i24 P H V SIC S OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Arthur C. Clarke wrote, "It is possible that we may become pets of
the computers, leading pampered existences like lapdogs, but I hope
that we will always retain the ability to pull the plug if we feel like it."
A more mundane threat is that our infrastructure depends on computers. Our water and electricity grid, not to mention transportation
and communications networks, will be increasingly computerized in
the future. Our cities have become so complex that only complex and
intricate computer networks can regulate and monitor our vast infrastructure. In the future it will become increasingly important to add
artificial intelligence to this computer network. A failure or breakdown
in this all-pervasive computer infrastructure could paralyze a city,
country, or even a civilization.
Will computers eventually surpass us in intelligence? Certainly,
there is nothing in the laws of physics to prevent that. If robots are neural networks capable of learning, and they develop to the point where
they can learn faster and more efficiently than we can, then it's logical
that they might eventually surpass us in reasoning. Moravec says,
"[The postbiological world] is a world in which the human race has
been swept away by the tide of cultural change, usurped by its own artificial progeny ... When that happens, our DNA will find itself out of
a job, having lost the evolutionary race to a new kind of competition."
Some inventors, such as Ray Rurzweil, have even predicted that
this time will come soon, earlier rather than later, even within the next
few decades. Perhaps we are creating our evolutionary successors.
Some computer scientists envision a point they call "singularity,"
when robots will be able to process information exponentially fast,
creating new robots in the process, until their collective ability to absorb information advances almost without limit.
So in the long term some have advocated a merging of carbon and
silicon technology, rather than waiting for our extinction. We humans
are mainly based on carbon, but robots are based on silicon (at least
for the moment). Perhaps the solution is to merge with our creations.
(If we ever encounter extraterrestrials, we should not be surprised to
find that they are part organic, part mechanical to withstand the rigors
of space travel and to flourish in hostile environments.)
Arthur C. Clarke wrote, "It is possible that we may become pets of
the computers, leading pampered existences like lapdogs, but I hope
that we will always retain the ability to pull the plug if we feel like it."
A more mundane threat is that our infrastructure depends on computers. Our water and electricity grid, not to mention transportation
and communications networks, will be increasingly computerized in
the future. Our cities have become so complex that only complex and
intricate computer networks can regulate and monitor our vast infrastructure. In the future it will become increasingly important to add
artificial intelligence to this computer network. A failure or breakdown
in this all-pervasive computer infrastructure could paralyze a city,
country, or even a civilization.
Will computers eventually surpass us in intelligence? Certainly,
there is nothing in the laws of physics to prevent that. If robots are neural networks capable of learning, and they develop to the point where
they can learn faster and more efficiently than we can, then it's logical
that they might eventually surpass us in reasoning. Moravec says,
"[The postbiological world] is a world in which the human race has
been swept away by the tide of cultural change, usurped by its own artificial progeny ... When that happens, our DNA will find itself out of
a job, having lost the evolutionary race to a new kind of competition."
Some inventors, such as Ray Rurzweil, have even predicted that
this time will come soon, earlier rather than later, even within the next
few decades. Perhaps we are creating our evolutionary successors.
Some computer scientists envision a point they call "singularity,"
when robots will be able to process information exponentially fast,
creating new robots in the process, until their collective ability to absorb information advances almost without limit.
So in the long term some have advocated a merging of carbon and
silicon technology, rather than waiting for our extinction. We humans
are mainly based on carbon, but robots are based on silicon (at least
for the moment). Perhaps the solution is to merge with our creations.
(If we ever encounter extraterrestrials, we should not be surprised to
find that they are part organic, part mechanical to withstand the rigors
of space travel and to flourish in hostile environments.)