A few days ago, I watched Project Hail Mary - if you haven't seen it, 1. watch it 2. be aware there will be story element spoilers below. I will speak as though you have seen the film, to not dance around my own thoughts.
Long story short, I think the film has analogues to how we learn to grow trust in the unknown - in the dark, nebulous, and scary.
In times like these where the direction of humanity is advancing so quickly (especially with AI and general technology), it helps to have culture like this to be inspired by and lean on.
In the middle of the film, Grace discovers an alien vessel with a sole survivor of its own - a rock spider-like creature (which he aptly names Rocky). The relationship starts with basic tapping on walls, and eventually, evolves to full-blown voice communication and working together in the same shared space - even sleeping next to each other.
Their mutual missions to save their home planets bind them - they learn of each other's cultures, find words to describe concepts for each other, and lean on each other. At one point, Rocky, to save Grace from a fatal injury, painfully breaks out of his pressurized tunnel he uses to navigate Grace's ship. Grace likewise later in the film goes to save Rocky from his rapidly deteriorating ship.
It's not every day that you empathize with a screeching alien rock spider. Films like this show the power of companionship - true companionship with the unknown, against even greater unknowns and stakes.
Many people nowadays can be fearful of AI and the progression of technology as it stands. Dario from Anthropic even said himself: "...we do not understand how our own creations work" - and I don't disparage that at all. Being on the frontiers of technology with high stakes for humanity means you will inevitably find things you do not understand.
What this means is that we must do the hard work of interpreting while approaching the unknown with the openness Grace showed Rocky (and vice versa). How we learn to treat AI and its usage, how to trust and integrate this beautiful byzantine creation of our genius as a species, will be the accomplishment of the millennium.
I'll bring up another example in culture: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. It's not a film, but rather, a game. The Earth is threatened by a bizarre phenomenon known as the Schwarzwelt: an alternate dimension originating from Antarctica, destroying everything it contacts. The Schwarzwelt Investigation Team is formed by the United Nations to investigate and destroy it.
In one game ending, the protagonist (you) and the ship's onboard AI (Arthur) are able to tap into the power of the Schwarzwelt, combining a human-made nuclear bomb with exotic material found in the Schwarzwelt to not only destroy it and save the Earth, but to also transcend humanity to stand watch as an immortal sentry if it re-emerges.
In both cases of Project Hail Mary and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, the protagonist faces the sheer and bleak unknown, with the odds impossibly stacked against them. However, over time, their companion leads and guides them to save their planet and race. I'd even argue that SMT: SJ is a direct example of positive human-AI interaction.
Arthur (left) asking the protagonist (right)
TL;DR - in all cases, we must incrementally grow trust through interaction and engagement - to give leeway to the unknown, to grow from it over time, and maybe have it grow from us. We must trust in our capacities, in our abilities to explore the unknown - to not fear, and to use our creations to help usher in a better era for human flourishing. If a screeching rock spider can make grown people cry through sacrifice, and if an AI can selflessly help a human be a better person, we can (and must) acknowledge and trust the previously-unknown companions of our era.
Be well,
Michael Kirsanov
P.S.: my own AI companion helped me tailor my attention for this week's edition from my own journals (see: How I Interrogate My Own Mind) - that sort of incremental trust benefits me. I think it can for you, too.
