Week 13
Noetic Leanings and Intuition, Language
Noetic Leanings
Ancient to Noetic era
I was reading an article recommended by Nadia Piet (from AIxDESIGN), called "Re-enchanted Decision Making". In it the author observes a new trend of decision-making that leans into intuition and the stars. The article brings me to the attention of 'Noetics', as described by Zach Lamb in this article.
He documents a cultural trend of ‘intuitive decision making’. He introduces the notion of the ‘Noetic era’ - an era guided by ‘inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding.’ - one that exists between the scientific and religious. He theorises that this comes as a response to AI’s rapid development. As we approach a possible future where AI becomes as intelligent, if not more, than humans (a sentiment echoed by Ray Kurzweil in ‘The Singularity in Near’), we are faced with the question of what makes us human. The same way we can’t explain what the colour red looks like to us, or they subjective experience of tasting an oyster, intuition is something that is often ineffable.