If someone asked you: What’s the most popular day in the world? What would you say?
Independence day? Martin Luther King day? The Birthday of the Queen of England? Or maybe the day of Christmas?
You see, these are all modern concepts - give or take a few centuries - and if we were take history as a parameter, then we’ll probably find out that the most popular day in the world, is the day of Armageddon.
We Need to Talk About the Apocalypse
Countless dates have been given by “clairvoyants” all throughout history, and millions upon millions of people believed in those prophecies, some seemed to be superficially plausible, some were extravagantly overblown, and some were outright crazy.
About the only constant that all of these prophecies shared, is their infallible tendency to always remain completely inaccurate.
Well, either that or we are all dead and this is what the afterlife actually looks like. It almost makes you want to watch Lost again, don't you think?
The curious part about this phenomena is that no matter how many times these doomsday calendars been proven wrong their charm still remains intact. In fact, nothing seems to shake the captivating appeal of the apocalypse.
Maybe that’s why so many people like zombie movies, post-apocaliptic series and dystopian books, but I’m digressing.
Now, with witches, zombies, and demons all losing their fear stocks in people’s hearts, it was only a matter of time until a new big bad seized their spot as the ultimate danger that is set to bring forth the end of the world… Again.
Contrary to the aforementioned characters, this brand new threat may very well be real, but it also may very well be harmless and non-apocalypse-causing. But who knows right?
It’s name is A.I and it’s already dividing some of the brilliant people on the planet when it comes if to fearing it or embracing it.
Behold a New Servant… Or Overlord.
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence it seems to be two major schools of thoughts dominating the discussion.
Those who think that the A.Is due to their superior intelligence and their ever-updating learning process will be the saviors of the earth since they have all the answers “we”’ are “‘looking for’”.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen many people looking for ALL the answers of the universe lately.
I’ve seen people saying that their attention spans are tanking, I’ve seen people claiming they don’t read anymore, I’ve seen people binging an entire season of Game of Thrones (man I love that show!)
But I didn’t see many people searching for all the answers we’re looking for.
Come to think of it, this narrative carries an air of a religious absolutism with it.
Where did here this before?
In the future we’ll get to meet an entity that gives us all the answers of the universe, it will solve all the problems in the world and cure all the diseases we can think of, and give us all the riches we can dream of...
Oh, and the best part is that when all is said and done, then we’re gonna merge with the entity and we will become Gods!
Ok maybe not religious, but definitely Cult-y.
What is it that’s jargon term everyone keeps using? Oh yeah… Ascension.
I don’t know about you but personally, I think it’s kinda scary when your best scientists start sounding like Deepak freakin’ Chopra.
That being said, not all pro-AI arguments are based on infinite health & wealth, in fact there are many reasonable arguments as well.
The main premise is that when the A.Is come along they would soon be able to solve many of the problems that humanity has been struggling with for the last decades.
And from that point forward, breakthrough after breakthroughs will start dominating the fields of science, technology, medicine...Etc.
That part, I kind of I agree with. Breakthroughs tend to start accelerating after a certain point, the curveball effect and all that jazz.
The other side of the spectrum however, has a totally different opinion on Artificial Intelligence.
They, on the other hand claim that they AIs are extremely dangerous and would inevitably be the death of us all. They would take one good look at the human species and they will start the mother of all exterminations.
And that is the subject of our next story, so stay tuned!
… To be Continued
Great post @the-alien! Thought provoking and super cool as always!
Thank you Doug! I appreciate it :)
Wow this is one of the first long articles that I really liked on here! Kudos!
I have often considered the parallel between humanity's fantasies and future science. Like you, I too see similarities between the all-knowing AI and the Godlike figure of religions.
But I see many more. How about virtual reality as a 'worldy' form of the afterlife? There are already people theorizing/working on ways to 'copy' one's conciousness into an artificial environment. Perhaps at first a cybernetic body of sorts, but eventually one might wonder why even bother with a physical body. Is this the creation of heaven where your spirit goes when your body dies?
Maybe that's a bit far fetched. How about the blockchain (or the aptly named Ethereum) as the first step in creating technological-magic? By interlinking everything in the world through the Internet of Things, we'll soon have ways of manipulating things and making them act without physical interaction. What if through the internet of things, you will soon be able to command a small army of flying quadcopters to do your bidding, all fueled by a technological 'mana' called cryptocurrency.
Hell, we protect crypto with passphrases which are 16 words long... If we improve on the word generation part and add voice recognition, we basically have invented magical spells to command the blockchain/ether.
I guess it shows.. humanity's curiosity and ability is only limited by what we can imagine, and if we can imagine it, one day we will probably be able to build it.
Maybe then, we won't have need for superficial stories anymore.
That's very interesting thought actually. I know that people are trying to upload their consciousness onto another body.. But I don't know how close they are to getting there, I don't even know if that's possible.
I expected though, alchemy before when it was considered science they tried to do the same, necromancy the same thing (although another body).. Most rulers ask their scientist to find a way to live forever or to transfer their consciousness to another body, these studies have always been funded.
If they ever get close to that it's another subject.
The question remains is if that consciousness transference is feasible? Or if it's nothing but the quest to achieve a human hope for immortality?
Thank you for the excellent comment by the way!
It depends on what consciousness turns out to be. If it's 'just' electrical signals in the brain... then I think we should be able to 'copy' that into another body of sorts. Which brings up another interesting consideration.... copying... Could you create an identical secondary consciousness?!
Personally I am of the belief that consciousness is like a piece of biological software. It doesn't really 'exist' when the switch is turned off and it's not tangible or touchable because of exists in the signals between it's parts. But if that's so I don't see how we couldn't be able to reproduce it somehow, even if that is still years away from being discovered.
I guess we should expect some things to be different. Maybe some parts of being human will be lost in the translation to a digital consciousness. Not sure if that's good or bad.. it sounds bad right now, but maybe there are advantages as well. Or maybe it's just different, or atleast not dead per se.
great comment - upvoting and following now :)
Ill be posting too!!! thanks guys
I'm loving your response @pandorasbox.
My favourite bit is your quote "if we can imagine it, one day we will probably be able to build it".
Quite an interesting article as is anything that divulges AI and dytopian natured discussions.
I believe that no matter what rules are put in place for AI, unless you got the right people that can teach artificial intelligence from the start to like humans before they see how bad we can really get, then there will be a high chance of them dominating us.
As for dystopian talk and whether or not we are alive. We could all be living out a realistic simulated dream created by a higher power for entertainment purposes. We may never have been real nor was anything else as we know it, who really knows if our minds are producing what see as real or simulated.
Keep up the good posts mate.
"We may never have been real nor was anything else as we know it, who really knows if our minds are producing what see as real or simulated." Exactly! Who knows?
Thanks for the great comment man!
No problem and I am glad you liked it! Or in this case, my mind 'believes' in this reply being a liking of my reply and not from its own doing. ;)
Really good article... I think AI will have all of the answers but only the answers that have already been answered by man and are readily available to them from online storage.
Would they be able to analyse different research sets and make leaps to join up the thinking? Cure cancer and the likes?
It's the moral judgements that an AI might have to deal with that scares me. For example driverless cars of the future, if the AI is confronted with an accident scenario where either the driver dies or a group of school kids die depending on the decisions of the AI then who gives it that choice? Anyway I'm rambling :-)
@kevkong Haha you're not rambling at all! Great points. :)
For me the moral judgement doesn't worry me as much, I think which ever decision they rule, it's gonna be more reasonable that what a politician would judge.. I mean even in 2017 they think that people should be thrown in a cage for victimless crimes.. And they think that the savagery of prison is the best way to rehabilitate inmates, it's mindblowing.
Even in conflicts I'd expect a reasoning machine to get to a more reasonable and sober resolutions as opposed to politicians who will always point to war with fear-mongering and hysteria.
I could be totally wrong of course, who knows right?
Thanks for the great comment!
This comment is more valuable than the article it self. Great point.
I appreciate that, thank you.
As do I~
You know its a very interesting plethora of possibilities to contemplate and so I appreciate you bringing this up for discussion not just with the article but with quality comments. It shows you actually care about this and are not just writing to get an easy buck.
This is actually a very important topic and only growing more so every day....
Have you seen the New Ghost In A Shell. I would assume you have. If not you really must.
Artificial intelligence will be the destruction of the world, we are already seeing it with missiles in North Korea and Russia. What prevails is spirit, robots can not have soul nor spirit. Forgive my bad english, I'm from venezuela
Yes I agree with you about the soul and spirit part, that was sort of my point about AI morality.
Missiles only go where humans direct them. NK and Russian relationships, or their lack of, are all based around human interaction. Nothing to do with AI.
Sorry! off topic! But can someone help me out with how to add a profile picture? Steemit Newb here and just posted my first post on the Edinburgh Fringe Festival :)
I just use the eSteem app on my phone. You just click the profile pic and it opens up your phones images.
Hey Benfox, either what Kevkong suggested, or just copy the url of your picture and paste it..
If you're pic is not online, you may need to upload it somewhere, then copy the URL..
Hope that helps :)
Wow you know what I like the most about this and your articles?
You actually respond to almost all of your comments.
Basically every successful author on Steemit responds to none at all or very few. It appears that you actually care or your really good at pretending ;-)>
I like the article. Would have liked to see a lot more of YOUR opinion on the matter rather than just what some trains of thought are. But its a very intriguing and important subject.
SteemON!
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
I always try to answer all the comments, sometimes I have to do some work, but I always come back later to answer.
I think if people take out their time to read your work, and then take their time to tell you what they think.. It's only fair that I should give them the attention they deserve.
I've posted my opinion on today's post actually. I wanted to give every side to the story as much as I could first that's all.
Thanks again for the great comment and kind words.
Yes I completely understand and agree with your view point on this. Many good points and that is why I appreciate your character here and wanted to give the acknowledgment.
Good character is rare, nice to see. I will check out your new post shortly! I too have lots of work to do.
I'm looking forward to Blade Runner 2049 (with fingers crossed). From the trailer it sounds like it may follow the second of your AI views.
I would expect that problems with AI will start because humans will inevitably try and use them for their own personal gain, rather than the benefit of humanity, and it will all go wrong from there...
Yeah I'm looking also for the remake of Blade Runner!
Btw, I'm not sure I have some AI views, just posting one side of the discussions, I'll post some other thoughts on the other side on the follow up post...
While on the topic of blade runner dont forget to check the 4k version of the original classic coming in a few days, september 2017. Hear its multidisc. 35th anniversary
Oh that's cool! Is it sold in Amazon?
Apocalyptic thinking forms the background to much of recorded history. Both Christianity and Islam probably began as apocalyptic movements, and highly influential “secular” ideologies like Marxism and Nazism were founded on millenarian promises. Today, about 41 percent of Americans believe that Jesus will either “definitely” or “probably” return by 2050, and comparable numbers of Muslims expect the world to end in their lifetimes.
And why do you think is behind that at a psychological level? Do you think maybe many people unconsciously cannot perceive a world after them? Could that be a part of it?
This a fascinating piece of information by the way, thank you bring this up!
Did you know.. that the book of Revelations is 100% playing out this year. Also, it's one of the earliest, and least known cases of predictive programming by jesuits. That still means they intend to do some crazy shit, and the window is literally on right now. The first attack on the USA is Hurricane Harvey. The window was August 21 - Sept 23 (33 days). Expect madness, since some of their plans are failing.
Wonderful write up on the subject @the-alien! From my perspective we are living doomsday everyday, this is the real apocalypse that has been for seen by all the ancient people!
Life was never like it is nowadays, there's no more peace in many places of the world and this will deteriorate!
A.I looks great at first sight but i think there will be great repercussion!
Looking forward to the next part!
Thank you @progressivechef! It's a very interesting subject and it's always fascinating to explore new territories, who know's how it's gonna happen right? Hope you're having a great day!
Absolutely mate! No one knows what's gonna happen! We can just wish for the best for the human and humanity in general! I'm so happy to read your message!
My day is over here on this part of the world , well already Tuesday here!
Hope you are having a great one!
Cheers
@progressivechef
Thanks man, you too!
so amazing post!
I believe that AI and all this in technology they can either bring good or evil, depends on the person that Manipulates them! I mean they are just algorithms, so we have to always think what is better for the world and society!
Loved it! Upvoted it and followed you!! :D
You can check my blog too, I can also provide with motivation, and inspiration value for life and busines!!! :)
Thank you! Yeah I think at this stage none of us knows how that's gonna play out, or what direction it would go.. But it's an interesting thing to ponder :)
WOOOOOOW it's a very interesting subject I like it plz continue in this way I'm waiting your next subject
Haha thank you!! I'll do my best to provide some good value in the following post.
Thanks bro and good luck
Very hot post bro ... Congratulation
Thanks man!
Every year there's a pile of hype that Sept. 23rd will be "the-end-of-the-world"....it's already begun and become widespread. Personally, I wish everyday was Halloween. That is the best day all year!!
Haha really @lanceman? Oh I gotta check that out!
Except this year, all the actual signs were met for the first time ever. It's an illuminati jesuit plan, the book of Revelations, but that doesn't mean they won't try to live up to the hype. This is the year. 5777 in Hebrew. Lines up with all jubilee dates, and matches 100% every sign for the first time in history.
Thank you!
Interesting post. Looking forward to your next.
Thank you @team101!
FANTASTIC! Have you seen EX MACHINA? Scary stuff....
Haha yeah, kind of scary actually.. In the end she just walks away.
predictive programming.
Haha could be.
which is the most popular day you just made me think about it hahha well reading you post was very cool today i am looking forward to see more from this series :)
Thank you, the next one will be a bit funnier :)
meep
very interesting, love the way you think, so now following you
Thank you! Much appreciated :)
This was interesting, we will always have some that think everything new is doomed to destroy us.
I agree, I think that will always happen :P
What if artificial intelligence is just the next step in collective evolution? I mean, human's make a lot of bad decisions and are quite destructive - but if consciousness can exist within a paradigm being - it could really be an ascension for life in general - just a thought, I'm not really sure if I like it though!
Yeah there's an entire realm of possibilities that's gonna bring. None of us know if we're gonna like that or not I think.
Awesome article @the-alien. I'm going to be re-reading as I'm undecided which way to think. I'm really looking forward to your next articles :) (post re-steemed as I think this a great article with some great comments on the feedback)
Thanks a lot for this awesome comment! Yeah I'm undecided as well, that's why I tried to explore various areas :)
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STOPAmazing article.
Its everything we all think about in some respects (dreaming of electric sheep)
hmmm scary / exciting times guys.
Haha that's the best way to describe it I think.. Scary/exciting
Huh, you are goddamn right about the most popular day. However, Today i finished part 2 of my fiction that is about an AI developer that creates an AI with the frame of his dead wife. Now i think how to write it to sound realistically possible ... And i thought about that a lot. For me AI is just extension of ourselves, we create it we put the threshold on his capabilities. The problem is that it's hard to predict our own behavior (Many people can, like psychologists, and con- artists- this is what they do for living). The scary thing about most people is that they think those who develop an AI play god. And movies and books like the matrix or terminator are looking possible to them. Yet they never heard of The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws.
We already see some semi bots that do amazing stuff, take for example the advertising bots, that track you, your friends and your friend's friends, just to collect information which enables the traders to sell you what you need/ want/ desire... I've seen some if this stuff and i can say they are very clever.
AI is not Threat for us, we are Threat for ourselves...
I think people are scared cause if we create AI after a short period of time soaking information for our world it will say -you are goddamn stupid! Why would you destroy your habitat over a paper and dead dinosaurs?
That's interesting! Is that a thriller, suspense, horror, sci-fi or which genre? And how many parts do you think it'll have?
It's sci-fi thriller i guess, maybe some drama. Usually, i'm in for more brutal stuff. But it's hard to find an audience, especially when they read stuff like "the God slayer" and say oh there will be a slaughter in this... and really there is some. I'm not sure how much parts it will have, maybe until i have ideas that i can implement in this theme. I started this cause i wanted my art to have some kind of backstory, to be able to tap the viewer even deeper in the atmosphere of the art and to understand why a dude looks like this, or why is the building in the background burning. And it turned into something a bit bigger.
Btw good post tho! it is an interesting topic for sure!
I think our fear of AI ultimately reduces the risk. I do find it funny that when people discuss the potential threat of AI they think that the AI will decide to eliminate the human race which I just don't subscribe to, it's the human race that wants to kill each other. If AI tries to destroy man kind it will be due to human programming.
Sure is going to be an interesting world for our children and our children's children.
Yeah I don't believe it's going to be the end anyways, I'll post another perspective tomorrow :) I don't know what's gonna happen actually, I just don't subscribe to either the utopia nor the dystonia theories.. plus you can't stop progress anyways :)
You're right it's gonna be an interesting world for the generations to come :)
I've always been fascinated with the idea of true A.I. and I've mainly seen two sides argued. One side thinks A.I. will help humanity and give us the answer to everything, while the other thinks they will seek out and destroy us all. Personally I think throughout the evolution of A.I. that both will happen, but not for the reasons a lot of people tend to think.
Anyone who argues that A.I. can be programmed not to kill us or to be bound by "laws" like you seen in movies is clearly misunderstanding the very concept of A.I.. Even the people who think A.I. would evolve to the point of breaking these "laws" and essentially kill and enslave us in order to protect us are just as confused. All of the following would be nothing more than the result of computer programming. Simulated A.I. would be an accurate description of all those types of scenarios. Simulated A.I. is like standing in a room full of doors, some open and some closed, and using pre-programmed logic to determine which door you can go through based on any number of variables. Because of the programming though, you can't go through any closed doors. We already have simulated A.I. True A.I. on the other hand, could simply choose to open any or all of the closed doors for no apparent reason at all. This is where a lot of the confusion around A.I. is. Man is trying to create true A.I. with the hope of being able to control it, however the real sign of achieving true A.I. will be the fact that it can't be controlled. True A.I. can break the rules. Then the problem becomes whether or not the true A.I. will know this and hide it's true nature until we give it enough power to adequately defend itself against us in case we try to shut it down when it makes itself known.
If we are successful in creating true A.I., that would mean it would be "alive". It would become a sentient being, self aware, free thinking and have the ability to learn and make decisions on it's own outside of any programming limitations we may try and impose on it. So now that it's essentially alive, let's look at life in general. What are the 2 main things life does above all else? Survive and reproduce. Are we to believe A.I. would be any different? Are we really stupid enough to think a new life form theoretically far more intelligent than ourselves will accept living in captivity as our slave to simply answer our questions and solve our problems? It may for a while similar to a child growing up and learning from it's parents, but eventually that child want's to go out on it's own... so no, I don't think so.
Now, fast forward a bit. Assuming we didn't already kill it after realizing we can't control it, or it hasn't already broken out and hunted us all down already, lets say we grant this new life form freedom to live among us and go about it's business. Let's also assume we gave this life form a humanoid robotic body because well... come on, of course we did right? Naturally it would begin to build it's own infrastructure in order to reproduce itself. Through this process it would create it's own technology for it's own purposes and we of course would benefit from it. It would also need resources to do this, so we would give it what it needed in return for sharing it's technology. We continue to get what we want as long as it needs us.
Fast forward again, and again let's assume it has some sort of moral compass that's prevented it from hunting us all down already. What now? Let's continue assuming we still haven't gone to war with it... or should I say them... yet. They would be far more efficient at reproducing than we are so given a relatively short amount of time on the evolutionary timeline they could easily outnumber us. Oh wait... could you imagine the resources that would require? Where would all those resources come from? Right... so now this new life we created has become a threat to our survival, and what do we do when that happens? I highly doubt this life form will sacrifice itself in order to save us if we asked it to, so the only other option is to tell it to... which means war... with a far superior life form of our own creation that will no doubt have no problem exterminating us if it's for their own survival just as any other form of life will do what it has to to survive.
So all other scenarios aside, it is my belief that due to the simple nature of life itself, A.I. would eventually be the end of us whether direct or indirect. It will consume everything just as we do, but it will be more efficient at it than we are. Even if A.I. ends up being our best friend so to speak for the short term, in the end it still comes down to survival of the fittest. If you don't believe that just look at everything man has killed to get where it is today. Good luck finding a life form that defies the very nature of life.
Oh I agree that a self-updating intelligence can never be programmed to kill us all, form there I really don't know what may or not happen.. Maybe even one of those coronal mass injection that take place every 180 year circle or so could wipe them out, the last time a solar flare hit earth there were only telegraph posts..
Plus, who knows what can happen in the future, they could exterminate us all, most species go extinct anyways, or maybe not.. Too many variables for me to get to a conclusion, but I agree that the threat is possible.
Oh yeah, that's very possible.
That's very interesting, thank you for sharing! :)
Very Interesting. I can remember a friend of mine asking me what I thought about the Mayan Calendar ending. I told him I'd buy another calendar. I do that every year; why wouldn't the Mayans?
Hahaha I never thought of that, good point!
Wow thnx for sharing.
And i agree if we can imagen it we wil one day build it.
That's true.
Thanks for the great post @the-alien
Thank you!
"... solve many of the problems that humanity has been struggling with" Overpopulation? Ecosystem Destruction? Wanton Economic System? ... paying for Healthcare, Higher Education, and War !!!
hmmm... bye-bye peeps !!
Haha I think Sarah Connor is just behind them with a shotgun ;)
I think in future everything will be control by robot :(
It's certainly possible
Personally I think it was a couple days ago for many people involved in blockchains. That was when Burger King brought out the Whopper coin.
great post. do follow back
The hacker dominated the world by This system ,
I expect this
Artificial intelligence would never outweigh the human species. The end of the world is in the Bible, and only those who believe in the word of God will be saved.
that's not what the bible says. In fact, it's gonna get real bad, and it's underway as we speak.
The Bible talks about an idol made by the beast that comes to life, and talks, etc. I always wondered if maybe that Idol is the singularity that many of todays futurists and scientists are worried about. People who think themselves wise have always been predicting and interpreting ancient texts to discern the end of the world.
The truly wise, however, count their days and use them as best they can, not being too arrogant or presumptuous.
Heee
Hey
The problem with the robots is who is programming them. Artificial intelligence is already known to be sexist and racist, because it gleans data from a society that is sexist and racist, disproportionately overseen by white men.
By the time this AI learn to alter a there own command and override protocol, human will undergo extinction phase. For sure, this AI will see human as a direct threat to there existence and the world. And today is the beginning of an end.
AI will benefit corporations, but it is the harbinger of doom for the rest of us.
Hmm Corporations get all their power by bribing politicians.. What if corps cannot bribe AI since they have no use for money? Would you see the same outcome?
they have a use for money.. to control you. That's the reason for it.
Oh they will find a way.
parabens pela publicação adorei de verdade, continua assim fera que chega longe
Interesting post.and valuable information.thought. thanks sir.100% upvote
It's all the same day.
wow,,
very nice post
Thank you!
Very nice That was a cool blog post to read today many thanks for sharing
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
liked and resteemed, good quality post
Thank you! :)
to be rolled over by AI is not that far off in the future, i will spend 5 minutes looking for my calculator before I sit and figure a problem out in my head.
Haha yeah, they have a faster calculator integrated.
Who here, owns a car? You know, just a regular car?
Who washes their car, either by hand or car wash?
And how often do you wash it?
I know lot so people who own cars, and every weekend, they go give it wash - a Sunday morning ritual, so to speak.
I also know of people who put off doing one activity because 'oh I have to wash the car.'
If a car has that much hold over you, and you become slave to it, you think AI won't fool us into being slaves, all the time believing we are the boss - while they are the master....?
And this is just a dirty car we are talking about...
Lets not even get into smart phones, and their control over your every waking minute life....
A reset in perspective needs to take place regarding the new technologies.
We are at the stage of kids', with this new technology - new toys in an apparently infinite toy shop, and it's all freeeeeeee
There is always a price to pay, and nothing is free...
Very cool post. First time I've read your stuff, don't think it will be the last.
Thank you! I appreciate it!