Natural or Artificial Intelligence?

António Damásio, the greatest figure in our knowledge and thought, presented and discussed his new book Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness in another session promoted in the context of the SK Reflection Group – Sharing Knowledge. In a time dominated by the challenges of Artificial Intelligence, António Damásio highlighted that the development of consciousness is one of the most notable consequences of Natural Intelligence, especially in human beings and in a context of belonging to a community.

According to this great expert, “who would have imagined that affection, in general, and feelings, in particular, manufactured by the work and grace of Natural Intelligence as a means of maintaining life in simple creatures would become nothing more or less than the deepest foundation of the humanity that we inhabit and observe?” The ability to be and to be, based on thinking, is in fact the central foundation of a society that wants to be open and modern, focused on the ambition of the future based on the identity of the past and the meaning of the present.

But we have to be clear. The transformation that Artificial Intelligence is causing in our society and economy requires, according to specialist Paulo Dimas, a clear commitment to a strong sense of social responsibility that must be based on the ability to share between people and their willingness to make their conscience the accelerator of a commitment to integration and inclusion in society. The Artificial Intelligence revolution is an invitation to a new order of interaction and technology must be seen as a central instrument for sharing value in an increasingly unequal and complex society.

And António Damásio is very clear. The way technology will be used and the ability to make it a channel for competitive intelligence will make a difference in the future. This thinker tells us about the need to reposition public space and reinvent the contract of trust between citizens and institutions in a context of greater global competitiveness. The new natural order that António Damásio tells us about implies that the commitment to a modern and mobilizing open society is the natural space for sensible and structured individual and collective participation, in which the creation of value is based on an intelligent sharing of resources and skills.

António Damásio believes in the future. But he knows that the future has its limitations and its difficulties in a civilization that, contrary to what Francis Fukuyama predicted, has all the conditions to renew itself in a participatory and collaborative way. We need as individuals and as a society to reinforce our sense of trust and participatory modernity in an open space where values ​​and ideas must make a difference. In a time and in a world dominated by the Artificial Intelligence debate, we have to return to the meaning and identity of Natural Intelligence. This is what António Damásio said.