You Are Limited

And why that is a good thing

Photo by Faith Lehman on Unsplash

It is a good habit to regularly go back and consider one’s fundamentals. Especially for those who work with words and thoughts. Fundamentals are like bedrocks; they are the underlying geology supporting everything one writes. They are the foundation, the central argument, the vision. And they are essential.

There is another way that bedrocks have influence in the natural world. As they imperceptibly erode over time, their mineral constituents mix with the soil above. If granite is the bedrock, the soil will be acidic. If it is limestone, the soil will be alkaline. If the fundamentals are the key ideas and philosophies that one holds, then it stands to reason that these philosophies and ideas will inevitably permeate into one’s thoughts and words, influencing every pencil stroke and type of the keyboard.

There are few greater fundamentals for my writing than the firm conviction that we humans are intrinsically and irrevocably limited — and that we should embrace this. Indeed, the first essay I ever wrote on Over the Field concerned the Good Farmer and his limitations. It remains my favourite essay. In it I argued that only by working safely within his personal and agricultural limitations — the fertility of his land, the temperament of his flock, the size of his fields, and his own wisdom, stamina, attention, and care — can the farmer be a blessing to his land. The goodness of our limitations is a message I wholeheartedly standby to this day. Even more so in this age of Artificial Intelligence¹ and transhumanism, two of the most pertinent threats to humanity, the biosphere, and our good and necessary limitations.

As I have argued before, I believe AI and transhumanism are very closely interlinked — and are fast becoming inseparable motives and urges. Indeed, distinguishing between their proponents’ goals and visions for humanity is becoming ever more challenging. Often, this is because the same mega corporation and the same techbro’s are working — with fanatical zeal — towards the realisation and actualisation of both AI and transhumanism at the same time. To complicate matters further, I believe we are not far away — and may have already reached the point — where AI will be merged with transhumanistic technologies, giving their potential human users superhuman abilities.

AI is unbelievably powerful, make no doubts about it. The dangers of unbelievable power being merged with a technology which aims to reinvent our humanity by merging us with machines, should be as obvious as the blazing sun in the desert sky. If we have already permanently damaged creation as limited humans, just imagine the limitless damage that limitless, unfathomably powerful AI-transumanistic humans will cause. Wendell Berry is surely right when he says that “the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and those who wish to live as machines.”² This is not the stuff of pure science fiction. There are inordinately rich, powerful, and clever (and egoistic) techbro’s slaving away to make transhumanism a reality.³

However, we agrarians who believe in the goodness of limitations must not despair. Despite the best efforts of the AI and transhumanistic tech bros, humanity will always remain fundamentally limited. We will always need oxygen to breathe. We will be limited by our need to eat and limited by the soils’ limited capacity to produce.⁴ We will be limited by the five senses we possess (even if we somehow manage to turbo charge them). We will always need to sleep, always need to be loved and cared for. And one day, we will most certainly be overcome by the ultimate human limitation: death.

Additionally, the irrevocable limitations of the created order will always be something we come up against — things which cause us to stop and will confound the best of our limitless plans. As long as there is daytime in which we can work, the limitations of the darkness of night will not be far behind. The seasons will always influence (for good or for ill) our labour and health, and the uncontrollable weather will waylay our best plans. And most profoundly, the earth’s spatial, energetic and resource limitations will constrain the heights our economic growth is able to reach. We live on a limited earth. Only a fool forgets this.

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Though these fundamental limitations will forever remain, this isn’t to say we cannot transgress or work against them. Sometimes this is good and proper: it is right occasionally to go a night without sleep and pushing oneself to the limit has led to new discoveries, inventions, and masterpieces in the past. Some of these discoveries and inventions may even help us overcome some of the undesirable constraints of the weather and seasons such as candles and lightbulbs did for long winter nights.

However, though working at or beyond our limit may be right for a time, this is not the space we should make a habit of inhabiting. More so, just because a limitation of nature can be overcome (such as using greenhouses and immense amounts of energy to grow fruit in the Arctic), does not make it wise, good, and sustainable. The danger of AI, transhumanism, and rampant technological advancement is that we will be perennially tempted to make a home in this “space above our limits”. If our limitations are there for our’s and the planet’s good, making a habit of limitlessness can only end in disaster.

Living limitlessly means the environment will suffer from an overload of energy, exacerbated resource extraction, rampant habitat destruction, widespread soil erosion, and an abundance of pollution. Our humanity will suffer from lack of rest, too much power, and being made too much like a machine. We will thus become burnt out, stressed, and confused people living in the midst of a desolation — all of our own unlimited making.

We will have forgotten the words of Wendell Berry that infinite energy (or unlimited power) can lead to infinite destruction.⁵ If we wield unlimited power, our limited wisdom means we wield it in unwise and destructive ways. Past generations have always been afraid of causing unlimited and permanent destruction that was beyond their capacity to resolve. We in this foolish generation (which calls itself wise), seem to have forsaken this healthy fear and are far too trusting of the supposed wisdom that guides our limitless actions. What’s more, we readily delude ourselves with the belief that technology and innovation will resolve any problems we may (will) cause.

But if the problems we create are wicked and irreversible —such as runaway climate change, mass species extinction, rampant soil depletion, out of control AI technology and transhumanism — no solutions will exist, no matter how hard we try or how much money we throw at the beast. The only wise thing to do, then, is to consider our limitations — and embrace them.

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This essay is a call to remember the goodness of our limitations, and how essential they are for our flourishing. As a Christian, I firmly believe that are limitations are a fundamental part of our design, and if God our Maker is wholly good, it means that all that He has made is good and necessary. He is incapable of being creating something that is not good. Thus, our limitations must be good and for our good. Indeed, they are. Living within our limitations is the Maker’s blueprint for our lives — it is how we flourish and do good work. Conversely, living beyond our limitations is a sure way to wreck destruction on the goodness of creation, our neighbours, and ourselves.

As one author has said, “You’re only human.”⁶ To be human is to be limited. Our limitations are good. Let us embrace them.

This essay is free, but any tips given (or paid subscriptions) support my work, help me to write more pieces, and are greatly received.

1. Or as one commentator called it recently, “computerized pattern recognition”)From a tweet by Irina Dumitrescu. AI is basically a glorified predictive text system. There is nothing “intelligent” about it and we should refrain from giving it this honourable title.

2. Wendell Berry, Life Is A Miracle.

3. Elon Musk and Neurolink is just one example.

4. There can be no farm free future.

5. Wendell Berry, The Use of Energy.

6. Kelly Kapic, You’re Only Human.