In search of harmony amid the artificial

I’ve had a difficult past few weeks, which has reminded me of the brutality of modern society and the fragility of our networks and relationships.

On Nov. 8, 2023, my personal Facebook account was deleted with no warning, no explanation, and no opportunity to appeal the decision. I’m locked out of everything in the Facebook meta-verse including my page for my business. All my help requests have gone unanswered. I’ve sent dozens of pages of documentation to prove my identity, but all the responses I receive seem to be auto-generated, likely by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and not helpful. The responses to my pleas for assistance are poorly written and appear to be canned text rather than an actual response to my real-life questions and concerns.

This has made me incredibly sad, not only about my personal loss, but about what this says about the future of our society. I think we are going down the wrong road if this is how people (customers) will be treated by companies in the future. Is this phenomena prevalent only among media giants like Meta? Sadly, I don’t think so. Do we really want to be treated only as numbers and sources of ad revenue? Maybe you don’t know how that feels until you experience it, but I have, and it is unsettling.

It may seem like a trivial thing, but it is a disruption to the harmony of my everyday life. This has made me examine the meaning of harmony. When I think of harmony, I immediately think of music — the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing combination of sounds.

In Japanese culture, the word wa means harmony. You are taught to be in harmony with nature, the community around you, and the seasons.

To have a fulfilling, happy life (a pleasing life) many believe our ideas, feelings and actions should be in harmony. Likewise, in an ideal society we want all races, creeds, colors and religions to live together in harmony.

There’s a beautiful documentary on Netflix now called American Symphony. It chronicles the lives of Grammy-winning Musician Jon Batiste and his wife Suleika Jaouad. Author of Between Two Kingdoms, Suleika has battled leukemia for more than a decade. Their love story is a study in extremes between all the good and incredibly hard things in life.

“We both see survival as its own kind of creative act,” she says.

“You have to confront the brutal reality, he says, “but at the same time have completely unwavering faith.”

The awareness of reality may be what is truly lost with AI. Without it, solutions and empathy are worthless.