92
5 Genie Out of the Bottle
Bill Gates of Microsoft contributed to the discussion on Artificial Intelligence,
too
19 :
“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. … I agree with
Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are
not concerned.”
Last but not least, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, formulated his worries as
follows
20 :
“Computers are going to take over from humans, no question … Like people
including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the
future is scary and very bad for people … If we build these devices to take care
of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid
of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently … Will we be the gods?
Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped on? I don’t know
…”
So, how will our future look like? Will superintelligent robots enslave us? Or
will we upgrade our biological hardware in order to become superhumans? I openly
admit, this sounds like science fiction, but such scenarios can’t be any longer ignored,
given the current pace of technological advances. The first cyborgs, i.e. humans that
have been technologically enhanced, already exist. The most well-known of them
is Neil Harbisson.
21 With the Crisper technology, it is even possible now to genetically engineer humans.
22 But there is an alternative: If suitable information platforms and personal digital assistants support us in creating collective intelligence, we
might be able to keep up with the exponentially increasing performance of Artificial
Intelligence.
23
19 http://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-is-worried-about-artificial-intelligence-too/.
20 https://web.archive.org/web/20150501122305/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/theswi
tch/wp/2015/03/24/apple-co-founder-on-artificial-intelligence-the-future-is-scary-and-very-badfor-people/.
21 See, for example, the TED talk “I listen to color” accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ygRNoieAnzI.
22 The Promise and Peril of Crispr: A cheap gene-editing method could lead to cures—and frankenbabies, see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-25/the-promise-and-peril-of-crispr.
23 See this video by Jim Spohrer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7PVBGtEYyg. Therefore,
I believe we should better engage in distributed collective intelligence rather than in creating a few
extremely powerful superintelligences that may get out of hand. We might lose control due to their
smartness, but also because of their attractiveness for organized criminals, terrorists, or political
extremists, and because of unsolved cyber security issues. Moreover, superintelligences may start
to act selfishly or lie, or they could make mistakes. This could be disastrous if their proposals
5 Genie Out of the Bottle
Bill Gates of Microsoft contributed to the discussion on Artificial Intelligence,
too
19 :
“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. … I agree with
Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are
not concerned.”
Last but not least, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, formulated his worries as
follows
20 :
“Computers are going to take over from humans, no question … Like people
including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the
future is scary and very bad for people … If we build these devices to take care
of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid
of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently … Will we be the gods?
Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped on? I don’t know
…”
So, how will our future look like? Will superintelligent robots enslave us? Or
will we upgrade our biological hardware in order to become superhumans? I openly
admit, this sounds like science fiction, but such scenarios can’t be any longer ignored,
given the current pace of technological advances. The first cyborgs, i.e. humans that
have been technologically enhanced, already exist. The most well-known of them
is Neil Harbisson.
21 With the Crisper technology, it is even possible now to genetically engineer humans.
22 But there is an alternative: If suitable information platforms and personal digital assistants support us in creating collective intelligence, we
might be able to keep up with the exponentially increasing performance of Artificial
Intelligence.
23
19 http://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-is-worried-about-artificial-intelligence-too/.
20 https://web.archive.org/web/20150501122305/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/theswi
tch/wp/2015/03/24/apple-co-founder-on-artificial-intelligence-the-future-is-scary-and-very-badfor-people/.
21 See, for example, the TED talk “I listen to color” accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ygRNoieAnzI.
22 The Promise and Peril of Crispr: A cheap gene-editing method could lead to cures—and frankenbabies, see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-25/the-promise-and-peril-of-crispr.
23 See this video by Jim Spohrer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7PVBGtEYyg. Therefore,
I believe we should better engage in distributed collective intelligence rather than in creating a few
extremely powerful superintelligences that may get out of hand. We might lose control due to their
smartness, but also because of their attractiveness for organized criminals, terrorists, or political
extremists, and because of unsolved cyber security issues. Moreover, superintelligences may start
to act selfishly or lie, or they could make mistakes. This could be disastrous if their proposals