Some of you are old enough to remember the move 2001 A Space Odyssey, which came out in 1968. Like Orwell’s 1984, it appears to have been way ahead of its time. You may want to go and watch or re-watch the movie, especially if you have any interest in, or CONCERNS ABOUT, the world of Artificial Intelligence.
There is an opinion piece in the March 9th Epoch Times written by Kay Rubacek and titled The Signals We Shouldn’t Ignore About Artificial Intelligence. Miss Rubacek’s piece talks about how ‘new’ things don’t just splash across the headlines, they slowly appear in bits and pieces. She draws a stark comparison between what is going on today in the AI world versus what DID happen with the Manhattan Project:
Artificial intelligence may be unfolding along a similar pattern. We are seeing the signals now—researchers leaving, governments disputing ethical guardrails, and AI systems appearing inside real geopolitical conflict.
Rubacek goes on to list four misconceptions that, unintentionally or INTENTIONALLY, keep the public from being concerned over the growth of AI. They are:
Misconception #1: ‘AI Is Just a Tool’
Misconception #2: ‘AI is Neutral’
Misconception #3: ‘Humans Fully Control AI’
Misconception #4: ‘The Experts Know Where This Is Going’
And she concludes with: We are seeing signals across all of these domains. We can see clearly that AI is shaping our future whether we like it or not. The question is whether we will recognize the signals in time to understand what is unfolding, or whether we will wait, as societies often do, until the consequences make the signals impossible to ignore.
To me this all comes down to morality. Morality has been infused into the DNA of mankind. Our civilizations have been built upon it since the very beginning of “civilization.” I fear, and you should too, that the next civilization, the one produced by AI, will not contain any morality at all. And where will that take us? Will government be taken over by AI? On the face of it that doesn’t sound too bad. But I wonder. Is having laws and “rights” free of morality to the benefit or detriment of man? Or is man’s belief in God, his constant struggle with good and evil the only way to ensure the continuation of the species?
Chew on that for a bit.
Jack
PS: To our children who have forsaken books for their phones, you might want to reconsider that pattern of behavior before AI becomes “self-aware”.
