If I get time I’m hoping to write a post on this sometime in the next week to make some crude comparisons to how Hollywood portrays this vs the reality on the ground, especially how it relates to “The War” between humans and machines, in that there won’t be one.
We’ll keep adding layers of functionality to give a little more control, because who wants to track steps when a device can do it for you? Or upload that data and examine it to optimize our health when an algorithm can do it instantly and make recommendations?
No one will “wake up” from the matrix ready to fight for the salvation of humanity. Why would we? By then our trust in those systems will have been proven. If the code is less than functional it’ll have been patched long before it’s problematic on a massive scale.
Before we know it we’ll just roll with whatever because we’ve come to trust it’s in our best interest to do so, likely because it is.
I don't know.
The more intelligent you make these systems and androids, the more they can potentially formulate their own thoughts and actions. Is it that much of a stretch really? The advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, AI and automation are astounding.
In my opinion, there should be worldwide pacts and agreements on what can and cannot be programmed into these AI systems.
As a species we have enough to worry about with global warming and other threats. The last thing we need is another 100% avoidable potential catastrophe.
I worry that we have become too advanced and we may well annihilate ourselves within 100 years unless we put clear safeguards and rules in place at an international level.
I’d posit you worry because you think we have control over the evolution of life.
Ideally, I agree with you but that’s too clean cut. Life is messy. It’s only getting messier. Embrace the chaos and run de it out. 😊
Those Hollywood cinematic creations where wars between humans and machines are part of the action of the stories - i believe that in the distant future similar events could be possible in reality. Only when we think of the two world wars (where technology was not as evolved as it is today) in which each nation tried to impose itself by destroying the lives of many innocent people. Hollywood does nothing but offer us, from the imagination of some creators, possible alternatives to the future of humanity - we can perceive those scientifically fantastic creations as if they were small simulations of the future. Globally there are enough people who think of doing bad things around them causing colossal damage to a society or a some nation, using advanced technologies.
Agreed, but I was referring to the overall theme that all of humanity is united against the machines. I appreciate the “tiny simulations” perspective, especially considering some of them could play out in reality, albeit on a small scale, comparatively speaking. We see it now. Hold outs happen at every level. The more tech outpaces those who don’t want to keep up the more aggressively they’ll try to hold the rest of us back. The extent to which they can do that is still generally limited, even considering the rapid advancement in some (scary in the wrong hands) medical/biotech that’s coming sooner than we think, not to mention what’s already here.
We’re learning pretty big lessons along the way. Just like the boomers were pretty much traumatized by the Cold War and threat of nuclear annihilation, younger generations are seeing what happens when an entire society shifts to a short term outlook. I hope both will serve us well going forward.
Praise
I love your response. Given our current state of technology, there is no argument against your logic. If you could, please take my perspective on the matter.
The Hollywood position on AI is certainly entertaining and fatalistic, but the concept of runaway technologies is possible with real consequences.
Example-1
Take, for instance, the portrayal of nuclear power in the late 1970s. A movie called the China Syndrome was released starring Jane Fonda and Kirk Douglas. It was a fanciful drama about nuclear power and the dangers it posed. The nuclear industry went on its own publicity tour touting its safety and how nothing like what the movie proposed could ever happen.
Two weeks after Hollywood released the China Syndrome, Three Mile Island, located in the United States, the state of Pennsylvania, suffered a partial meltdown of its Unit 2 reactor core. After studying this event in detail through my training, I can tell you that we were lucky at the time. The events at Three Mile Island jarred the industry to implement the safety standards we follow and improve today.
Example-2
Let's take a look at a different example. The nuclear arms race between the U.S and Russia was a nightmare I'm glad to have only read about. There have been approximately 2,000 nuclear explosions on this planet since 1945. They were all tests...tests. We've had more than one instance where we could have experienced Armageddon were it not for a single solitary decision.
Long Story Short (Too Late, Sorry)
Hollywood jests for a profit. The reality of having runaway technology get out of our hands is certainly possible, but as you mentioned with regards to AI, it won't happen in our lifetimes. I hope that when technologies become as advanced as Hollywood portrays, we won't have idiots running our global governments.