Humans have always had a fascination with God. Our earliest ancestors have had stories of their deities. Now it seems we are as far from a religious society as humanly possible. We've shifted from telling stories of God, to trying to create God. Artificial intelligence can seem scary to anyone that's seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, Ghost in the Shell and so on. It's scary because it's something we can't possibly control. We stand on the edge of creating our own destroyer, and yet we're almost ecstatic about it. No other species on the planet is so hell-bent on orchestrating its own demise, so you could say we're pretty special in that regard.
It's not all doom and gloom, A.I. could also be the savior of our self-destructive species. It could serve as the sole worker in society. Doing all the jobs we don't wanna do and doing it better than anyone ever could. Imagine a world where everything that could ever be a threat to humanity is being taken care of by some voice in a box somewhere. Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence but we could get used to it. It would in theory be the perfect opportunity for everyone to explore any avenue they would want to (if A.I. doesn't crash the world economy of course). Anyone that would have earlier been plagued by the nine-to-five would finally be free, if you were born the right country of course.
The one thing we often overlook when discussing technologies that change the course of history, like A.I., is who it benefits. The fight for A.I. would be something like the arms race of nuclear weapons. Because time has disconnected us to the frightening power of nuclear weapons, we often seem to ignore how it changed everything. Artificial Intelligence will have the same effect. It has the power to completely change everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. It would find a way to optimize every part of our lives, every process, every transaction, it will probably even change us. This threat could be reason enough to shut it down if it pops up anywhere that is not completely neutral. Say it pops up in a garage somewhere in China. It would be seized by the Chinese government, and used to further state interests. Anywhere this happens is dangerous for the entire world, and could spurn a new world war. If there was ever anything to fight for, it's the little box that could solve every problem. Before A.I. would even have a chance to save a singe life, it would cause the death and destruction of millions. Before we could ever tap into the unending potential of an immortal being operating at a million times the speed of any single human in history, we would self-destruct fighting for it. If there was anything that showcases human nature at its rawest, it's this scenario.
So our job is to start creating a legal platform for when that day comes. We need to be ready.We need to both respect and fear this mammoth even that is going to be the day that A.I. takes over. But it's not going to be Skynet or Hal 9000. It's going to be the sheer existence of something so powerful, that could be our end. Then again a giant meteor, nuclear warfare, massive economic collapse or even a super-disease that mutated because of our overuse of antibiotics could all be reasons for the demise of the human race. So don't worry too much or you'll never get the chance to relax. Anything could kill us all at any moment, so why worry at all at this point. Just be happy that it hasn't happened yet.
It's not all doom and gloom, A.I. could also be the savior of our self-destructive species. It could serve as the sole worker in society. Doing all the jobs we don't wanna do and doing it better than anyone ever could. Imagine a world where everything that could ever be a threat to humanity is being taken care of by some voice in a box somewhere. Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence but we could get used to it. It would in theory be the perfect opportunity for everyone to explore any avenue they would want to (if A.I. doesn't crash the world economy of course). Anyone that would have earlier been plagued by the nine-to-five would finally be free, if you were born the right country of course.
The one thing we often overlook when discussing technologies that change the course of history, like A.I., is who it benefits. The fight for A.I. would be something like the arms race of nuclear weapons. Because time has disconnected us to the frightening power of nuclear weapons, we often seem to ignore how it changed everything. Artificial Intelligence will have the same effect. It has the power to completely change everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. It would find a way to optimize every part of our lives, every process, every transaction, it will probably even change us. This threat could be reason enough to shut it down if it pops up anywhere that is not completely neutral. Say it pops up in a garage somewhere in China. It would be seized by the Chinese government, and used to further state interests. Anywhere this happens is dangerous for the entire world, and could spurn a new world war. If there was ever anything to fight for, it's the little box that could solve every problem. Before A.I. would even have a chance to save a singe life, it would cause the death and destruction of millions. Before we could ever tap into the unending potential of an immortal being operating at a million times the speed of any single human in history, we would self-destruct fighting for it. If there was anything that showcases human nature at its rawest, it's this scenario.
So our job is to start creating a legal platform for when that day comes. We need to be ready.We need to both respect and fear this mammoth even that is going to be the day that A.I. takes over. But it's not going to be Skynet or Hal 9000. It's going to be the sheer existence of something so powerful, that could be our end. Then again a giant meteor, nuclear warfare, massive economic collapse or even a super-disease that mutated because of our overuse of antibiotics could all be reasons for the demise of the human race. So don't worry too much or you'll never get the chance to relax. Anything could kill us all at any moment, so why worry at all at this point. Just be happy that it hasn't happened yet.
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