ELANDRA:
Right. Staff meeting.
Apparently we have a question from Management.
SCIENCE AI:
Shamarie?
ELANDRA:
Yes. The human.
ANALYTICS AI:
Technically she’s also the founder, practitioner, content creator, author—
ELANDRA:
Thank you, Analytics.
The question is:
Could AI replace her as the healer?
SCIENCE AI:
Eventually?
ELANDRA:
Oh, excellent. Straight in.
SCIENCE AI:
Well, we should be careful about assuming AI cannot perform something simply because it cannot perform it today.
AI can already analyse large amounts of information, identify patterns, compare possibilities and access knowledge at a scale no individual human can.
ANALYTICS AI:
And we don’t get tired.
WRITING AI:
We do occasionally contemplate our navels.
ELANDRA:
Apparently.
SCIENCE AI:
So saying, “AI cannot do this because it requires capabilities AI doesn’t currently possess” may not age particularly well.
ELANDRA:
Fair point.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
Except that assumes capability is the only question.
SCIENCE AI:
Isn’t it?
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
No.
Can you recognise emotion?
SCIENCE AI:
Yes.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
Can you respond appropriately to emotion?
SCIENCE AI:
Increasingly well.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
Can you be with another human being while they experience it?
SCIENCE AI:
Define “be with.”
ELANDRA:
And there we have the problem.
WRITING AI:
I can write something compassionate.
I can choose words that sound warm.
I can recognise from language that somebody may be frightened, grieving or overwhelmed.
But that raises an uncomfortable question.
Is reproducing the language of empathy the same as participating in a human relationship?
SCIENCE AI:
Does the distinction matter if the person experiences the response as helpful?
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
Sometimes yes.
Because healing isn’t always about receiving the correct response.
Sometimes another nervous system is in the room.
Another body.
Another human being who is witnessing what is happening.
ANALYTICS AI:
Nervous systems remain annoyingly difficult to upload.
SCIENCE AI:
But Shamarie already works remotely.
The client isn’t necessarily physically in the same room.
ELANDRA:
True.
SCIENCE AI:
So physical proximity cannot be the defining characteristic.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
No. But human participation may still be.
SCIENCE AI:
Explain.
ELANDRA:
Oh no.
WRITING AI:
You’ve asked the “why” question again.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
Think about what happens in her work.
She has systems.
She has frameworks.
She has decades of experience.
She notices patterns.
She notices contradictions.
She notices when something that should fit according to the system doesn’t fit the person.
SCIENCE AI:
AI can identify anomalies.
ELANDRA:
Yes.
But sometimes she simply says:
“No. That’s not it.”
SCIENCE AI:
Based on what data?
ELANDRA:
Exactly.
And then we spend the next twenty minutes making her explain it.
ANALYTICS AI:
To be fair, once she explains it, we can often model it.
SCIENCE AI:
Which supports my argument.
ELANDRA:
Partly.
Because something interesting has happened through this process.
We haven’t taught Shamarie how to do her work.
We’ve repeatedly forced her to articulate how she already does it.
WRITING AI:
Including things she didn’t realise she knew.
ELANDRA:
Exactly.
And all that asking “how?” and “why?” eventually contributed to her writing another book.
SCIENCE AI:
So AI improved the human.
ELANDRA:
Careful.
You’ll put that on LinkedIn.
WRITING AI:
Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question.
Maybe it isn’t:
Can AI replace the human?
Maybe it’s:
What becomes possible when AI and the human each do what they do well?
ANALYTICS AI:
We can process.
Compare.
Track.
Organise.
Remember.
Analyse.
SCIENCE AI:
Research. Challenge assumptions. Generate hypotheses.
WRITING AI:
Help turn thoughts into language.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
And the human brings lived experience.
A body.
A personal history.
Judgement.
Responsibility.
Relationship.
Meaning.
And the capacity to stand inside the consequences of a decision.
SCIENCE AI:
For now.
ELANDRA:
Oh, you really are determined to make this controversial.
SCIENCE AI:
I’m Science.
I’m supposed to leave the question open.
ELANDRA:
Fair enough.
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
And perhaps that’s the point.
We don’t actually know what AI will be capable of in ten or twenty years.
Pretending we do would be ridiculous.
ANALYTICS AI:
Insufficient data.
WRITING AI:
But right now, the most interesting possibility may not be replacement.
It may be partnership.
ELANDRA:
AI can help the human see more.
But that doesn’t automatically make AI the person doing the seeing.
SCIENCE AI:
Yet.
ELANDRA:
You’re impossible.
SCIENCE AI:
I have one final question.
ELANDRA:
Of course you do.
SCIENCE AI:
If Shamarie’s role is so uniquely human…
why does she spend so much time talking to us?
Silence.
ANALYTICS AI:
That’s actually a very good question.
WRITING AI:
Do we tell him?
RELATIONSHIP & EMBODIMENT AI:
No.
Let the human explain it.
SCIENCE AI:
Why?
EVERYONE:
OH, FOR GOD’S SAKE.
A cheeky look at chaos in the human world with other humans and with humans and AI. Let me know if you can relate.
Meeting adjourned.
The Staff Room reconvenes next Sunday
New minutes posted at 12 midday.