Undoing Mistakes?

I think this is a deeply strange prompt. If we’re looking at a Freaky Friday situation it would mean dealing with the other person’s body as well as their mind. That would give rise to a whole set of ethical problems. If it was Freaky Friday then that would mean that they would be dealing with your body and mind and no doubt causing problems that can’t be imagined and which would be impossible to fix. I have seen both versions of the film plus the sequel and the main lesson is that you don’t know even the people closest to you.

Or are we are simply controlling them from the point of view of taking over their brain? You will be operating them like a character in a video game which has just as many, albeit entirely different, ethical problems. What happens to their brain whilst you are in control? When they have control of your brain what will they do with it? Assuming that the decisions each of you make are based on your own values and experiences this will have at least a temporary effect on your life as well and it could lead to you losing or permanently changing relationships with others in your own life much as it will do in theirs.

When thought experiments like this are set I can’t help but think of the implications and either way they are ethically horrific and potentially incredibly dangerous to your own situation. I don’t think anyone properly thought this prompt through. If it was AI generated it didn’t have the correct understanding of the human factors and envisaged the first situation. Alternatively, if it was human generated they probably live their lives online and playing computer games and envisaged the second situation. Either way the situation is genuinely creepy and disturbing.

I can think of a third way based on one of my favourite programmes as a child. In Joe 90, nine year old Joe McLean was put into this machine containing the brain waves of an expert in a particular area and, after one of the best sequences in TV history featuring psychedelic imagery and fantastic music, emerges from the machine with all the knowledge of the person concerned. He then proceeds to use that knowledge to make the correct decisions to avoid disasters. That’s how I would play this and with AI it would actually be even easier nowadays because you could replace the person online under a pretext and run their life through an avatar. The other person would then have no opportunity to ruin your life.

In this situation I would choose to take over the decision making of one of the dreadful politicians we are cursed with at the moment. (In my lifetime we have never had more evil people in charge, both in terms of numbers and extent.) I would use the week to set up binding agreements for peace and cooperation across the world, ending wars and putting the fight against climate change at the centre of every decision made. It would be a reset for the entire world and, given a reasonable slice of luck, would set us on a completely different path. The main problem I forsee is that the politician involved may end up being committed to a secure facility due to losing their mind and replaced by someone just as evil. Should that be the case at least I would have tried to help the world and it would be the fault of the people we stupidly put in charge, not mine!