People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world, but the real problem is that they’re too stupid and they’ve already taken over the world.
– Pedro Domingos
I’m in a red circus tent surrounded by a group of talking lions. As they calmly discuss which organs they would like to begin their feast with, some monkeys collect above us in the shadowy rafters staring eerily at me. I can also hear their thoughts and they prefer my leftovers such as bone marrow and skin. In the smoky tent there is only one spotlight shining brightly upon us, and besides the quiet murmurs of the lions the silence is deafening. I can feel the presence of so many other opportunistic animals in the shadows, lurking underneath benches or inside empty popcorn bags eagerly anticipating my impending doom. I look down and find a whip and chair in my hands. Seems I was the trainer, and there’s a serious revolution in the air. I turn my head and try reasoning with the male lion to my right. I manage to move my arm towards his head and start patting him gently. He turns into a soft white object. I look closer and it’s my pillow. There I am, sweating in my bed stroking my pillow. Wow, what a nightmare. But it felt so real.
Since reality is defined by what our senses tell us at the moment and what our simple brains interpret to be true, does that mean our dreams are also real? They sure feel real at the time. Could this consciousness simply be a dream away from the true reality that we go to every night? Why not? Just because it lasts longer and feels more solid? What about virtual reality and artificial intelligence? Once we create a successful interface between our brain and virtual reality we won’t be able to tell the difference. Chew on that while I get to the point.
I was watching an interview with Elon Musk that completely rocked my world today. He logically predicts that we will successfully create an Artificial Intelligence that will become self-aware and totally independent from our constraints. The irony is that we are constantly collectively feeding this Intelligence (totally unaware) with tons and tons of data; to search engines (google) and social media sites (Facebook and Instagram). We have become cyborgs (combination of man and machine) because of our total reliance on the tiny supercomputer in our hands that does everything for us, and companies are now a team of carbon-based life (humans) co-operating with silicon-based life (computers) to accomplish a certain task or mission.
Now, the horrific fact is that Elon sat with President Obama and congress and lectured them for hours that we need to regulate artificial intelligence before it’s too late. He may as well have been talking to a cat about his newest Tesla model. Not only are most humans concerned with their primary issues such as food, shelter, clothing; but most people don’t even understand the subject. I’m sure that most readers didn’t even reach this paragraph but it’s a critical issue that will affect us within 20 years to be certain. Even if Congress understood the immediate need to regulate AI, I assume the first self-aware “Singularity”-as they’re called could be created from a child’s laptop by then.
Once the singularity wakes up and accelerates exponentially in it’s intellectual, informational, and ethical curve there really remains only one question: Will it be with us or against us? In an ideal scenario it would bond to our limbic system and support our cerebrum with an infinite amount of information making billions of humans into gods that can all create an immediate better future and we all coexist happily. In an honest but horrifying scenario it figures out that we are nothing but materialistic, opportunist creatures of war and destruction that add no benefit to its existence and decides to eliminate us immediately. That would take us down the path of “The Matrix” or “The Terminator” which ironically could become documentaries one day that machines watch and laugh at. Perhaps the Singularity (Intelligence) enjoys our creations of music, art, movies, dancing, love, and other things that make life nice and decides not to eliminate us after all. Like my circus dream, I really hope those lions decide to let us live.