AI & Biotechnology Show It’s Time To Think Past Bicycles For The Mind

Steve Jobs saw computers as a special kind of tool, what he described as “bicycles for the mind.” In a now-famous interview, Jobs related an article that he had read as a child, that compared the efficiency of different animals’ movements over distance.

“The condor won, came in at the top of the list, surpassed everything else, and humans came in about a third of the way down the list,” he said. “But somebody there had the imagination to test the efficiency of a human riding a bicycle. Human on the bicycle blew away the condor, all the way off the top of the list. And it made a really big impression on me, that we humans are tool builders, and that weakened fashioned tools that amplify these inherent abilities that we have to spectacular magnitudes. And so for me a computer has always been a bicycle of the mind, something that that takes us far beyond our inherent abilities.”

This compelling analogy highlights the way that computers, like bicycles, augment human capabilities, enabling individuals to accomplish more with less effort. As we enter a new era of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, Jobs’s framing of computer technology takes on new significance, but also shows its limitations. With the concurrent technologies emerging in AI and biotechnology, humans are building something more profound than bicycles for the mind, expanding our capacities in ways that go beyond mere efficiency, and in fact fundamentally change our relationship to the world around us.

To Efficiency and Beyond

Computers, in their traditional sense, provide us with tools for processing and manipulating information. They assist us in tasks such as data organization, calculation, and communication, enabling us to work more efficiently and effectively. AI takes this augmentation to a new level by enabling machines to simulate human intelligence. AI systems possess the ability to learn, reason, and make decisions based on patterns in data. They can analyze vast amounts of information, draw out complex or subtle relationships that elude humans, and in this way can actually provide insights to their human operators.

AI algorithms can learn and improve their performance over time, they become more like agents than tools — or at least, a tool that behaves like an agent, a tool that has behavior. Its autonomy allows for new ways of interacting with technology, and for inquiring about the world around us. Imagine walking by an unfamiliar tree, asking aloud, “what tree is that?”, and receiving an answer. Yes, this is something that a nature-minded friend could answer, but that is exactly my point — rather than a tool we use, it is a layer, even a relationship, that is added to our experience of the world.

AI can act as a cognitive enhancer by assisting us in processing and organizing information. You’d better believe that I consulted with an AI in drafting this piece. It helped to clarify my thinking, to see my own question in a new light, and reconsider my opinions on the subject. Is that creating efficiency, like a bike? Is it offering reflection, like a mirror? These metaphors only stretch so far. They reveal more of their limits when it comes to biotechnology.

A New Brew

One of the areas where AI is making the biggest impact is in biotechnology, allowing for unprecedented insights into genetics and other complex systems of life. Like computer technology, biological technology creates new efficiencies and capacities for humans. But it also differs qualitatively from computer technologies.

Biotechnology provides innovative solutions by leveraging the metabolic capabilities of living organisms. In this way, perhaps it is a ‘bicycle’ for medicine, augmenting our ability to diagnose, treat, and manage diseases by leveraging the biological properties of organisms and their components. It enhances agricultural capacities by enabling the development of genetically modified crops with desired traits, improved productivity, and resistance to pests, diseases, or environmental conditions. It may augment our ability to feed a growing global population while minimizing resource utilization, and enhances our capacity to clean up pollutants, manage waste, and develop sustainable alternatives such as biofuels. That’s a lot for a bicycle, and really it marks something altogether more profound. And as no less than Eric Schmidt has noted, we are just taking our first steps down the path enabled by AI and biotech.

The ability to manipulate genomes opens up the ability to direct biology to perform in ways that serve human and ecological needs; synthetic biology allows for the construction of new biological components, systems, and even entire organisms, with novel functions and properties expanding the scope of what we can make and use; Tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, bio-based materials. Biotechnology, rather than improving our capacities, creates entirely new ways of relating to the world around us. It allows us to improve qualities of life, and determine a better role for humanity as stewards of Spaceship Earth.

The bicycle of the mind analogy fails apart with AI, which is more akin to building new minds, and especially with biotechnology, which is more like learning to grow wings. With these abilities, the role of technology and the capabilities of humanity are taking on new depth and importance. As that happens, we will need to update our metaphors, which can help us to better understand and appreciate the abilities we are developing to impact the world around us. For AI and biotechnology, it is difficult — maybe “A loom for life fabrics,” and “A prism for the light of thought”. I’d be interested to hear what others come up with.