The question of "Mind-sets" and AI: Cultural origins and limits of the current AI Ethical AIs and Cultural Pluralism

Abstract

The current process of scientific and technological development is the outcome of the epochal Cultural Revolution in the West: i.e. the emergence of the Age of Enlightenment and its pursuit of "rationality". Today, "rationality" combined with "logic" has mutated into a "strong belief" in the power of rationality and "computational processes" as a 'safer' and only way to acquire knowledge. This is the main driving force behind the emergence of AI. At the core of this mind-set is the fundamental duality of the observer and the observed. After the imperial expansion of Western Europe – in alliance with religion, its previous foe (“Christianity”) – this world-view became the globally dominant mind-set. The paper explores the dominant narrative of rationality and reason of Western science, and seeks an alternative world of cultural diversity.