I Am Not a Robot #144

“I think therefore I am” from my freshman philosophy class gave me reason to believe I wasn’t in the Matrix. But proof today may be harder to come by. In the August 17, 2026 New Yorker Jill Lepore writes about a machine called the Orb. It’s an artificially intelligent machine that scans you and, if you pass, you get the credential called “Proof of Humanity.” It’s more than a little unnerving. But not unprecedented. 

There was branding and tattooing that would prove identity, but that practice became outdated and was replaced by identity documents. We had birth certificates and passports, but they could be forged and there was the “John Smith Problem” meaning that there could be more than one John Smith. The solution came in 1936 when the Federal Government created unique nine digit numbers: social security cards. 

On the internet, it is suspected that there are more active bots than actual humans. But how do we know? Maybe it’s when we get nine squares and have to click on the boxes that contain a bicycle. That would prove we're human…right? Sadly, all that did was teach the machines how to identify certain things. 

On some computer screens you can check a box that "verifies" your humanity because you checked the “I am not a robot box.” But if you were a robot, wouldn’t you check that box? It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole with Artificial Intelligence and I oscillate between being cautiously optimistic and overwhelmingly disheartened. Maybe, like the FDR Administration we can do something about humans and bots and figuring out how to distinguish between them. But if we cannot agree on banning civilian use of assault weapons maybe there isn’t much hope for this. Still, efforts must be made and maybe we can ask AI to help us.