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Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive
Artificial Intelligence: Tool? Threat? Both?
Many of us came of age when "artificial intelligence" (I don't think that the name was even used then) was personified by robots: walking, talking mechanical critters that did everything from serving meals (AKA "Rosey" the robotic maid/housekeeper in The Jetsons cartoon series) to Gort (the implacable, indestructible peacekeeping robot in the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still). Some were benign and followed the rules, as in Isaac Asimov's 3 laws of robotics. Some were harmless and even cute: such as R2D2 and C3PO in the Star Wars movie series that began in 1977. And some were evil personified, such as the Allied Mastercomputer (AM) in Harlan Ellison's truly frightening short story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".
But just what IS artificial intelligence? Does it pose a threat to humanity? And if so, just how? Just how likely to come true are those dire predictions of our electronic thinking machines deciding that we, as in humanity, are no longer of any use?
For my part I worry about what I don't know about the science of artificial intelligence (which is to say, just about all of it) but that is what is scary. Are we harboring (and even helping to build) a force in our midst that, inevitably, one day we won't be able to control?
Or is the worry unjustified?
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For those interested in A.I. and robotics, it might be interesting and informative to watch the movie "After Yang" on Spotlight. It is a very realistic and possible near future with a VERY human-like robot that is an important integral part of a family. Good acting and a good story.
Years ago when I was in chemistry class , I noticed that BOTH carbon and silicon had 4 electrons in their outer ring. Human and other organic life are carbon based. And many scientist that the BEGINNING single celled living organisms were formed by carbon and electrical energy like lightning getting together. So, carbon plus electricity EQUALS life.
Now, today humans rely on silicon in transistors and integrated circuits in all aspects of their lives. So, basically humans are pushing electrical fields through SILICON with its same 4 electrons in its outer ring as carbon. So, POTENTIALLY we could have SILICON plus electricity EQUALS life.
IF this could happen and how long it would take (since carbon life took a long time) is above my pay grade. And IF and WHEN that could happen - would the result be a friendly intelligent being or a competitive and hateful intelligent being. There is also the possibility that the 2 life forms - carbon and silicon could physically COMBINE.
Personally, I think that it would take many CARBON lifetimes before this would happen, if it did?