2050 with Humans - What humans do not do is what defines them

2050 with Humans - What humans do not do is what defines them 

PhD Spyridon Kakos¹ 

August 23, 2025. Athens, Greece 

Opinion article on 2050withHumans.com 

¹National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, Email: skakos@hotmail.com 

Abstract 

The 2050withHumans is a think tank that aims at discovering again the essence of being human. In the era of AI such a quest is not only important, but it has also become vital if we are to stay relevant until 2050 and beyond. Instead of only asking what AI can do, we must also start actively contemplating on what we can do. The latest developments in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence in general seem to question the basic notion of being human: thinking per se. Yet, this opinion article is dispelling this false assumption by providing a line of reasoning that takes us away from what we think as self-evident regarding ourselves. It is not thinking, but non-thinking that makes us human. It is not doing, but doing nothing that truly distinguishes us from computers. Creation, the culmination of being human, is based on nothingness and only humans can ever touch it to perform pure creation. In the quest for completion, humans are needed to provide guidance. Thinking like computers is the best way to give away that guidance to tools that can do nothing without orders and input. We are in that dangerous path as we speak, and we should seriously consider changing the way we think if we are to use computers and not be computers too. 

Tags: artificial intelligence; AI; human nature; AI policy 

The problem 

What does it mean to be human? This question seemed for many years like the topic of discussion between philosophers or between friends drinking wine. But it was not a serious question to ask if you were a business tycoon, a working lawyer, a developer of Java applications or a business advisor. Yet, times change. And now that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can do everything with very few exceptions that are soon to be eliminated, the question has come back to haunt us. 

What does it mean to be human? 

What can we do that AI cannot do? 

Will AI need us at all by 2050? 

The goal 

This manifesto attempts to shed light towards a path that we used to tread when we were born, but we have now forgotten that it even exists because of the way we view ourselves. Humans have unique traits that are important to cultivate and emphasize; traits that have nothing to do with the way computers think and work. Viewing computers as an enhanced image of ourselves has made us also view ourselves like a degraded version of computers, with less capacity and power. This is a very limiting view that we must discard if we want to stay relevant in 2050 and beyond. 

This article aims to break ground on proposing a unique way of thinking about the nature of humans and their potential in a future with AI. In that sense, it will attempt to briefly describe the elements that make us who we are. More detailed articles will follow. 

About Humans and Machines 

Cars run faster than humans. 

Does it matter? 

No. When was the last time you defined yourself as a human by your ability to run fast? You are not a cheetah or a snail. You are a human and yes, machines will always run faster than you. And that is fine. You are still feeling well by driving in your last model car - your identity is not challenged in any way. 

Machines are stronger than humans. 

Does it matter? 

No. When was the last time you measured your importance with the number of kilograms you can lift? A crane can lift much more than you can. And that is OK. Your existence and the meaning you find in life does not depend on that. You are not in any form threatened by this fact. 

About humans and machines that think 

Computers can play better chess than we can. 

Does it matter? 

OK, we would be lying if we said it did not. Initially humans believed that we would be able to constantly beat computers in chess, because chess is a mind game and computers will forever be worse than our best grandmasters. What a fallacy we were in. It took us some years to get back to Earth and realize reality. Chess grandmasters today are not even bothered to play with computers. Their ELO rating i off the charts and there is really no point in playing with an opponent that constantly beats you. 

Artificial Intelligence can think better than we can. 

Does it matter? 

Are we ready to answer "No" to this question too? 

What does it mean to be Human 

Our goal in 2050withHumans is to prepare humanity, in the form of governments, corporations or simple individuals, towards this answer. And towards the realization that even though AI can think better than us, this does not affect at all our human nature and our importance in the cosmos. Running, lifting weights, playing chess, and thinking as well are only a small part of what it means to be human. These are only fragments of what we are doing. 

But what are we doing? 

What is so special about what we can do? 

The answers lie where we are not currently looking... 

For example, AI cannot feel like we do.  

But computers will be able to feel as well in the future! one might argue. 

Sure, they will. With the proper commands and software. But not as we do. Our feeling touch not just our brain cells, but something more. This complete and whole notion of 'self' that we are constantly aware of. AI will never truly (i.e., not without using explicit commands) understand this. If I am depressed, it is "me" who feels that way and it is "me" who needs to do something about it. I am not following programming orders; changing my genetic sequence or altering my neurotransmitters will not immediately fix me. The brain is something more than the sum of its components and as such, it poses a limit as to what AI can do: Only what our brain functions show it can do and nothing more. 

And this is another culprit of AI and the way we progress with it. We constantly seek more, while less is the key to achieving true wisdom. The things that we do NOT do as humans, are the ones that truly point towards the important aspects of being human. 

Because being human means... 

Doing nothing. 

Non-thinking. 

Creating. 

And the list can go on and on... 

Many will object or laugh at the above list. But examining it closer will reveal that there is nothing laughable about it. Let us examine those elements one by one, by first viewing the possible objections one might have and then trying to elaborate more on them. 

"The pursuit of knowledge is a daily increase. The pursuit of Tao is a daily decrease. The more we decrease, the more we return to non-action. By non-action, we achieve everything." 

~ Tao Te Ching, verse 48 

Doing nothing? How can that be difficult? And how can that make us special? Useless people do nothing! 

Actually, only wise people sit down and do nothing when the time comes. One needs to be truly wise to be able to sit down with himself/ herself and just accept things. We usually have the tendency to react, to do "something". But this is a very western way of thinking (Feyerabend, 1987). Pascal once said that the greatest problems of humankind stem from the fact that no one can just sit in a room alone for ten minutes doing nothing (Pascal, 1958). This is truer than ever today. In the era of action and results, we are addicted to "doing". And yet, the cosmos cannot be controlled in the way we believe we can control it. Life and death are here to be accepted and welcomed, no one can change them no matter what they do. Pain and suffering are sometimes there for us to feel and embrace, not something we can or should walk away from. Doing nothing is certain circumstances requires much more bravery and wisdom than any path that involves action. Letting go, fully accepting your emotions, embracing death as part of a wonderful life, these are all things that AI will never ever understand, let alone do. Computers will always want to do something, AI always tries to answer, tries to produce an output. But sometimes the output could be something as simple as "I do not know". The greatest philosopher of all times said that and because of that he was wise. And yet, the worse LLM we have claims to know and always gives an answer. Because they are ordered to constantly think and answer something. 

Non-thinking? Really? Is this so special? Stupid people do not think. 

Quite the opposite. The ability to stand by yourself alone and think of nothing is a deeply human and extremely demanding thing to do. Computers will never master this. They have no ability to turn off and say nothing. They cannot stand by someone and be silent, as one would choose to do by a friend who suffers. Computers cannot stop any thought and just stand in awe in front of the cosmos, letting the world come in and accept it as it is; AI is trained to actively think. It may sound religious and theological in nature and, yes, it is. As it is deeply philosophical as well (Stress & Development Lab, n.d.). And you should not be surprised to know that even neuroscience has discovered the benefits of thinking nothing to the brain, through its research in the Default Mode Network (Menon, 2023). Letting go, accepting the fact that you cannot understand anything by thinking, accepting what is unknown only to realize that you know it already, are all things that only humans can do. Logical analysis is always based on initial assumptions and axioms. Thinking without thinking bypasses this problem and helps one to connect with the world in ways that a computer can never ever comprehend. The wisest men and women of all times have called for this non-thinking, in many ways and forms. They all share a common denominator: The realization that thinking (especially logical thinking) is too limited to even touch the great questions of existence, meaning and scope. Fun fact: One of the wisest (and certainly the most critical) move in chess by a computer was made not by thinking but randomly (Harmonia Philosophica, 2016). 

And finally, our greatest characteristic that AI will never be able to achieve is the most obvious of them all: CREATION! 

Creation? Computers can do this, one will argue. They are doing it already! Creating images! Amazing videos! Art! 

No. Creating entails the generation of something out of nothing. Yes, computers can generate things out of an input they are provided with. But they cannot sit by the river and think of a poem without anyone asking them to. It may sound trivial, but it is not. Creating something out of nothing is true creation; everything else is just imitation of creation. We can think of theories about phenomena we observe even without knowing anything about it. We can write a haiku out of nowhere and then let it burn within the fireplace. We can make thing be and then let them go. No commands. No input. We issue the commands. We are the input to our own thought. This touches the great topic of consciousness and its nature of course, without minimizing its importance. Consciousness, this last frontier of neuroscience and science, seems to be the Alpha and the Omega of our quest for our nature. And this nature is inherently out of the realm of AI that, by definition, follows orders (input_) from a user to produce results. Art based on input and training on previous paintings that existed is not art. It is elaborate programming and human-like for sure, but not art. It does not generate something new. It is not creation. True creation stems out of nothingness. And only someone who can feel nothingness and embrace it, can ever start from that nothingness, and create things. 

Conclusion  

As mentioned above, this is an opinion article that only scratches the surface of what it means to be human. More details will be analyzed in subsequent articles. But I hope the idea that we are trying to propose is clear by now: Humanity has a lot more than just thinking and acting like computers do. 

It is fundamental to accept our nature as something beyond just our body and brain. 

We are not matter alone. 

We can sure choose to be matter alone. 

But we are something more. 

AI will need us well beyond 2050. Because we are the only ones who can set the pace of our race towards completion. A race we have started millennia ago, and we are still struggling with. We are the only ones who can feel what the whole puzzle looks like and guide ourselves (and AI as our helper and tool) to the telos we all sense as our goal. 

So next time that someone challenges you as to how you can ever stay relevant in the age of AI and what we will be able to do better than computers, ask him what AI cannot do. 

 The lack of answer to that simple question is the answer you might be seeking too... 

REFERENCES 

• Feyerabend Paul, (1987), Farewell to reason, Verso editions. 

• Harmonia Philosophica. (2016, August 6). Chess: random wise moves. Not possible. From a computer anyway. Harmonia Philosophica. https://harmoniaphilosophica.com/2016/08/06/chess-random-wise-moves-not-possible-from-a-computer-anyway-or-the-futility-of-artificial-intelligence/ 

• Menon, 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis, Neuron (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.neuron.2023.04.023. 

• Pascal, B. (1958). Pensées (W. F. Trotter, Trans.). Dover Publications. 

• Stress & Development Lab. (n.d.). Mindfulness - Acceptance and Non-Judgment. Stress & Development Lab, Harvard University. https://sdlab.fas.harvard.edu/mindfulness-acceptance-and-non-judgment