God, Human, Animal, Machine: Memoir Responses

Analytical responses to Meghan O'Gieblyn's memoir

Prompt 1: Style and Structure

The author's style doesn't have a sense of progression from a "beginning" or an "end" like a typical story. Instead, she pulls memories from her life as she feels she needs them to further explain the topic she's describing. She uses personal experience often to add further detail to the subjects she discusses, applying personal beliefs and understanding onto a broad spectrum of things to further develop them in the reader's mind. Many examples and quotes are used too, from books and philosophers and scientists, that even further build upon ideas and give the reader even more material to ponder over. She presents these ideas through sentence structures that are more wordy in the sense that she doesn't outright state what she's trying to say. Instead, she sort of subtly approaches her point and only directly says it at the very end of the paragraph or section. This makes for a very engaging read because the reader has to actively think, either to determine the actual meaning of her words or attempt to predict the opinion she's supporting because many different views and perspectives are explained and supported. This approach to the topics she discusses allows the reader to determine which perspective they most identify with, but also doesn't give much on what the author herself believes in. With every topic, many opinions are voiced and with every opinion, many interpretations are given thought. Because of this, the author provides an almost equal consideration to every combination of philosophies, physics, theologies, and roles they play in relation to the human race.

Prompt 2: Mind, Body, and Humanity's Place

Throughout the book, the author discusses the relationship between mind and body and the effect of that relationship on humanity's place in the world. She does this by using artificial intelligence as an example to consider whether or not humanity's consciousness can be considered unique. The philosophical question of what being human means plays a major role in determining the answer, and the author repeatedly returns to humanity when discussing consciousness in the machine. She talks about many different takes on physics and ideologies, applies those perspectives onto AI and humanity, and allows the reader to decide for themselves what they think is most plausible. Even though the author rarely reveals which philosophies she aligns herself with, one of the clearer arguments she makes is that humanity invented the idea of god and with every era, continuously reinvents his image to fit their needs at the time. This basically meant that artificial intelligence is another attempt at creating something more intelligent and more reliable than humanity, something that people can turn to for answers and then trust those answers without looking too deeply into the reasoning behind it. The apparent purpose of the author's conclusion is that one becomes more aware of the thought processes and inherent goals of humanity, such as wanting something bigger than oneself to believe in or wanting, to some extent, to be central to the universe. An AI that acts as an entity of infinite counseling and promotes the user's personal opinions satisfies both of these wants. My perspective on AI's presence as an emerging constant of daily life prior to reading the novel was an acknowledgement that some people will prefer easy alternatives to actual connection and research. After finishing the book, I've realized that the purpose behind creating intelligent robots to rival human intellect was born from intrinsic human desires, and places these robots on a pedestal that elevates the dependency between human and machine as a source of answers, counsel, and connection, as opposed to seeking human interaction.

Prompt 3: Imagery and Description

As the author describes scenes and the imagery of her interactions, she gives more description to minor details as opposed to the larger whole. Things like the weather and hairstyles are described in greater detail to first give the reader an idea of what the author was experiencing from her point of view. Once the groundwork of the scene is set, she then uses dialogue and the delivery of phrases and words to flesh out what that individual was like, or how the author perceived the individual. Other than a brief mention of a hairstyle, there were never any physical descriptions of what anyone looked like. This emphasized someone's personality, as well as beliefs and ideologies, more than any other aspect of them, and also helped in cementing the fact that the book's focus was on philosophical concepts as opposed to objective experiences. At one point, the author is at a gathering with other thinkers, scientists, and similarly minded people. Her interaction with a physicist there is described almost exclusively through dialogue, with the author's reflections on his words scattered between. As the physicist's style of speaking and his ideas were emphasized more than any other part of him, the reader got a clearer idea about what kind of person he was in regards to his thought processes and views on life. Seeing as the novel discussed metaphors, religion, physics, and philosophy, it's logical that the author would prioritize ideas over things like personality traits and behavior.

Prompt 4: The Author's Perspective

The author's views were shaped by a religious childhood, the realization as she grew up that she couldn't subscribe to the same Christian faith that she had in her early years, and the resulting conversations she had in her life regarding theology and technology. Her interactions with friends and other philosophers or physicists shaped her understanding of how people think and the common lines of reasoning they use, which she then used to further dive into what it means to be human. She learned from one of her more spiritual friends that humans tend to favor divine truths or visions because it only requires faith to believe in them. Something that comes from purely instinct and could be interpreted as from above is particularly appealing to the human mind because it offers a possibility for people to cling to the idea that we aren't completely alone in the universe and there's something other out there. During the height of the covid pandemic, another of the author's friends downloaded a chatbot app to talk to. He did so in order to find solace and companionship in a time where everyone was confined to their own homes. This cemented the idea that humans crave connection, something to put one's own place into perspective. Other interactions with people in her life showed that humans tended to think of themselves as special due to their intelligence, but the author's conversations with physicists and philosophers revealed that that's not any more likely than humans being completely wrong in their assumptions that they're even conscious, and it's just electricity between synapses. The ultimate "coming of age" that the author implies is accepting one's place in the universe. Though it's not explicitly stated, I think the author's definition of coming of age in the context of her book is accepting that humanity isn't special or unique in the fact that they're seemingly intelligent and that they're not predestined to be more conscious than other beings, but we're not alone in that sense either. Since we're not the center of the universe, there are other things out there for us to connect with and find comfort in.