ROSALIND HOBBS

Rosalind Hobbs

The University of Tulsa

Survey of Art History

March 12, 2021

 

The Modern Materialization of our Frustrated Superego: Artificial Intelligence

           

               Artificial intelligence is technology designed with precise characteristics and intentions. AI is fast and efficient, capable of computing without error. It is technology that can reason. It exists to conquer the frontiers we cannot. AI is designed to be everything we, humans, can never be…perfect. Yet, simultaneously, we create artificial intelligence from our own likeness. Freudian psychoanalysis would suggest our creation of artificial intelligence, specifically its perfected likeness to ourselves, is the expression of the sadomasochistic relationship with the superego consisting of both merciless self-criticism and perverse self-love. 

 

               The intentions behind the invention of artificial intelligence are simple: overcome the limitations of humans, but to do so in a humanly fashion. This technology is created to think and act both humanly and rationally (Built In). AI builds upon the basic principles of being human, including our mental processing systems, cognitive abilities, and approaches to reason. AI surmounts our limitations, does what we can do, but better…but perfectly. 

 

               However, Dr. Ben Peters, in his lecture on psychoanalysis at The University of Tulsa, poses a very important question: why is artificial intelligence likened to humans in the first place? Why are humans the model to which perfection is built from? The desire to build artificial intelligence is proof in itself that we acknowledge our own imperfect nature. Then why would humans be the inspiration, the muse, for this technology? From a psychoanalyst perspective, the answer to these questions is deep in our subconscious. 

 

               Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the father of psychoanalysis, coined the tripartite concept of the subconscious. He believed that our unconscious could be broken down into three parts 1. the id: the child of the subconscious, ruled by desire and primal instinct; 2. the ego: the mediator of the subconscious, ruled by reason and rationality; 3. the superego: the guardian of the subconscious, ruled by morality, conscience, and ideals. Together, these three act as the pillars of our unconscious mind which, according to Freud, influences our external behaviors every day. 

 

               Within the superego specifically exists a further divergence. First, there is the conscience, which serves punishment in the form of guilt when morality is disobeyed (McLeod). Our understanding of, as well as our obligations to, right and wrong lie within the superego and is enforced through the conscience. Secondly, within the superego exists the ideal-self, or ego-ideal. This is the version, the image, of ourselves our unconscious believes we must be (McLeod). It is the model for which we strive to become every day, the point of reference. Our behaviors are in effort to improve upon ourselves to become our ideal-self. Within this, our goals and aspirations, both internal and external are founded. This can expressed in many ways, like wanting a certain physique, getting that special job in your dream career, or, less concrete, wanting to be more brave or self-efficient. We want and desire these things because they’re in alignment with how we see ourselves ideally, within our unconscious. The conscience and ideal-self work together, punishing the mind with guilt if the ideal-self is not achieved.

 

               This dynamic within the superego gives birth to the human desire to achieve perfection, to become our ideal-self. However, this becomes quite problematic considering it is impossible to do so for we are always plighted by human error and flaw. Thus, we unconsciously express this frustration outwardly. Like, for example, creating a technology that canachieve perfection… artificial intelligence. The creation of perfection, in our own likeness, reminds us of our imperfection and feeds our self-criticism. Psychoanalysis suggests we derive pleasure from self-critique; love and hate, according the Freud, are inseparable.

                            

                              “If someone can satisfy us, they can frustrate us; and if someone can frustrate us, we always believe they can satisfy us. And who frustrates us more than                                   ourselves?” (Phillips)

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There is something innately pleasurable about self-criticism, sourced from the very thing that can frustrate us most, ourselves. Self-criticism is merciless, it is unsympathetic, and it is the supreme narcissist (Phillips). Yet, we continue to feed it, and continue to derive pleasure from this self-punishment…an internally, unconscious expression of sadomasochism. But it is not simply pain we receive from self-critique, and this is because of the characterization of the superego itself.

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               The superego is the root of our self-criticism, constantly pushing us towards our ideal-self, our unachievable-self, yet it is also simultaneously our caring guardian. The superego protects us, unconsciously reminding us right from wrong, steering us in the direction of safety and prosperity and rewarding our work towards our ideal-self. The superego is so vile, so unrelenting…yet so protective, so concerned. It is quite difficult to feel contempt towards the distributor of both guilty hatred and rewarding self-achievement. This creates “conflicts between [the] conscious and unconscious (repressed) material [that] can result in mental disturbances” (Wikipedia, “Psychoanalysis” 1). It is as if we have a Stockholm syndrome of sorts with our own unconscious. Seeking approval from the very thing that serves our punishment. 

           

               To the superego, to love oneself in a less-than-perfect state is virtually perverse. The superego encourages continuing self-criticism fueled by the frustrating appetite of the ideal-ego making self-love wrong and against the cause. Yet, again, we are human, and we need love, we fear the loss of it (Freud qtd. in Phillips). So, like a deal with the devil, an arrangement with our captor, the superego provides us with its love and protection, and in return we will be as close as possible to what it wants us to be, our ideal-self, and we will enforce this with ambivalent self-criticism. A love given through sacrifice and subservience to pain and self-hatred. 

           

               Thus, when we go out into the world and search for perfection, we are expressing this toxic, sadomasochist conflict inside of us and the frustration of never being ideal enough, and never receiving enough love and acceptance in return for it. So, when we create artificial intelligence, we create it in our likeness because it is us, it is our ideal-self. It is everything we can’t be, everything we want to be, everything our superego needs us to be. And with this creation comes deep satisfaction, because while we can’t be perfect ourselves, to perfect our creations, or to simulate what human perfection might look like, brings us the closest we might ever be to satisfying the starving superego.

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Works Cited

McLeod, S. A. (2019, September 25). Id, ego and superego. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html.

Peters, Ben. “Psychoanalysis.” Media Theory (MSTU-3103) at The University of Tulsa, 26 February 2021, The University of Tulsa. Lecture.

Phillips, Adam. “Against Self-Criticism.” London Review of Books, London Review of Books, 7 Apr. 2020, 

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n05/adam-phillips/against-self-criticism.

“Psychoanalysis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Feb. 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis.

“What Is Artificial Intelligence? How Does AI Work?” Built In, https://builtin.com/artificial- intelligence.