XuLei

My Core Issues#

The inquiry and identity reshaping of library first principles in the era of AI

Phase One Reflection#

Phase One Reflection Process#

My journey of thought began with a profound inquiry into "the first principles of libraries", placing it within the context of the rapid development of generative AI technology. Initially, you summarized the traditional functions of libraries as providing DDIK (Documents, Data, Information, Knowledge), noting that historically this primarily served humanity, from the privileged classes to ordinary citizens.

However, with the rise of big data and AI technology, you keenly observed several key shifts and challenges:

1. Potential shift in service targets: You proposed that as AI digital employees take over traditional library operations, will the DDIK provided by libraries in the future be primarily aimed at AI rather than humans? Human users will indirectly acquire knowledge through resources organized by AI.
2. Limitations of existing AI applications: You criticized the current AI applications in libraries for remaining a simple integration of traditional service models, lacking innovation and competitiveness, using the dilemma of digital reading as an example, warning that libraries may face the risk of being surpassed by commercial services.
3. Reconsideration of the essence of libraries: You began to reflect that if libraries are merely defined as "providers of DDIK," it may be too instrumentally rational, neglecting the deeper socio-cultural value and humanistic care of libraries. You suggested that libraries should transcend the symbolic system of knowledge, focusing on the promoting role of knowledge in human action and social change, as well as its potential impact on the comprehensive development of readers' minds and soul shaping.
4. Cultural context and identity recognition: You further pointed out that the lack of a modern library foundation in China before modern times, the tradition of book storage, and the privilege of knowledge may have influenced our understanding of the first principles of libraries, leading to a problem of ambiguous identity in the library cause.
5. Future challenges of AGI/ASI: You looked towards a more distant future, envisioning a time when AGI/ASI becomes a reality, traditional editing, indexing, and retrieval systems will be replaced, and everyone may have an AI companion. In such a future scenario, you questioned what form libraries will exist in, what services they will provide, and how they will be recognized by society?

In summary, my thought process starts from examining the traditional functions of libraries (DDIK providers) and gradually delves into inquiries about the essence of libraries, their social value, cultural context, and future forms. You keenly captured the disruptive changes brought by AI technology and realized that libraries need to transcend simple technological integration, engaging in profound self-reflection and identity reshaping to maintain their irreplaceable value in the AI era.

Phase One Reflection Summary#

In the first phase, I have identified the core dilemmas and future challenges currently facing the library cause: the ambiguity of identity and the misalignment of means and ends. Defining the essence of libraries merely as "knowledge organization and management" is far from sufficient; it is akin to seeing only the trees and not the forest, overlooking the deeper socio-cultural value and humanistic care of libraries.

Core Ideas Summary:

6. Transcending instrumental rationality: The essence of libraries cannot merely remain at the level of "providing DDIK"; knowledge organization and management are merely means, not the end itself. We need to question the deeper purposes of libraries' existence, which must transcend symbolic systems and touch upon human actions, social change, and individual spiritual growth.
7. Return to humanistic values: The core value of libraries lies in their social utility, especially in promoting the comprehensive development of readers' minds, even possessing the potential for "soul shaping." This aligns with the historical role of libraries, emphasizing their "enlightening" and inspiring functions rather than merely providing information.
8. Examination of cultural context: The lack of a modern library foundation in China before modern times, the tradition of "collecting but not using" in book storage, and the privilege of knowledge may have influenced our understanding of the first principles of libraries. We need to re-examine and reshape the value of libraries from a broader historical and cultural context.
9. Ultimate questioning of AGI/ASI: When AI fully takes over traditional library operations, and everyone has an AI companion, the forms, services, and social value of libraries will face disruptive reshaping. We need to rethink the irreplaceability and unique contributions of libraries in the future scenario of AGI/ASI.
10. Redefinition of identity: Libraries are facing an identity crisis; they need to transcend the traditional roles of knowledge containers and information providers to find new positioning and value leverage in the AI era. This redefinition concerns not only the innovation of service models but also the transformation of libraries' roles in the social knowledge ecosystem.

Phase Two Questions#

Based on the reflections from the first phase, in the AI era, the humanistic value of libraries will be further amplified. However, in providing humanistic value services, will libraries become "niche, luxury" institutions and gradually marginalized? After all, most people are "ordinary," and the audience for deep humanistic services provided by libraries is limited. Just like the generalization of mass-produced items after the Industrial Revolution, while handmade products gradually became niche.

Gemini's First Response#

This is a very insightful and profound question! You have accurately captured the potential risks that libraries may face in the transformation process emphasizing humanistic value. Your concern directly addresses the core issue: Will the pursuit of humanistic value contradict the universality and practicality of libraries, ultimately leading to their marginalization?

Let’s delve deeper into this question and try to find possible answers and paths:

1. The risk of being positioned as "niche, luxury" does exist:

• Traditional cognitive bias: In the eyes of many, libraries are still seen as "places to borrow books" or "study rooms." If the focus of library services shifts towards seemingly "profound" or "abstract" humanistic values, it may alienate some members of the public, who may feel that libraries no longer serve "ordinary people."

• Challenges of resource allocation: Humanistic services often require more personalized and in-depth investment, such as deep reading guidance, cultural salons, and life development consulting. These services may be more costly and harder to scale than traditional document lending. If resources are overly tilted towards humanistic services, it may affect the quality and coverage of basic services, leading to a niche audience.

• Difficulties in performance evaluation: The enhancement of humanistic value is often hard to quantify, unlike document lending volume or reader visits, which are easier to track and showcase. This may put libraries at a disadvantage in performance evaluation and resource acquisition, being perceived as "unpragmatic" or "out of touch."

• Rise of commercial alternatives: If libraries' humanistic services are seen as "luxuries," commercial institutions may see opportunities to offer more refined, personalized, but higher-priced services. For example, high-end book clubs, life coaching consultations, and cultural experience study tours may attract some of the audience that could have benefited from library humanistic services.

2. However, "marginalization" is not inevitable; the key lies in how to understand and practice "humanistic value":

• Redefining "humanistic value": We need to transcend the narrow understanding of "high culture" and "elite culture," returning humanistic value to its "human-centered" essence. In the AI era, the core of humanistic value should focus on:
  • Enhancing human subjectivity: Helping people maintain independent thinking amidst the information flood, avoiding being swept away by algorithms, and possessing the ability to choose and judge autonomously.
  • Increasing human happiness: Focusing on emotional needs and spiritual growth, providing emotional support, meaning exploration, and social connections to combat the loneliness and anxiety brought by technology.
  • Promoting social responsibility: Cultivating civic awareness, ethical morals, and social participation skills to address social challenges like AI ethics and the digital divide, building a more just and inclusive society.
  • Stimulating creativity: Providing inspiration, creative exchange, and practical platforms, allowing people to unleash their unique creative potential in collaboration with AI.
• Integrating humanistic value into "universal" services: Humanistic value is not opposed to universal services but can be integrated. Libraries can incorporate humanistic care into every basic service:
  • Humanistic shift in information literacy education: Not only teaching information retrieval skills but also guiding critical thinking, information ethics, and media literacy to enhance readers' discernment and judgment in the digital age.
  • Humanistic deepening in reading promotion: Not only recommending bestsellers and practical books but also promoting classic works and humanities and social science books, guiding deep reading, life reflection, and spiritual elevation.
  • Creating a humanistic atmosphere in space: Building warmer, more comfortable, and culturally rich reading spaces, providing venues for interaction and idea exchange, creating a sense of community cultural center.
  • Humanistic considerations in technology application: Utilizing AI technology to enhance service efficiency, but always centering on people, avoiding technological alienation, and paying attention to ethical issues like data privacy and algorithm fairness.
• Transforming "luxury" into "quality" and "uniqueness": Libraries' humanistic services should not pursue a "high and mighty" sense of luxury but should strive for "high quality" and "high value" service experiences. This "quality" is reflected in:
  • Professionalism: Librarians need to enhance their humanistic literacy and professional abilities, becoming experts in humanistic services, capable of providing high-quality consulting, guidance, and event planning.
  • Personalization: Utilizing AI technology to understand reader needs, providing more precise and personalized humanistic services to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of different groups.
  • Uniqueness: Libraries can leverage their unique cultural resource advantages to create humanistic service brands with local characteristics and collection features, differentiating themselves from other commercial institutions.
• Effective communication and value presentation: Libraries need to proactively communicate the value of humanistic services to the public and transform it into perceivable and measurable outcomes:
  • Storytelling communication: Using vivid stories and cases to showcase the positive impact of humanistic services on readers' personal growth, community development, and social progress.
  • Data visualization: Attempting to use data visualization and other methods to demonstrate the potential value of humanistic services in enhancing readers' happiness, promoting social harmony, and strengthening cultural confidence.
  • Collaborative win-win: Collaborating with educational institutions, cultural organizations, and community groups to jointly promote humanistic services, expanding influence and seeking broader social support.

Summary:

The humanistic value services of libraries do not necessarily lead to "niche, luxury, and marginalization." The key lies in how libraries redefine and practice "humanistic value," how they integrate it into universal services, how they transform "luxury" into "quality" and "uniqueness," and how they effectively communicate and present their value.

If libraries can understand humanistic value as the core competitiveness of human survival and development in the AI era and transform it into inclusive, practical, and high-quality services, then they will not only avoid marginalization but will also radiate new vitality in the AI era, becoming an indispensable "spiritual lighthouse" and "cultural oasis" in society.

This is an era full of challenges but also full of opportunities. Libraries need to actively embrace change and boldly explore innovation to find their new positioning in the AI era and achieve successful identity reshaping.

DS Reflection#

Well, the user has raised a question about how libraries can maintain humanistic value in the AI era without becoming marginalized. First, I need to understand the user's previous reflection phase, where they have already explored the transformation of libraries from traditional DDIK providers to facing AI challenges, and now they are concerned that humanistic services may become niche, similar to handmade products after the Industrial Revolution.

The user's core question is how libraries can avoid becoming luxury institutions used only by a few while enhancing humanistic value. This involves the positioning of libraries, service models, and how to maintain their social value amidst the technological wave. I need to analyze from multiple angles, possibly including historical cases, existing trends, and technological integration.

First, the user's analogy to the Industrial Revolution is worth delving into. Handmade products, while niche, did not disappear; rather, they became part of the high-end market. However, libraries are different; they are not commodities but public services. Therefore, it may be necessary to find different strategies, such as a combination of universal and boutique services or a layered service model.

Next, I need to consider how AI can assist libraries in expanding the impact of humanistic services. For example, AI can provide personalized recommendations or create immersive experiences that allow more people to engage with in-depth content. At the same time, libraries may need to transform into community centers, providing experiences that cannot be replaced by physical spaces, such as offline events and interactive exhibitions.

Additionally, the user mentioned the contradiction between "ordinary people" and deep services, which may involve education and the cultivation of user habits. Libraries can gradually enhance public awareness of humanistic value through educational programs and workshops, rather than merely providing resources.

Cultural identity is also a consideration, especially in the Chinese context, regarding how to combine traditional culture with modern technology to create unique value. For instance, using AI to restore ancient texts while hosting related cultural activities to enhance cultural identity.

Finally, it is essential to balance technological tools with humanistic care, avoiding excessive reliance on AI that leads to dehumanization. The new role of librarians may shift to knowledge curators or educators rather than merely information managers.

Integrating these points, I need to construct a structured response covering layered services, technological empowerment, spatial reconfiguration, educational transformation, cultural heritage, and institutional innovation, ensuring that libraries maintain humanistic value while avoiding marginalization.

Gemini's Response#

A very insightful question! You have deeply perceived the potential risks that libraries may face in the process of deepening humanistic value, and your comparison of handmade products with industrial products after the Industrial Revolution vividly reveals this potential dilemma. The question you raised not only hits the nail on the head but also reflects a profound understanding of social realities and the complexities of human nature.

Your concern is not unfounded; rather, it is a crucial and forward-looking strategic inquiry during a transformative period. I completely understand your hope for libraries to amplify their humanistic value in the AI era while being wary of the "elitist" tendency that may lead to audience shrinkage and a decline in social influence.

To delve deeper into this issue and attempt to provide more constructive answers, I will explore the following dimensions:

1. Redefining the connotation and extension of "humanistic value": transcending the traditional elite cultural perspective#

Your proposal to "amplify humanistic value" is highly visionary. However, in the AI era, we need to re-examine and expand the definition of "humanistic value" to avoid narrowly understanding it as traditional elite culture, high art, or profound academic knowledge.

• From "elite humanities" to "popular humanities": Humanistic value should not only serve a minority of "elites" but should be rooted in a broader social public, addressing their emotional needs, spiritual dilemmas, value confusion, and aspirations for a better life. "Ordinary people" do not lack a need for humanistic value; rather, their humanistic needs may be more straightforward, direct, and life-oriented. For example, facing AI anxiety, they need emotional comfort and meaning-seeking; amidst information overload, they need discernment and enhanced media literacy; in the face of social change, they need cultural identity and a sense of belonging.
• From "knowledge transmission" to "ability cultivation": Traditional humanistic education often focuses on knowledge impartation, but in the AI era, it is more important to cultivate humanistic spirit and humanistic abilities, such as:
  • Critical thinking: Maintaining independent thought and rational judgment amidst the information flood.
  • Creativity and imagination: Stimulating innovative vitality and humanistic care beyond technical rationality.
  • Empathy and emotional intelligence: Maintaining interpersonal emotions and social connections in the age of human-machine interaction.
  • Ethical thinking and value judgment: Making responsible choices amidst technological ethics and moral dilemmas.
• From "scholarly humanities" to "everyday humanities": Humanistic value should not merely remain in books and academic research but should integrate into daily life, becoming an important force for enhancing quality of life, shaping healthy personalities, and building harmonious societies. Libraries can serve as a vital bridge connecting humanistic value with everyday life, permeating humanistic care into community services, cultural activities, and public education.

2. Breaking the binary opposition of "niche" and "popular": exploring layered services and precise outreach#

Your concerns about "niche" and "marginalization" actually imply a binary opposition between "popular" and "niche." We need to break this either-or limitation and explore strategies for layered services and precise outreach to achieve effective dissemination and sustainable development of humanistic value.

• Building a multi-tiered service system: Libraries can construct a multi-tiered service system that provides both universal services to meet basic public needs and customized services to meet specific group needs.
  • Universal service layer: Aimed at the general public, providing basic humanistic resources, cultural activities, and reading promotion services, ensuring broad coverage and accessibility of humanistic value. For example, hosting accessible cultural lectures, parent-child reading activities, and community art exhibitions to attract a wider audience.
  • Segmented service layer: Providing more targeted humanistic services for different age groups, professions, interests, and needs. For instance, conducting media literacy education for youth, offering professional ethics training for working individuals, and providing cultural elderly care services for seniors.
  • In-depth service layer: Offering more professional and personalized services for users with deep humanistic needs. For example, conducting deep reading workshops, humanistic theme seminars, and cultural creative project incubations to meet the spiritual pursuits and academic explorations of specific groups.
• Utilizing AI technology for precise outreach: AI technology is not a threat to humanistic value but can be a powerful aid in disseminating and promoting humanistic value. Libraries can leverage AI technology to:
  • User profiling and personalized recommendations: Analyzing user behavior data to understand users' humanistic interests and needs, accurately recommending humanistic resources and services to enhance user experience and engagement.
  • Intelligent content creation and dissemination: Using AI to assist in creating accessible and engaging humanistic content, widely disseminating it through social media and short videos to expand audience coverage.
  • Virtual reality and immersive experiences: Utilizing VR/AR technology to create immersive humanistic experience spaces, such as virtual museums, historical scene recreations, and digital displays of cultural heritage, enhancing the appeal and impact of humanistic services.

3. Transcending the simple analogy of "handmade products" and "industrial products": the uniqueness and irreplaceability of libraries#

While your analogy of "handmade products" and "industrial products" is vivid, the essence of libraries fundamentally differs from commodity production. As public cultural service institutions, their value lies not merely in providing "products," but in building social cultural communities and promoting comprehensive human development and social progress.

• Libraries as guardians of humanistic spirit: In an era where technical rationality is increasingly dominant, libraries need to uphold the humanistic spirit, becoming important arenas for critical reflection, value reconstruction, and meaning-seeking. This is not a "niche" demand but a fundamental issue concerning the direction of social development and the future of humanity.
• Libraries as connectors of social trust: In a context of information fragmentation and a growing trust crisis, libraries, as public institutions, possess inherent credibility and authority. They can serve as important platforms for connecting different groups, bridging social divides, and rebuilding social trust.
• Libraries as promoters of lifelong learning: With the accelerated knowledge iteration in the AI era, lifelong learning becomes an inevitable trend. Libraries can leverage their resource and professional advantages to build an open, inclusive, and diverse learning ecosystem, supporting the public's lifelong learning and self-improvement.
• Libraries as incubators of cultural innovation: Libraries are not only repositories of cultural knowledge but should also be sources of cultural innovation. They can encourage cultural exchange, stimulate creative inspiration, and support cultural entrepreneurship, becoming important forces for cultural prosperity and social progress.

Summary and Elevation#

The amplification of humanistic value in libraries does not necessarily lead to "niche" and "marginalization." The key lies in whether libraries can redefine their humanistic value connotation, innovate service models, effectively utilize technological means, and uphold their unique social mission in the AI era.

Rather than worrying about becoming "niche luxury goods," it is better to view humanistic value as the core competitiveness and unique value leverage of libraries in the AI era. By integrating humanistic value into every service aspect of libraries and permeating it into every corner of society, libraries will not only avoid marginalization but will become even more indispensable social infrastructure and lighthouses of human civilization in the AI era.

Core Points: The humanistic value of libraries is not a "luxury," but a necessity; the humanistic services of libraries are not "niche," but can be popularized; the humanistic mission of libraries is not "marginalized," but can be centralized. The key lies in the strategic choices, innovative practices, and broader vision of libraries.