The Human-AI Odyssey: Homerian Aspirations towards Non-labor Identity

The visionary progression in The Odyssey from shipbuilding to seafaring to advanced civilization informs contemporary tension in the human-AI relation forcing a broader articulation of human-identity beyond labor-identity. Edith Hall analyzes why one of the earliest known literatures, The Odyssey, remains a central cultural trope with numerous references in the storytelling vernacular of all eras, ranging from 1860s British theater to a highly-watched 1990 episode of The Simpsons. The argument is that The Odyssey provides a constant aspirational reference for human identity – who we think we are and where we are going on the epic journey of life, especially at the current crossroad in our relationship with technology.

The contemporary moment finds humanity, and the humanities, experiencing an identity crisis in the relationship with technology. Information science is having an ever more pervasive role in academia, and the machine economy continues to offload vast classes of tasks to labor-saving technology giving rise to two questions. First, at the level of labor-identity, humans wonder who they are as they have long defined their sense of self through their professional participation in the economy. Second, at the level of human-identity, with AI now performing cognitive labor in addition to physical labor, humans wonder if there is anything that remains uniquely human.

The effect of The Odyssey is to provide world-expanding imaginaries to change the way we see ourselves as subjects; in this way, Homer is an early modernist in reconfiguring our self-concept.

This work applies a philosophy (of literature)-aided information science method to discuss how Homer’s Odyssey persists as a literary imaginary to help us think through potential futures of human-AI flourishing as rapid automation continues to impact humanity. The intensity of the human-AI relation is likely to increase, which invites thought leadership to steward the transition to a potential AI abundance economy with fulfilling human-technology collaboration.

The shipbuilding-seafaring-advanced civilization progression in The Odyssey identifies that the human-AI relation is not one of the labor-identity-crisis of “robots stealing our jobs,” but rather one of the more difficult challenge of envisioning who we can be in the new larger world of human-AI partnership addressing a larger set of planetary-scale problems. Towards this new configuration of human-AI relation, the longer-term may hold radically different notions of identity, as we become physical-virtual hybrids, augmented post-disease entities in the health-faring, space-civilizing, energy-marshalling post-scarcity cultures of the future.

1. The Human-AI Odyssey:
Homerian Aspirations towards Non-labor Identity
Acacia Group, Fullerton CA 10 Mar 2023
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, MBA, PhD
Research Associate
University College London

2. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
1
The vision of shipbuilding to seafaring to advanced civilization
in The Odyssey informs tension in the human-AI relation to
understand identity as human-identity not labor-identity
Thesis
Artificial Intelligence: technology with capabilities traditionally considered human
The Odyssey Artificial Intelligence (AI)
800 BCE Shipbuilding -> Seafaring -> Advanced Civilization
2023 Technology-building -> World-faring -> Advanced Civilization
Space-faring
Health-faring
Energy-faring

3. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
The Odyssey
Constant aspirational reference for human identity
Who we are and where we are going on the epic journey of life
2
1860s British theater
Source:Hall, Edith. 2008. The return of Ulysses: A cultural history of Homer’s Odyssey. London: I.B. Tauris.
1990 The Simpsons

4. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
World-expanding Imaginaries
Identity: a new way of seeing ourselves as subjects
Homer is already modernist in reconfiguring our self concept
3
1816: “I feel like some watcher of the skies
when a new planet swims into his ken” -
Keats, On First Looking into Chapman’s
Homer, 1816 (paraphrase)
1863: Baudelaire’s flâneur (p. 9)
Sources: Keats, 1821; Baudelaire, 1963, 1850, The Painter of Modern Life
“Passionate spectator”Seafaring Community

5. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Odysseus’ Star-based Navigation
Science and technology mastery
of the natural world
18-day voyage to the Phaeacians
4
Sources:Agouridis, Christos, 2002, Sea routes and navigation in the third millennium Aegean.Homer. 2018, 5th Century B.C.E. The
Odyssey. Trans. Emily Wilson. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Classics
Currents in the Mediterranean basin,
5
th
Century BCE (Agouridis, 2002)
“No sleep fell on his eyes; he watched the stars,
the Pleiades, late-setting Boötes,
and Bear, which people also call the Plow,
which circles in one place, and marks Orion –
the only star that has no share of Ocean.
Calypso, queen of goddesses, had told him
to keep the Bear on his left side while sailing.
He sailed the sea for seven days and ten,
and on the eighteenth day, a murky mountain
of the Phaeacian land appeared –it rose
up like a shield beyond the misty sea” (5:270-280, p. 79)

6. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
What is the Purpose of AI?
5
Growing pains in the Human-AI relation
1.The big merge
2.The big offload
Domain Classical
Classical intelligence
DeQ
1
Zone
Quantum
2
Quantum intelligence
AI
3. Precision tasks and knowledge-generation
2. Cognitive labor, computational contracts
1. Data informatics, physical labor, virtual labor
Information Science Stack
1
Dequantization Zone: sufficiency of classical methods demonstrated (computation, biology)
2
Quantum applications: quantum sensing, quantum machine learning, quantum dynamics simulation, quantum cryptography
Source:Concentric circles of knowledge: one potential purpose of AI (DemisHassabis, DeepMind)
The totality of all knowledge
Knowledge that can be understood by the human mind
Knowledge that is currently understood by the human mind
Concentric Circles of Knowledge

7. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
A Twenty-oared Black Freighter
Seafaring as the AI engines of the day
AI: search synthesis and content creation GPT-3
(language), DALL-E, Midjourney, Lensa (image),
Stable Diffusion (video)
6
The Odyssey
Source:Concentric circles of knowledge and the purpose of AI (DemisHassabis, DeepMind)
AI (GPT-3 and Midjourney)
“like a ship’s mast, a twenty-oared black freighter”
(Cyclops, 9:323, p. 135)
(12:47-50, p. 182)
(21:406-412, pp. 337-338)

8. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Homer’s Thematic Development
Homerian development (Maslow) parallel with Human-AI
Temporal disjunction: 1
st
and 2
nd
half of The Odyssey
7
Work The Iliad The Odyssey Books 1-12 The Odyssey Books 13-24
Narrative Trojan War chronicle Epic voyage Retaking the homeland
Themes Survival
“slaughter-bench of
history”
Overcoming adversity,
recognizing threats, achieving
goals, personal and collective
development, leadership
Governance, political leadership,
deliberation, community-building,
sustainable communities over time,
group of individuals as a society
TemporalityEternity (endless war) Real-time response Deliberation
Human-AI
Relation
Data analytics and
physical labor outsourcing
Cognitive labor outsourcing Knowledge generation
Thematic Development in Homer’s Foundational Works of Ancient Greek Literature

9. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Telemachus’ own Journey
20-year old Telemachus seafaring voyages to obtain
news of his father Odysseus following the Trojan War
Visiting Nestor at Pylos, Menelaus and Helen at Sparta
Literary parallel to Joyce’s Ulysses (Odysseus in Latin)
Odysseus: Leopold Bloom
Penelope: Molly Bloom
Stephen Dedalus (~the young Joyce): Telemachus
8
I am now writing a book based on the wanderings of
Ulysses. ‘The Odyssey,’ that is to say, serves me as a
ground plan. Only my time is recent and all my hero’s
wanderings take no more than 18 hours. (Joyce, 1918)

10. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Penelope’s Weaving
9
Molecular Nanoweaving
2021
Penelope at the Loom
600-800 BCE
From Penelope to particles
Human mastery of nature
Techne(to weave, to make, pragmatic
knowledge, technology)
Source: Jiao, Y. & Stoddart, J.F. (2021). Weaving on the molecular scale. Matter. 4:2582-2584. Leigh Group lab, University of
Manchester, UK, www.catenane.net, https://phys.org/news/2021-01-scientists-awarded-guinness-world-finest.html
Scientists awarded
Guinness World
Record for creating
the world’s finest
fabric with molecular
nanoweaving,
overtaking Egyptian
linen (2021)
Tapestry Weavers of the World
Remedios Varo, 1955
Jacquard Loom (punch card automation)
1804
“every day she wove the mighty cloth,
and then at night by torchlight, she unwove it”
(2:106-107, p. 20)

11. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Identity Challenges
10
“Who are we?” Identity Problems Three Odyssey Solutions
1Labor-identity: trade, career, profession
Human-identity: interests, relationships,
mastery, skills, contribution, learning, play
Project enlargement: seafaring, willingness to enter
the unknown, larger idea of the accessible world,
Mediterranean(universe)-wide reach
2Fake identity online: GPT-3 (text),
Lensa (images), Stable Diffusion (video)
Personal and collective development: leadership,
community, hospitality, morality, governance
3Identity concept: human-technology entityTool use: human + maps, boats, spear, weaving
Contemporary Identity Challenges in the Human-AI Relation informed by The Odyssey
Upleveling labor-identity
to human-identity (UK
series “Humans” 2020)
The Mediterranean The timeline of the Universe
Conceptualization of “the knowable world”

12. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Future of Work
11
Outsourcing labor to technology has always created
more jobs than are lost (Harari, 2018)
Failure of imagination if cannot create other jobs (JFK, 1962)
My job is event convenor, creating purposeful and fun
interactions (Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft, 2023)
Designing experiences to meet human needs
Source:Harari, Y.N. 2018. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. NY: Spiegel & Grau. P. 19
Life 2.0Life 1.0
Work Leisure Productive engagement of human capacity towards
worthwhile goals, competition, collaboration,
contribution, learning and mastery, relaxation, exercise,
sports, entertainment, adventure, socializing, fun

13. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Identity Challenges
12
“Who are we?” Identity Problems Three Odyssey Solutions
1Labor-identity: trade, career, profession
Human-identity: interests, relationships,
mastery, skills, contribution, learning, play
Project enlargement: seafaring, willingness to enter
the unknown, larger idea of the accessible world,
Mediterranean(universe)-wide reach
2Fake identity online: GPT-3 (text),
Lensa (images), Stable Diffusion (video)
Personal and collective development: leadership,
community, hospitality, morality, governance
3Identity concept: human-technology entityTool use: human + maps, boats, spear, weaving
Contemporary Identity Challenges in the Human-AI Relation informed by The Odyssey
European Extremely Large Telescope
(E-ELT) under construction in Chile
Size comparison of the E-ELT (left) with
the four 8-meter telescopes of the
European Very Large Telescope (center)
and the Colosseum in Rome (right)
E-ELT: 39-meter diameter mirror

14. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Human-AI Entities: a better team for the job?
13
Human-AI Entities are the competitive unit
Conducting science
Executing experiments
Publishing results
Founding startups
Collaborating with others
Human-AI Entity
Human AI
Ishiguro, 2021
Literature Examples:
Intense personalized AI trope
Humans and other objects
equipped with WAIs (weak AIs)
Divya, 2021 Schroeder, 2005
Dystopian Realistic Utopian
The Identity of the Future

15. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
The New Humanism
14
Human-AI-ism
Identity-defining problem domains
Domain Space Health and Biology Energy
Identity We are a space-faring
civilization
We are a health-faring
civilization
We are an energy-
marshalling civilization
Vision Exploration, settlement,
mining, exoplanets: solved
Obesity, cancer, disease,
aging, death: solved
High-availability clean
global energy: solved
Field Space Humanism BioHumanism Energy Humanism
of Study The Space Humanities The BioHumanities The Energy Humanities

16. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
AI-QC Convergence
15
High potential change as AI writes software for QC
Scalable quantum computing roadmap
2023: 1000 qubits (Google, IBM); 2030: one million qubits (IBM)
AI
Artificial Intelligence
QC
Quantum ComputingQML

17. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Bulk Theories of Biology
16
Grand theories and organizing principles
Humboldt: infographical worldview of geo-plant-animal biology
Darwin: evolutionary survival of the fittest adaptation
Chaitin: biology too efficient for evolution alone per required
adaptation time cycles, other natural mechanisms implicated
Davies: “Maxwell’s demon of biology” efficient sorting
1900s: Physics
(Geometry is the math)
2000s: Biology
Information Systems Biology (Topology is the math)
1905 Special Relativity
(time dilation)
1915 General Relativity
(gravity = spacetime
curvature = geometry)
1927 Quantum Mechanics
(behavior of particles)
1)DeepMind: math:physicsas AI:biology; biology too dynamic/emergent for grand theories
2)DeepMind: humans build AI systems to access human-inaccessible knowledge
3)DeepMind: human-AI partner as the competing entity
4)Sejnowski: too early for theories, but possible holographic encoding of asynchronous
traveling waves, harmonic oscillation in elliptical geometry of dendritic spines
5)LeCun: hierarchical prediction model of perception, reasoning, planning
6)Wolfram: building block “atoms” + computational layer + “general relativity” of biology
7)Taleb: clinical empiricism over statistical averaging to avoid medical error (n=1)
8)Goldenfeld: universality in biology: life is a consequence of the laws of physics, matter
self-organizes out of equilibrium and evolves in open-ended complexity, phase transition
9)Silburzan: mesoscale organizing principles of biology-inspired physics
10)Levin: multiscalar competency, generic baseline capability of cells, bioelectricity
1805 20231859 2019
Virtual
Cell
Scientific Method: Hypothesis -> Theory -> Law

18. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
17
AI Abundance Economy
Well-being and
Enhancement
Scarcity Economy
Disease and
Decrepitude
Method: GBN Scenario Planning
Potential Future Scenarios
Solve economics,
solve biology
Marvelous
Future
Idle
Enfeeblement
Digital Mega-
Divide
Paralysis
Two biggest drivers: biocomplexity, the “will to power”
Solve economics: basic income floors + widening wealth gaps
(AI billionaires) + post-work abundance economy
Orchestration by planetary technologies: internet, blockchains
Solve biology: disease, aging, non-enhancement in the past
Solve economics,
not biology
Solve neither
economics nor biology
Solve biology,
not economics

19. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Risks and Limitations
18
AI Ethics lagging technology development
Disorienting pace of rapid automation
Strong control parties in Human-AI relation
Personal data monopoly domination
Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft
Widening digital divide (cost, accessibility)
Overwhelm and alienation
No right to non-adoption in technologized world
Lack of empowering relation with technology
Humans willingly self-enframing as mindless
standing reserve (doom-scrolling, game addicts),
instead of using tech as a background enabler
Regulation of AI technologies: EC AI Act 2022
Heidegger, The Question
Concerning Technology
+
-
Source:Wadhwa, V. (2022). Quantum Computing Is Even More Dangerous than Artificial Intelligence. Foreign Policy. 21 Aug 2022.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/21/quantum-computing-artificial-intelligence-ai-technology-regulation/.

20. 10 Mar 2023
Human-AI Odyssey
Conclusion
Philosophy (of literature)-aided information science method
Rapid automation impacting humanity and humanities
Intensity of human-AI relation likely to increase
Rethinking of what it is to be human: stewarding transition
AI abundance economy with human-technology collaboration
Odyssey: shipbuilding-seafaring-advanced civilization
A tool-building world-faring humanity entails minded
technology to conduct larger-scale projects
Future humans as post-disease space-faring entities
19
Survive
(reach baseline)
Human-AI Relation
Thrive
(extend baseline)
2.0: Inspiration, reciprocity
“Yes-and Bot”
1.0: Master-slave
power dynamic
800 BCE Shipbuilding -> Seafaring -> Advanced Civilization
2023 Technology-building -> World-faring -> Advanced Civilization

21. The Human-AI Odyssey:
Homerian Aspirations towards Non-labor Identity
Acacia Group, Fullerton CA 10 Mar 2023
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
Melanie Swan, MBA, PhD
Research Associate
University College London
Thank you!
Questions?