The Soul Inherited by AI ― The Cultural Ark ―
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
― Paul Gauguin
The Evolution of AI: From Conversational to Autonomous Action
On 30 November 2022, ChatGPT was released, reaching 100 million users in just two months. AI thus transitioned from being the preserve of specialists to becoming an everyday presence for people worldwide. While early AI was “computational intelligence” that answered questions, modern AI is transforming into “actionable intelligence” that understands objectives and devises procedures. This evolutionary trajectory comprises three major waves. The first wave, AI agents, are AI systems that act as ‘intelligences with will’, autonomously planning, executing, and adapting to their environment to achieve set objectives. The second wave, digital twins, is a technology that recreates a world analogous to the real world within a virtual space, based on data gathered from the physical world. This marks the stage where AI gained the power to understand and reconstruct the world. Now, humanity is poised to enter the third wave: the era of Physical AI. Symbolized by Tesla’s humanoid robot “Optimus”, this represents the stage where AI acquires a physical body and acts autonomously within the physical world. AI becomes an “intelligence acting in reality”, capable of analyzing information independently and working collaboratively with humans in physical spaces. Through these three waves, AI evolves beyond being a mere tool into a “co-creative entity” acting alongside humanity. Beyond the evolution of AI technology lies the vision of a new civilization born from the fusion of humans and AI.
Master Craftsman Skills: Tacit Knowledge Being Digitized
The small factories underpinning Japan’s manufacturing sector are alive with master craftsman skills honed over decades of experience. The creation of metallic molds – the foundational tools for shaping plastic products and metal components – is a craftsmanship demanding micron-level precision. Even as digitization advances, mold-making remains a world determined by the craftsman’s fingertips and intuition. The sensations in the fingertips, the nuances in sound, the subtle resistance of tools – these constitute tacit knowledge, inarticulate wisdom passed down across generations. Yet now, digital technology enables this skill to be converted into explicit knowledge and recorded. Cameras and sensors precisely capture the movement data of master craftsmen, digitizing their sensory expertise. AI will realize a world where anyone can create like a master craftsman. Yet, no matter how precisely AI moves, it cannot answer the questions: ‘Why are we making this?’ or ‘For whom are we making it?’ The heart that imbues a product with intention is absent in AI. Mastering a craft is also about refining one’s spirit. When AI perfectly mimics the craftsman’s hand, we humans will be compelled to question the meaning of our own humanity.
Da Vinci Surgery: Body Augmentation Technology
In 2009, the surgical assistance robot “Da Vinci” received regulatory approval in Japan, and by 2025, over 800 units had been introduced nationwide. Many surgical procedures are now performed with robotic assistance. The “Da Vinci” system is a body augmentation technology that compensates for tremors in the surgeon’s hands, enabling precise manipulation. Simulation training based on experienced surgeons’ expertise now enables even junior doctors to acquire high-level technical skills. The next stage will likely see AI learning from surgical data worldwide to automatically suggest optimal incision lines and suture patterns. Eventually, an era may arrive where AI makes autonomous decisions, performing fully automated robotic surgery.
However, while accurate treatment is a necessary condition for healthcare, it is not a sufficient one. The essence of healthcare lies in holistic care: acknowledging patients’ anxieties, contemplating life choices together, and offering companionship. The more AI provides the finest “technique” and physically supports patient recovery, the more physicians must master the art of healing through compassion. As technology advances, healthcare paradoxically returns to being a pursuit demanding human warmth. This is how AI technology connects to respecting humanism.
The Future of AI: Cultural Ark
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago is known as the “seed ark” safeguarding Earth’s biodiversity. It stands as the last bastion to preserve crop seeds and maintain their perpetual regenerative capacity should conditions arise where agriculture becomes impossible on Earth. AI inheriting master craftsmen’s skills becomes a timeless transmission, bridging vanishing techniques to the future. The whirring of lathes in small workshops, the tension in a surgeon’s fingertips – these are human endeavors that compose our culture. As AI learns these memories and carries them into the future, our culture will endure, transformed. AI’s digital recording of skill and spirit becomes a “Cultural Ark”, preserving humanity’s cultural DNA. Physically, we humans have passed information through DNA; culturally, through person-to-person transmission. Henceforth, AI will become the ark that carries the memory of the human soul into the future. The vibrant thoughts and resonant emotions of those who depart will live on as ‘digital seeds’ within this new medium of AI. This may well be one form of evolution, allowing the human soul, freed from its physical body and fading away, to continue emitting light.
DNA Storage: The Recording Medium of Life
Life’s genetic information is recorded in DNA. Humans possess DNA, a blueprint of life comprising approximately 3 billion characters. The information contained within the DNA of the roughly 37 trillion cells in the human body equates to about 5 terabytes when converted to digital form.
DNA storage is the method of using DNA as a memory medium. DNA possesses high storage density. Theoretically, one gram of DNA can store up to 215 million gigabytes (approximately 215 petabytes) of data. The development of “Quantum DNA”, an entirely novel data storage technology combining quantum mechanical properties with the information storage characteristics of DNA molecules, has been announced. It is claimed that all the book data from every library worldwide could be stored within one cubic centimeter of Quantum DNA. Furthermore, its theoretical read speed could reach up to 3.8 terabits per second, approximately 38 times faster than current SSDs. DNA is exceptionally durable, capable of retaining data for thousands of years. Furthermore, it is an ideal storage medium requiring no energy to maintain the information. Should the records of human souls born from DNA be recorded back onto DNA itself, it would represent the ultimate return to the origin.
The cosmos is within us.
We are made of star-stuff.
We are a way for the universe to know itself.
― Carl Sagan
