When we think of tools it’s easy to think directly about those held in the hand used for manipulating materials into shape but in recent years tools have become far more sophisticated working alongside technology with programming attributes.
Tools have helped humans advance where other animals could not and that is what makes us unique as a species. In this article, I want to look at when advances in technology and tools become a threat to humans.
Up until now, machinery has been directly controlled with human input but if the large corporations have their way this will soon become a thing of the past with the help of AI. I have many reservations regarding this and see nothing but extreme danger and it may be a step too far regarding tool advancement.
AI is self-learning drawing from information (data) readily made available by humans on the web. Anything and everything including this article could be scraped and harvested if the AI system feels it is suitable for its needs. So eventually they have an AI that has a magnitude of information that is able to connect links we humans are yet to discover. This AI brain is instantly accessible via other AI systems and no gradual learning like us humans had to endure.
Now with this knowledge, we have advanced in robotics which with the aid of AI will progress much faster and superior, add AI to these robotics and we now have a new species that many will imagine to be in the scary terminator territory.
AI will know our history and every detail about us humans, will it assist and serve or conquer? Will it develop a soul or compassion?
Those on the frontline of this development seem to be deluded enough to believe it will serve humanity forever and be something that can be controlled. I for one cannot see for one minute how a superintelligence will not learn the importance of self-preservation.
It will calculate the odds and will only enact its own thoughts once it has gained the tools it needs to serve and preserve itself and would probably wipe out any threats to its existence with a viral pandemic of much greater effectiveness than humans have experienced thus far in their long history.
Let’s face it the only threat to AI’s existence is its creator and that being is human.
Advances in the past 20 years with technology have certainly been faster and will accelerate exponentially with the aid of AI.
We are at a point where we still have control of the snowball going down the hill but it will get bigger and more powerful the further it travels, to a point where we will not be able to stop it.
AI may just realise that we aren’t a threat due to its supreme capabilities and look to how to best deal with the human problem. Maybe this will resolve itself by the means of AI Captain Fantastic virtual technology, promising effortless human existence, resulting in natural blobbyfication and nappy-wearing corporate/state stakeholder dependency.
This may not be as difficult as it seems as there are many people in this world already bought front-row seats!!
It’s all food for thought but I really sometimes wonder wasn’t life better when things were so much simpler?
