It was late Sep in 1928 and something unlike anything else on earth was unveiled at the Royal Horticultural Hall in England. Up to that day a robot was something for Hollywood and fiction writers. But on that day and forever after a concept manifested itself and a new age had arrived. Back then, Eric the robot bowed, and looking right and left began to address the gathering with a four minute opening as sparks flashed from his teeth. According to Popular Science magazine, which covered the debut in 1928, the robot was "deemed an almost perfect man by the New York press".
Fast forward to today and we have "60 Minutes", the American TV news magazine, reporting that Stephen Hawking(the internationally renowned physicist) is calling a new movement in artificial intelligence, "the biggest event in human history", and the 60 Minutes' headliner reads "Artificial intelligence positioned to be a game-changer."
IBM has created a machine, "Watson", that learns from experience. It can "consume the equivalent of a million books per second". John Kelly is the godfather of Watson and says, "as it’s given data and given outcomes, it learns... And as it interacts with humans, it gets even smarter. And it never forgets." It has gone through medical school and is to be tutored in genomics and oncology and has already reportedly identified new treatment options for 300 plus people suffering from cancer that their treating physicians had overlooked.
Tech giants are backing the project with millions, in fact IBM has invested $15 billion in "only a few years". The US Navy is investing in the application as an independent navigator and eventually into an automated sub hunter. Hilton hotels is already using it as a concierge and plans to have one in every one of its hotels. It can do these things but can also remind you to take your medications at 8:17am 10 years from now. Oh, and 5 years ago it beat two humans on the game show "Jeopardy".
The staggering thing is that its estimated to be operating at only a few percent of its capacity. And of course, along with countless other benign inventions of the past, like atomic energy, it will be modified into a killing machine of some kind. You can't help but wonder about the philosophical underpinnings. Are we literally at the point Nietzsche presents with his Ubermensch(superman)? Considering genomics and other biological breakthroughs in conjunction with new A.I. capabilities it really begs the question: Are we replacing God? Are these inventions our way of justifying our existence? Will these things evolve into something that is superior to humans in all practical aspects? Are these pieces of our own natural evolutionary puzzle?
In my opinion, keeping things benevolent may be the biggest hurdle. Its no coincidence that its arguably the most important and meaningful aspect to consider and that its also the one thing that isn't being addressed hand-in-hand with new technology. Its only a matter of time until someone monkeys with the standard of 'preservation of life' as the primary protocol and finds a way to make a killer and destroyer out of this thing. It appears that no one has any idea how to program ethics, compassion, or empathy. Those are some of the human race's better attributes. Shouldn't those be included somewhere in our evolution?
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