Seeing the Elephant

It was the trendy thing to say back then and back there. It was the nineteenth century, a wild and convulsive time when the United States increased in number from 16 to 45, despite nearly tearing themselves apart. The notions of freedom and equality before the law were as wooly as they would ever be. The future lay to the west, a frontier too enticing not to claim by any means necessary. And so they lurched across the continent, a people flush with the collective memory of revolution and fueled, thusly, by the hope that their lofty delusions could again drown out the throb of reality.

Destiny can be messy, after all, manifest or not.

The elephant for Americans in the nineteenth century was the unknown. Daring it meant confronting the moment when innocence and enthusiasm met the often brutal truth of experience. Surviving the encounter had merit. It revealed character: enduring and persisting, seeing the journey through till the end, however strong the temptation to quit. You were strong and ready for the next adventure, whatever it might be, hardened by the fight, changed forever. Some met the unknown in war. Soldiers on both sides of the Civil War would often refer to battle as "seeing the elephant." For many a generation before, the meeting took place along the pioneering routes westward, most notably the Oregon Trail. Hunger, hardships, and hazards were matters of course along the way. Stories told later about these daunting and often deadly treks toward the Pacific are rich with the same reference.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new frontier for those of us of higher education. We must bring to bear the full depth and breadth of its liberal arts assets in the same way it asks students to do so. We have little genuine recourse but to connect across disciplines and ply our individual and collective intellectual curiosity in multiple concurrent directions.

If ever there was a subject that needed the expertise of those trained in the Humanities, this is it. The specter of AI requires us to do more than train increasing numbers of people to develop AI systems; we must work to humanize AI and learn to work alongside it. More importantly, however, we must reinvigorate and reinvest in our quest to understand what it means to be human. What are the origins and limits of self? What is the nature of identity? What are the sources of meaning?

These questions will guide us at TNX. We’re glad to have you along for the ride.

Philip Jude Weitl, Creator and Director of TNX