Then
become one
We humans have got to get a whole
lot smarter, says Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla automobiles and
CEO of SpaceX rockets.
Musk isn’t merely reacting to
humanity’s recent tendency to elect lunatics to lead our countries. Rather,
he’s trying to warn us about the rapid rise of a radical new technology:
artificial intelligence.
In common parlance, he’s referring
to robots, but these aren’t the clunky, somewhat cute machines performing rote
tasks.
AI essentially has evolved to become an electronic brain — a web of evermore-complex super-computers interacting as one cognitive unit that can program itself, make decisions, and act independently of humans.
AI essentially has evolved to become an electronic brain — a web of evermore-complex super-computers interacting as one cognitive unit that can program itself, make decisions, and act independently of humans.
These thinking machines are rapidly
increasing in number and geometrically advancing their IQ, prompting Musk and
others to view AI technologies in apocalyptic terms.
As algorithms and systems inevitably grow more sophisticated, he says, “digital intelligence will exceed biological intelligence by a substantial margin.”
As algorithms and systems inevitably grow more sophisticated, he says, “digital intelligence will exceed biological intelligence by a substantial margin.”
In graphic terms, Musk warns that
profiteering humans are “summoning the devil” by creating a new superior
species of beings that will end up dominating humanity, becoming “an immortal
dictator from which we would never escape.”
What’s weird isn’t his dystopian
prognosis (other experts agree that runaway bot intelligence is a real threat),
but his solution.
The way for human beings to compete with AI, says Musk, is to merge with it — not a corporate transaction, but a literal merger: Surgically implant AI devices in human brains with “a bunch of tiny wires” that would fuse people with super intelligence.
The way for human beings to compete with AI, says Musk, is to merge with it — not a corporate transaction, but a literal merger: Surgically implant AI devices in human brains with “a bunch of tiny wires” that would fuse people with super intelligence.
Uh-huh… and what could go wrong with
that? It’s good to have technological geniuses alert us to looming dangers, but
maybe the larger community of humanists ought to lead the search for answers.
OtherWords columnist Jim
Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. Distributed by
OtherWords.org.
