A.I. and crypto feel connected, don’t they? Two big technological changes at around the same time. Both seeing innovation even as this post goes live. Both talked about every day.
And I think, at least within one philosophical framework, they are sides of the same coin. Two perspectives on the same idea.
And that idea is “realness.”
A.I. is meant to simulate the real as well as it can. Crypto and NFTs give intangible things a way to be more real.
NFTs take a digital thing and gives it authority, right? It marks one instance as different than all other copies of that digital thing, even if they look the same. So, one could say it has become more “real” than all of the other digital things. This specific one can be verified with the blockchain.
A.I. starts off as not real, and never is real—it’s artificial by name—but it mimics the real and gets increasingly better at that task. One often-talked-about idea is that it’ll eventually mimic enough realness that the distinction doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a made intelligence that purportedly can do what “organic” intelligence can do.
And this connection, this “realness” factor, might be part of what spurs people to see how the two might work together. It’s certainly an electric idea. The blockchain used to verify if something was made by A.I. or not. Dapps having A.I. help with their functionality. The two could interact, and likely already have, in very interesting ways.
Now, it’s only fair to say this reasoning could be tangential. That’s possible. Tech does typically beget tech, regardless. People who like one piece of technology naturally would want to see what the other big-ticket software can accomplish. But ideas hold power. And technology is often spawned by our ideas and dreams. There is an underlying philosophical implication. And as the world continues to explore these technologies, it might be good to discuss what can be made real.
