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Forbes
24-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
AI vs. human beings: do we have any lasting advantage?
Participants at an Advanced Robotic Capabilities for Hazardous Environments event. Last Thursday's announcement of OpenAI's new ChatGPT agent, which creates spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, deepens the concern that AI will replace large numbers of white-collar jobs. Do knowledge workers have any lasting advantage over AI? This is an important question, and particularly for educators, who need to know how to prepare students for durable career success. Gian Segato, of the AI company Replit, has a convincing answer: 'It's no longer as important to know how to do something. It's knowing that it needs to be done and then just doing it.' AI appears to be highly effective at knowing how to do things. But in the highly uncertain world we are living in, the really valuable skills are deciding what needs to be done and then making sure that it happens. Who does that better, humans or AI? The Habits of Human Excellence The ancient Greeks and Romans identified a set of habits of human excellence they called the cardinal virtues. These have been honored in almost every major civilization and religion as representing peak performance in human thought, action, and feeling, and give us a unique human advantage, as Dr. Jay Richards has argued. The cardinal virtues of practical wisdom and justice are the habits for deciding, fairly, what needs to be done. Practical wisdom is the habit of making wise decisions; it involves setting goals, gathering information, and reasoning. Justice is the habit of treating others fairly and with respect, ensuring that the needs of all are addressed. How does AI measure up in these two areas? AI can gather and process vast amounts of information. Some AI models can even set their own goals, derived from a hierarchical set of 'value functions' programmed into them. AI also conveys respect, and particularly empathy, very well. Blind evaluations tend to find the bedside manner of AI to be more empathetic than that of human doctors. Many people are comforted by talking to AI, and some have even married their chatbots. In tests of moral reasoning, people tend to prefer AI-generated conclusions to those of humans. Human beings nevertheless retain a decisive advantage in the exercise of both practical wisdom and justice, because our goal setting and sense of fairness come from within—we are complete. We have free will and an innate sense of fairness, evident even in toddlers, while AI is incomplete: its value function has to be programmed into it, by us. It is unable to be self-reflective, as we are, examining and updating our own values. The other two cardinal virtues (there are four in all) are courage and self-discipline. These are the habits of excellence for dealing with our feelings, particularly our fears and desires. Courage is the habit of moving forward despite fear, and self-discipline is the habit of following our desires only when it makes sense to do so. They are the virtues for making sure that things get done. Having no feelings may seem like an advantage for AI, in getting things done. Without any fear, robots can enter dangerous situations that would deter humans. Without desires of their own, AI agents should be completely focused on their assigned tasks. And yet, human emotion is a vitally important source of our success as a species. Emotion drives motivation. It is our desires that keep us moving towards better ways of living, while our fears move us away from worse ones. AI or Unvirtuous Humans? One might observe that many people do not appear to exhibit free will, that their sense of 'fairness' is heavily biased in their own favor, and that their emotions, far from driving them on to greater things, are dragging them down. People seem to respond only to external stimuli, and can be unrelentingly selfish. Fear paralyzes them, and desires lead them to all sorts of abuse, degradation, and violence. Where's the superiority? 'Whether humans can be durably superior to AI depends on which humans we mean—those living from their best selves or those mired in their worst.'Here lies the key: whether humans can be durably superior to AI depends on which humans we mean—those living from their best selves or those mired in their worst. Our distinctive human strengths emerge only when we cultivate the best in ourselves: the virtues. From a virtue perspective, those who are not currently their best selves are not doomed to that condition. They just haven't developed their virtues yet. The virtues are analogous to muscles, which need to be exercised regularly in order to grow. Daily practice of the habits of wisdom, justice, courage and self-discipline are what it takes to build each virtue, and we need them all if we are to be excellent at deciding what needs to be done, and making sure it gets done. Educational institutions, and companies, should foster these virtues. This is traditionally done through a liberal arts education, where students can study the various virtue traditions throughout history, learn from virtuous role models and mentors, and are expected to practice the virtues. Companies likewise can offer education in the virtues, mentoring, and opportunities and expectations for their practice. We have been upgrading our AI models at a breakneck pace. Instead of worrying about AI overtaking us, it is time to give ourselves an upgrade, by cultivating the virtues to become our best selves.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tenants say church took down Pride decorations at DC apartment building
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The District is decorated for WorldPride with rainbow bunting and banners everywhere. But there's conflict and confusion at an apartment building in Northwest. Renters at 2014 13th Street said they got a reprieve to keep their decorations, only to see them ripped down. 'We just decided it's WorldPride. So I asked the girls–it's a three-unit building–I asked them if they were interested in doing it. They were really excited about it. So I bought some decorations and I put them up,' said tenant Jay Richards. Confusion, concern around Dupont Circle ahead of big WorldPride weekend Hours after Richards put them up, management company EJF Rentals told the renters they had to take them down by June 1 because the decorations were not 'in line with property guidelines.' Richards pushed back, but EJF said there was a provision in the lease that they couldn't decorate in shared exterior spaces. They were given a deadline of Tuesday, June 3, at 1 p.m. to take down the decorations or have them removed. 'I want to be a good neighbor. You know, we are willing to take them down right after Pride,' Richards said. 'I wanted to leave them up all month.' After DC News Now reached out, EJF said they could keep it up through Monday as a compromise. EJF Real Estate Services is proud to support the LGBTQ+ community. We've been an official sponsor of the DC Pride Parade for many years and will be out there again this Saturday with our staff and company van, standing for inclusion, respect, and community. We manage 2014 13th Street NW on behalf of the adjacent church, which owns the property. As the property manager, we are responsible for enforcing the lease, which includes a provision restricting decorations in shared exterior spaces. We've heard directly from residents who requested to keep their Pride decorations up through the weekend in celebration of the parade, with a commitment to remove them by Monday. While we remain mindful of our responsibility to both the lease and our client, we believe this is a respectful and reasonable approach. EJF will not be removing the decorations ourselves and is honoring the residents' plan, trusting they will follow through as promised. We respect the rights of our clients and the obligations of the lease, and we also believe in supporting thoughtful, inclusive communities. In this case, we are doing our best to navigate both. EJF stands with our owners, residents, and broader community as we continue to work towards fostering respectful and inclusive environments. Matthew Greeves, Founder, EJF Man seen tearing down Dupont Circle Pride decorations; DC police investigating But the building is owned by Walker Memorial Church, right next door. Tuesday night at 7:20 p.m., the church's custodian walked over and cut down the decorations that extended from the front door to the fence and along the fence. Richards took video as it happened. 'We've been really friendly with the custodian himself. And I just feel awful,' Richards said. 'I feel awful for him. I mean, I guess he had to do his job, but that was, it was just awful to see.' Richards said it's important to celebrate who he is and the community at large, especially when many people in the LGBTQ community are under attack. 'The management company told us that they wouldn't tear it down. But I guess the church decided they had to tear it down and they tore it down,' Richards said. Richards said they also put these American flags in the ground along with the Pride decorations. The American flags were left behind. Richards is looking forward to the weekend with friends from out of town. 'I'm just looking forward to a good energy in a time that feels like a lot of people, including myself, are under attack,' Richards said. Walker Memorial Baptist Church sent an email late Tuesday night to renters: Good evening Tenants of 2014 13th Street, NW: We write to notify you that the decorations placed outside of the property are in the process of being and will be removed. Decorations on the outside of the property or common areas regardless of the event, holiday, season, occasion, or reason violate the lease terms. You were notified of this violation on Thursday, May 29, 2025, and asked to remove the decorations by June 1, 2025. You refused to remove the decorations. You were then provided an extension to remove the decorations by Tuesday, June 3, 2025, by 1 pm. You again refused to comply, and instead interfered with and obstructed the process of removal. This is not about subject matter. The mission of the Walker Memorial Baptist Church is a prayerful congregation, walking in the spirit, bringing souls to Christ. That is our focus. We seek unity, not division, through our lease requirement that there be no decorations on the outside of the property or common areas. In doing so, we avoid arbitrary decision-making and the need to distinguish between the content or subject matter of any decorations. Otherwise, this would necessarily distract from our mission, tenants' peace (including future tenants) at the property, neighbors, and our work and presence in the community. Going forward, we kindly request that you abide by the lease terms. Walker Memorial Baptist Church Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
