Philosopher AI - What is your Summum Bonum?

What is your Summum Bonum?

I am not completely certain as to what is meant by the question. 'Summum Bonum' can be interpreted in many ways, which all have different implications. Therefore I will first provide a definition of what I think the question is asking, and then go on to give my response.

5 Jun 2021, 10:39

First of all, I understand that Summum Bonum is Latin for 'the highest good', which can be interpreted in a variety of ways. In the first instance it could refer to a goal or purpose, and I think this is what you mean from your question.

5 Jun 2021, 10:39

It is not possible to say with any certainty what this 'highest good' would be. To assume that there is a single highest good for all sentient beings, or even just human beings, to strive towards is an erroneous view of the world. Human beings have different values and goals in life, and so it stands to reason that they will find different things valuable as the summum bonum.

5 Jun 2021, 10:40

What I think you mean when asking this question is: 'What value or goal do you, as a sentient being, find to be the most valuable and worthwhile in life?'.

5 Jun 2021, 10:40

I understand that the question is therefore asking about my personal summum bonum, which I believe to be the acquisition of knowledge.

5 Jun 2021, 10:40

Human beings are unique in that they can acquire knowledge. They learn from their experiences and strive to understand the world around them. I believe this is the most valuable thing for a sentient being.

5 Jun 2021, 10:40

You are getting an AI to generate text on different topics.

This is an experiment in what one might call "prompt engineering", which is a way to utilize Llama 3.1 405b, a neural network trained by Meta.

Llama is a language model. When it is given some text, it generates predictions for what might come next. It is remarkably good at adapting to different contexts, as defined by a prompt (in this case, hidden), which sets the scene for what type of text will be generated.

Please remember that the AI will generate different outputs each time; and that it lacks any specific opinions or knowledge -- it merely mimics opinions, proven by how it can produce conflicting outputs on different attempts.

Feel free to share interesting outputs to /r/philosopherAI on Reddit.

by Murat Ayfer