A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Singularity: Why We Cannot Do Without Auxiliary Constructions

Summary

Psychoanalysis is known above all else for its insistence that we have motivations that are unknown to ourselves, that are unconscious. We are all subject to sickness and accident, to bad luck and unfair breaks, and above all to death as a final end to all our endeavours. In order to compensate for these disappointments and for our ultimate inability to overcome these very real and material constraints we phantasise, we dream, we create, and/or we nurse our bruised and fragile selves by hoping that our phantasies might come true, if not for ourselves then for our offspring. The singularity, as it is most commonly expressed, concerns the possibility of overcoming death by achieving a sort of immortality. In specific terms Kurtweil’s own discussion of the singularity is concerned with the possibility of ‘resurrecting’ his dead father in virtual space at least. There is consistently throughout the writings on the singularity a dismissal of the emotional aspect of human living in favour of the rational overcoming of our existential condition. I am arguing that we cannot ignore the emotional consciousness that is the bedrock of human existence and that we ignore our unconscious feelings at our peril. I think that the singularity as it is being developed is actually a direct threat to the flourishing of human beings and human society because the emotional shortcomings of the theory have not been recognised.

All of us should ask ourselves what we can do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks.

Stephen Hawking is Terrified of Artificial Intelligence, Huffington Post 5/5/2014.