The classic definition of mental health, according to the WHO, is a state of well-being in which a person realizes their abilities, can withstand the normal stresses of life, work productively and contribute to their community. At the same time, we need to satisfy our own needs, starting with the basic ones (safety, physiology) and ending with the needs for belonging, respect, self-actualization. Usually our life revolves around this: we either overcome stress, trying to secure a base for ourselves, or we need more “higher matters”: spiritual development, self-knowledge, creative expression.
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Technologies like ChatGPT are already showing the potential to replace human knowledge in many areas. But what will then be done and how will the huge number of white-collar workers and representatives of the creative class feel freed from work? We can assume some scenarios for the development of events:
The need to quickly retrain in order to master new activities in a rapidly changing reality
This process will be a little easier for those who have developed soft-skills (adaptability, flexibility, the ability to constantly learn), and quite difficult for those who do not have such skills. The latter run the risk of being left out of their lot, faced with a painful feeling of the injustice of what is happening, their own uselessness, isolation.
Freedom from routine work for communication with loved ones, creative expression, self-knowledge
This is possible if AI becomes a kind of assistant that makes life easier and gives us extra hours for non-work activities. Then we will feel “on business”, but at the same time have more time for other life tasks, for which now we do not have enough time in the bustle of work.
Frustration in creative and intellectual self-realization
This will happen if technologies like ChatGPT, DALL-E will compete with us and will not be regulated as they develop. In this case, a person will never be able to create a scientific article, a post for a social network, a poem, a marketing report, an audiovisual work better than AI or another person with its help. In this case, artificial intelligence will either be a full-fledged player, or something like dope in the general intellectual and creative competition.
Whoever thinks out how to use it more sophisticatedly will win, that is, he will receive benefits in the form of money and social recognition. For those who are less inventive or who want to act “fairly”, there may be a feeling of unfair competition and a desire to create something only for themselves and their narrow circle. What is the point of going into the common field if you have lost a priori?
Here it is worth remembering the wish of Pavel Durov, posted on New Year’s Eve in his Telegram channel: “I wish that for many, 2023 will become a year of flow and creative creation. In moments of intense concentration, life acquires meaning and receives that fullness that is the destiny of every conscious person. In the case of unregulated AI, the meaning of filling creative work for some people will probably fade, as the results of their work will become uncompetitive.
Development of the values of transhumanism
Followers of this worldview fantasize about creating a “paradise” on Earth, where technology has conquered disease and suffering. But at the same time, under such a scenario, the risk of social inequality, military-technological conflicts, and overpopulation of the planet increases. From the point of view of psychology, there are questions about this kind of future. After all, a person who has been placed in an exclusively hedonistic environment since childhood, without any hardships, runs the risk of developing such qualities as impulsive desires, lack of willpower, low motivation for action, and general infantilism.
Freud also wrote about the so-called pleasure principle, which normally prevails in children. They strive for maximum satisfaction with minimum effort. In adulthood, this “I want and I will right now” looks like this: I will spend all the money on impulsive shopping, although I need to save it for a mortgage; I will scroll the feed, although I need to sleep.
But most people are able to restrain themselves in momentary impulses due to the reality principle (as opposed to the pleasure principle). It happens like this: gradually growing up, we learn for the sake of a long-term “I want” to introduce a momentary “must”. For example: “I want to wake up cheerful tomorrow, so now I need to put the phone down.” Or an example from childhood: first do homework – then play.