Dynamicland FAQ

Brett Victor has written down his thoughts on AI and its relationship to his project Realtalk. There’s some good stuff in there, and because it's from Brett, you know its thoughtful.

First: AI encourages robot interactions over human ones.

Many current AI systems adopt an agent-like posture, where users are encouraged to converse directly with the system as if it were an “assistant” or “servant”. In our view, reliance on agents detracts from opportunities to deepen relationships with real people. We are also uncomfortable with the mindset that accompanies owning servants.

Tools that do something for you vs. help you become something:

Our view of a “humane dynamic medium” extends from what made the medium of print-based literacy so powerful. A book cannot do something for you. Instead, reading a book can change you into someone who can do something for yourself. The role of a great medium is not to help people get things done, but to help people become deeper people — by providing a context in which they grow their skills and knowledge, broaden their context and perspective, and deepen their awareness and discernment.

Learned helplessness as a byproduct:

Instead of learning a practice, one uses a product which insulates them from the underlying knowledge. The “smarter” the product, the less the user needs to understand. While each product may be convenient individually, the cumulative result is an almost universal ignorance, helplessness, dependence, and fragility.