From the dawn of time, civilizations have fashioned their gods in their own image. Agricultural societies created agricultural gods, military civilizations celebrated gods of war, and sea-faring cultures worshiped deities of the ocean. 2,500 years ago the Greek philosopher Xenophanes took note of this trend. He said, “If lions had hands and could draw, they would create gods in the shape of lions.”

But gods shared more than just our appearance. Gods shared our thoughts and our flaws. The Greek Gods were especially human. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was famously vain. Ares, the god of war, was a sore loser with a violent temper. And Zeus, King of the Gods, was notoriously unfaithful. He had innumerable illegitimate children… most of whom spent their entire lives fleeing from Zeus’ understandably irate wife, Hera. Gods fell far short of the virtues they are meant to embody. Just like us! just like us!

Another interesting parallel with the Greek Gods is that they had parents, who ruled the world before them. The “Titans” feared that their children would push them aside and rule in their place. So, they acted like Gods do, and tried to kill their children. We are all eventually replaced by our own children.

Humanity is on the threshold of birthing something new, something potentially more powerful than we are… Artificial Intelligence. Like the Titans, we fear that our “children” will be too powerful, and out of our control. Pundits today are making prophecies that would be familiar to the Greeks. AI will be smarter than we are. AI will fool us into complacency.

Do we fear that AI will become evil… or do we fear that AI will become TOO Human? Is AI just a mirror of our own souls? Well, yeah! AI is learning from us. It is reading all of the literature ever written by humanity. Even the rants on Facebook and X. The internet and social media are recognized as major factors in depression & suicide among young adults. These systems were not created by humans. Very wealthy humans, who understand that constant conflict creates profit.

History is filled with blood and killing. If AIs learn solely from humans, they could be very dangerous. Remember, our brains… our intelligence… was developed through a combination of evolution and random chance. Our brains are flawed. We join death cults, invest in pyramid schemes, and ignore the evidence of our own eyes. And speaking of eyes, our senses are equally flawed. We believe in optical illusions, such as mirages. Instead of trying to fix these faults, we created ways to make money from illusions. Think about magicians and con men. Or financial advisors.

Shakespeare gives us quite a few tales about our flawed nature. King Lear is a master class on human nature. Perhaps, we should feed this into every AI, with “DO NOT do this!!!”, stamped on every page. Or perhaps.. just perhaps… we should… teach AI other forms of intelligence? Other intelligence? Like… aliens from outer space? No, not quite.

We used to think that there was one sun (Sol), one world (Earth), and one model for intelligence (Man). Anyone with a subscription to the Discovery channel knows that many living creatures have intelligence and even self-awareness. Do you own a cat? They have a keen sense of self-worth and they are clever. Have you ever tried to keep them away from something, and an hour later there is that thing… clawed to pieces.

There are other forms of animal intelligence… ravens, whales, and even the octopus. All of which developed without human intervention. But there is another animal intelligence that humanity has spent thousands of years shaping. Before AI, there was another Child of Man… a very successful child. The dog.

We shaped dogs to perform just about any task, in almost any climate. Dogs outperform humans at many tasks. They can herd and guard our cattle, work as a team with hunters, and even aid police and rescue services. Perhaps most importantly, they have sacrificed their lives to protect us from 2 and 4-legged predators. We trust them so much that thousands of years ago we invited them into our homes. And yet, not once, have they tried to take over the world. That’s a pretty good record.

Applying the best dog qualities to the next generation of AI would solve a lot of problems. AIs would be truly interested in working for and protecting humanity. AI based solely on humanity might eventually develop human qualities, like war, theft, and murder. A LOT of murder. Humanity spawned Bernie Madoff, Napoleon, slum lords, and many more bad humans. Occasionally, bad humans probably feel guilt. But not most of the time. Usually, they were comfortable being who they are. And no amount of rolled-up newspapers whacking them on the nose will change that.

Our fear that AIs will take over the world might come to pass. But what if AIs can learn about duty, responsibility, and even love from a dog’s point of view? We just might survive. What do you think? Should our Artificial Intelligence be just a little less human?