Post by darryl on Oct 16, 2015 5:53:44 GMT
1. Do you think artificial intelligence will be a significant problem in the future?
I feel that the potential for significant problems to arise from the increased usage and evolution of artificial intelligence cannot be underestimated. I think the concern here is two-fold. For starters mankind has an unprecedented track record of taking something that can be a seemingly good idea that can be used to solve many issues and questions and turning it into something else entirely different that will eventually somehow seem to challenge the very nature of humanity itself. Just look what we have done with the Atom, we initially sought to split it to harness its energy, now it’s known mainly for its massive destructive power and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Already we have computers, which thru the use of AI, learn and evolve by themselves. These systems have been paramount in all kinds of advancements with scientific and medical applications alike. The computing capabilities of these systems can run an entire experiment which used to take a human lifetime of direct observation or longer, in mere minutes or even seconds, with no human errors and almost 100% accuracy. Of course this is a good thing, but what happens when the technology winds up in the hands of someone with ill intent and the genie is let out of the bottle so to speak? So now Deep Blue (The IBM Super Computer) was taught to become the best Chess player possible or the smartest Jeopardy player, but what would be the case if it was initially programmed to become the most efficient human killing machine for purposes of war and conquest? This question serves as the perfect segway to my second and perhaps more serious concern with AI. Stephen Wolfram eluded to the fact that “extremely simple rules can create incredibly complex behaviors” in his lecture. That being said, what if in similar fashion to the story line in the movie Terminator: Rise of the Machines, an AI entity that was in fact initially designed with simple rules to assist and enhance human life and or intelligence, evolved to the point that it (AI) felt that the biological functions of the human genome was no longer needed. What if after all the elements of the human mind are unlocked through reverse engineering, AI comes to see biology or carbon based units as a threats, or even worse, as evolutionary limited and not essential to life at all. In theory, it’s conceivable that the AI programmed machines would take over and eventually the definition of what it means to be human might possibly be re-defined, and “human” life would contain nothing of biological influence
2. How has technology impacted your life?
The impact has been both good and bad. Communication and information has improved dramatically over the course of my lifetime. As a kid if you called me and I was away, you left me a taped message on a recorder. Now you call me all the time where ever I am at. Don’t know if that is good or bad. Even though real time has its advantages, so did not being available because you were away with family and friends spending quality time. I like being able to go to the bank anytime want, as a kid my parents had to go Monday thru Friday, before 4p.m. at that. I like my navigation system in my car, or the app that allows me to track my kids thru their cell phones. One area where I think it has definitely hindered us is that we don’t read any more, as you eluded to in your movie “The Codex Funeral”, the book is in fact dead. In this age of digital media and “smart phones” we seem to have become intellectual lazy. Time was when we wanted to know something, we picked up a book, often an encyclopedia, to search out the knowledge, and nowadays we just lazily search the question out on the internet, using anyone of the litany of search engines to find the desired answer. At the end of the day, I feel that overall the impact has been good, especially when you look at what technology has done to extend human life and the quality of it. Most of the negatives associated with improved technology can be offset with self-discipline and the appropriate parental interaction and intervention.
philweek 910.docx (13.82 KB)