Will machine intelligence become the dominant species ?

I think you're not appreciating just how rapidly we're acquiring technological knowledge and how quickly the future is rushing towards us.

Examples are easy to find:

The invention of alternating current is just over 100 years old and yet we have completely wrapped the entire globe in an energy grid and power our cities with AC.

The 1st successful heavier than air flight took place just over a 100 years ago ... it took less than 40 years from that point for global air transport to become common place.

The 1st successful rocket was developed during WWII (the V2) and in less than 30 years after that we landed on the moon.

The 1st transistor was developed in the late '50s and less than 50 years after that we have a world that couldn't exist without electronics.

And so many other examples of technology could be cited. But the main point is that all these marvels have been created in less than 100 years starting from almost no technolgical infrastructure or knowledge preceeding it.

So to state that we need a lot more research before MI could possibly happen is taking a very, very short sighted look at the incredible speed at which we are acquiring technological sophistication/knowledge. How long did it take to put a mobile phone in the hands of a huge percentage of the global population ? 30 years ? 20 years ? how about 10 years ? It's got to the point that almost as soon as a new discovery/invention happens, that the entire world is almost immediately affected ... HD tv, dvd players, lasers, etc, etc.

So no, I disagree with you ... research in so many different fields is progressing so rapidly that once the minimum necessary breakthough takes place, then the technology based on that breakthrough matures almost over night so to speak.

MI is on the horizon and we as a species are rushing headlong to meet it.

Many people think so. I just watched a documentary called "technocalyps" that was about this very subject. Also, google terms like 'singularity', 'transhumanism', 'posthuman', and people like 'ray kurzweil', and you can read more about people who believe that machine intelligence will become dominant, possibly by humans turning themselves into machines.

Yes, seems like many others are also likewise considering this increasingly plausible future for humankind. It's just hard for most people to comprehend the eponential rate at which we're accumulating technological knowledge/expertese and that today's scifi quickly becomes tomorrows accepted world.

I guess that the real question is not whether it can happen ... but rather how quickly is it going to happen and will we be caught totally off-guard and with our pants down !

I've actually been thinking about this sort of thing a lot lately, with watching Technocalyps (I think I mentioned that earlier), as well as reading 'The Way' trilogy by Greg Bear right now. It's a sci-fi series where a society lives most of the transhuman dreams. I won't spoil the story (and in fact am still on the second novel of three) but if you like scifi and transhumanism, you'll love these. Best scifi I've read in a long time.

One interesting idea in there that I suppose I will spoil is what Bear calls 'partials'. It basically involves copying your entire personality and downloading it into a new body, sort of like a clone. People make partials of themselves to share in a workload or do something dangerous, since they are expendable. It's an idea I don't remember seeing anywhere else, though the concept of putting your consciousness into computer is not new; it is the idea of duplication, rather than backup, that I'd never seen.

There are a lot of other great ideas in there, some of which are familiar, a few of which are new, at least to me, but I won't spoil it. You can probably read wiki for a plot summary or something if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Just think, though, if you could have multiple copies of yourself, either in physical cloned bodies or in computer form or something. Odds are you'd probably work pretty well as a team, at least in that you would cooperate very well. You'd all be thinking the same way, though, so you'd be unlikely to come up with anything more creative together than alone. Or, imagine cloning the smartest people and setting them to work on different projects.

reply to post by DragonsDemesne

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I think this is where so called artificial intelligence is headed. Man will try to enhance himself by replacing his flesh with machines. It's either a form of immortality or a way to enslave your soul.

Note though, the actual record of AI research is very dismal. It's been around for over 30 years with almost none of their promised advances materializing. Where is the Hal 9000? Can you talk to your computer? No you have to program it, which is still a very tedious process.

However, I think only the elites will be permitted to use this immortality technology. There is talk about how our knowledge has increased exponentially and how rapidly we are advancing. I'm afraid I disagree. Technology is being viciously suppressed. If Tesla's flying cars and free energy devices of the late 19'th and early 20'th century are any indication, we may have taken a few steps backwards or at least in the wrong direction.

Theoretical physics, for example, has in some ways stagnated for the last 30 years or so thanks to the red herring of string theory. They have very few predictions or exploitable effects. We still use chemical rockets despite things like Searle disks and the Biefield-Brown effect etc. Cancer may well have been cured by Royal Rife in the 1930's, and certainly his microscope has not been equaled.

So perhaps we will get this technology, but it may be reserved for a very few. Maybe an AI device is already running things behind the scenes!

Good idea....
Runs to garage...
Im going to make a self creating microchip, in which its sole purpose is to replicate and talk to its neighboors...heheheeh HAHAHAHA

WHAHAHAHA

Lets see what happens in a few months.......



[edit on 20-6-2009 by R3KR]

Forget what I said, I'm going to do research on this, I might change my opinion. However, right now, I do not think it's possible.

What I posted earlier would've possibly been offensive and I didn't intend it that way.

[edit on 21-6-2009 by Dea_Ex_Machina]

i still say not yet because scientists are stuck at the moment on creatin AI.... i mean i dont really wat to die by a rebal toaster lol....thabks god

honestly, no, I don't beleive the development of the human race will be our death warrant. all discussion of machine logic and human feeling aside, no matter how advanced a machine is, it will eventually break down with noone to repair it, and no matter how advanced robots built to repair the machine are, they also will eventully break down. plus, it's really not that logical to set out to destroy just so your kind will be dominant, that's a human trait, and humans aren't logical.

Hopefully we'll reach a point where we become one with our technology anyway, and its a moot point. I'd see the future being more like Ghost in the Shell rather than Terminator.

AHMEN!!!!!

i guess in a way its a philosophical debate as to what is next in human evolution, is genetically modifying ourselves evolution? Adapting ourselves to a changing environment? is half human half robot an evolutionary step? I dont know

It would be interesting to have more intelligent machines placed in control of Governments nothing to corrupt them, I'd be fine with it as long as they understood our needs for things like fun, recreation, family etc.

I think we would all probably be better of but chances are at some point someone won't like one of the policy's and attempt to destroy it how will it react to that would it defend itself and if so how.

I think we would probably be pretty safe as long as we kept it out of the loop for things like defence systems and well away from hackers.