Artificial intimidation

By Tim Middleton | Aug. 31, 2025

It is interesting that there was a huge debate when Oscar Pistorius, the South African paralympic athlete (aka the ‘Blade Runner’) wanted to race against able-bodied athletes

In any room in which we find ourselves, it is most likely we will find men who are fascinated if not infatuated by fishing. They will tell you that “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.” Fishermen are expert story-tellers and dreamers [“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles” - Doug Larson]. Many will declare that “Angling is a way of calming the soul and setting the spirit free” (Dave Hughes) though Samuel Johnson might provide some balance: “A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.”

Whoever is at the end of the rod is endeavouring to find a way to outwit the fish; it is a mental challenge, an engaging exercise of the mind. People will gladly spend hours trying to land the perfect fish and spend hundreds of dollars to be able to succeed. They will look for the right spot under the conditions to be successful. Yet it would be so much easier, quicker and more fruitful (or should that read “fishful”?) if we just put out nets or even threw a bomb into the water, would it not? Such a method, though, would be superficial, artificial indeed. Super-fish-al, arti-fish-al – all on the surface.

Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence is on everyone’s lips, social media posts, podcasts, workshops; it is the unquestionable way to go, we are assured. We are missing out if we do not learn about it. Yet, have we ever stopped to think for a moment what “artificial” means? It means “made or produced or done by human beings rather than occurring naturally”. Look for synonyms for it and you will find the following: “fake, imitation, unreal”! Would we like more? How about “bogus, counterfeit, fabricated, faked, manufactured, mock, phony, sham, simulated, specious, spurious, synthetic, unnatural, contrived”. Hardly a positive advertisement to recommend Artificial Intelligence! AI may be quicker; it may be easier, true, but there remain several real (not artificial) concerns about it.

Firstly, for many years, education was seen to be all about (and measured by) IQ. In more recent times, educationists have come to understand that EQ (that Emotional Intelligence) is far more important and essential, especially in the light of the genuine concerns of the current lack of mental wellbeing, perhaps even caused by the push for IQ – remember Einstein allegedly saying that “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. Yet now we are led to believe that a machine can solve deep, personal, human, emotional issues. It does all sound rather fishy, does it not? Arti-fish-al, even.

Secondly, it has been widely accepted that education in the twenty-first century is to give children the five Cs of Critical Thinking (getting them to learn to think for themselves), Creativity (getting them to think outside the box, outside the laptop even), Communication (getting them to express themselves, not regurgitating other people’s words), Collaboration (getting them to work with other people) and Character. Yet AI does the thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration for them. AI is the net or the bomb rather than the man with a rod. We must not be intimidated.

It is interesting that there was a huge debate when Oscar Pistorius, the South African paralympic athlete (aka the ‘Blade Runner’) wanted to race against able-bodied athletes; people complained he had an advantage. Was the solution therefore to have people chop off their own legs so they could use artificial prosthetic limbs? Of course not. They helped him, sure, but the real human limbs are what matter. Will people choose artificial flowers for their wedding? Do we not see that artificial foods can have dangerous side-effects? Do we prefer to sit in artificial light or sunlight? Hello?

Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, is quoted as saying that “Fishing is the chance to wash one’s soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles, and shames our wickedness. It is a discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish.” Is that not education? We must be true fishermen, casting lines, not using nets or bombs. Remember the old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” What are we doing with AI? The former option symbolises AI; the latter real education. Artificial is not art; it is superficial, a thin veneer, unnatural, contrived - fishy. We should think on that – and not ask AI to give us the answer.