is following the immediate industrial performance, and investors are flocking to AI startups rather than basic research. AI, a descendant of basic science, is now at the center of state administration, but its roots are being pushed to the fringes. Of course, AI is determining national competitiveness, so it is right and right for us to do well, but we must not forget to take care of its roots.
Many of the inventions we are familiar with, such as phonograph, light bulb, and semiconductor, are also products of basic science. In the case of the phonograph, it was 20 years after the invention that Edison acknowledged the use of ‘music playback’. Jared Diamond, the author of the bestselling book “Guns Milded Iron,” said that the adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” was wrong, citing the phonograph example. It was said that the real purpose was found only after the invention. If so, it should be said that invention begins with ‘possibility’ rather than ‘necessity’. There has always been basic science at the bottom of that possibility.
Korea also belatedly realized the importance of basic science and established the Institute of Basic Science in 2011. Based on the German Max Planck Institute (MPG), the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) was established. But investment remains poor. The IBS budget is one-tenth of the MPG. Nevertheless, Korean society is impatient to prove its achievements. I can’t stand the slowness and honesty of basic science.
However, the roots of civilization always grow slowly. Slowly building questions, not immediate industrial achievements, have sustained civilization. This huge wave, which we are now enthusiastic about AI, was also greeted by someone’s ‘why’. The next wave after AI will be no different. If we neglect basic science, we will be in a hurry to follow the next wave.
No matter how advanced AI develops in the future, humanity will survive as long as the question of “why” continues. Basic science, which explores the answer, is the last line of defense for humans not to give up being human.
[Kim Insoo Editorial Writer]
