Pretty But Bad

We have now covered what it means to be human, and some ways that humans could become exponentially smarter or hive-minded. But what about the possibility of computers or other machines becoming intelligent all on their own?

As we have advanced artificial intelligence over the years, and understood our own intellect in the process, we have further and further relegated our own gifts to the mundane, as universal intelligence has become the only factor that makes us the real smarties in the room. Most, if not all, of our core intelligences have been conquered separately by AI:

• Mobility


• Pattern Recognition


• Science


• Natural Language


• Creativity

The list could be endless, but the ending truth is that all of these things are limited only by current processing speeds. Even the fact that no one AI entity can do everything we can is ultimately a question of speed. Eventually, even if no more ground is broken into how our brain works, machines will be able to brute-force simulate us.

Is simulation the same as true Machine Intelligence? Strictly, yes. But this path leads back to the same things we talked about last time. More interestingly is the fact that AI should be able to out-performs us even quicker than we can simulate ourselves.

Humans ultimately do a lot of things the hard way. Our brains are not set up to crunch numbers quickly, but computers are. A well-constructed universal AI would draw from all disciplines of the Artificial Intelligence community. From Perceptrons to Genetic Programming to Finite State Machines and Expert Systems; and an ideal system would grow and change and find new ways to solve old problems. It would compile tried and true operation for speed and employ reduction routines to weed out magic. (By magic, I mean aspects of code that don't actually make the process better, they were simply there because they were when the process was first evolved. Like prayer in the creation of a Katana.)

How does this all come together?

There are a few clear paths to human enhancement; which is not true of machine intelligence. It isn't even clear what kinds of AI will be the backbone of the first universally intelligence machines. However, I see a couple more likely avenues.

One thrilling option is the creation of competing entities in a physical or virtual space. Through some genetic process, such as Genetic Programming, these entities would each be given random code to control their various senses and manipulators, the best survivors would be mixed and mutated to create new entities in a new world and over time intelligence may arise in them. Given access to various additional schemes, such as facial recognition engines, natural language dictation and decoding, and other tools; this AI could learn to recognize objects by name and shape, even individual people, and converse with them. I like this path because it doesn't really require any new kinds of AI or even enhancements to our existing techniques. It simply requires horsepower.

Another option is through Perceptrons, which can become more numerous and speedy in their simulation of the actions of neurons. There are holes here, however, as the learning and usage phases of perceptrons are strictly separated. Someone must initiate a training process for these systems to be able to learn a task, and then that task can be performed. Imagination Engines begin to show more promise, but they also have lengthy and tightly controlled training phases. To be a viable avenue to real universal AI, it will need to be able to self regulate this training. It would need to be able to self-guide.

Undoubtedly there are more paths to AI enlightenment, it is only a matter of time before one is born. Once a single intelligent machine exists, more will quickly follow. They will become smarter at an exponetial rate and we will either have to join them, or be left behind in the evolutionary arms race.

One wonders if they would tolerate us? This is the scary stuff of The Terminator, or Blade Runner or The Matrix; but does it have to be that way? Could we co-exist?

Last time I talked some about what I think it means to be human. Now that we have established that the primary facet of humanity is our intelligence and use of that intellect to interact with each other; we can begin to address what paths may lead to the creation of thinking machines, human or monster.

Human Transcendence

The only avenue to thinking machines I see as completely inevitable is the enhancement of human intelligence through brain interfaces and implants. Unless some other means to singularity happens first, we will eventually leave our bodies by expanding and upgrading the human mind.

Not too long from now we should begin to see simple brain enhancement devices. These will rise from one of two possible sources: medical prosthetics, or pornography. The first of these is well established as a vehicle of transcendence in literature, film, and video games; so I will only gloss over it.

We are already seeing the first of 'better-than-human' prosthetic devices for running and strength of grip. Soon, these devices will have finesse in addition to power, and will become better than human in all aspects. Around this time, some people will begin removing limbs for cosmetic reasons. The same will be true for mental enhancement. Devices are already in testing to deal with epilepsy and spine injury; eventually you'll be able to treat savantism and retardation with enhancements based on perceptrons or creativity engines.

These brain enhancing implants will eventually increase the capacity for human knowledge (wisdom), speed (cleverness, quickness), and processing power (intelligence). Eventually, the capabilities of the implants will rival, then vastly surpass the host intellect. At this point, most of a person's mental processes will happen within the computer parts, and they could survive the death of their body, much like a person can survive the death of even an entire hemisphere of their brain.

However, I see these kinds of brain enhancement avenues as a more-or-less primative concept of machine intelligence, and human immortality avenues. I think porn has more potential.

Why Pornography?

Pornography, unlike 'legit' forms of scientific research have two major advantages; endless funds, and a lack of impeding morals. This may sound like a bad thing, and perhaps it is. However, it will allow some of the first human-to-human brain communication devices to be built. They will start, obviously enough, with connecting the pleasure and sensation centers of two people. Imagine being able to feel what your partner feels? Or feel a recording of what a porn star feels?

This sensation-based interface will grow into other sensory fields, such as visual and audio connections, to give people a true virtual reality experience. It is here that other legit markets will begin to realize the potential of these systems and shared intelligence will arise. It is my expectation that people will join hive minds, and they will do so for pleasure and nessesity. If your competition is using collectives to design new cars, you will too.

The applications of this kind of interconnectivity extend from the corporate (there is a new ironic sense to this kind of business entity, now) to the private. Users of sometimes-on devices will begin to use them at home. Imagine being able to help a spouse shop, while you watch the kids. Imagine being able to watch the kids from 100 miles away, for that matter, just by being able to see through their eyes. These connections will strengthen and it won't be long before some people decide to take it to a new level; They will permanently meld minds with their lovers on deeper and deeper levels until they are essentially one mind.

Somewhere along that chain of events, it would be trivial to hook people into the future of wikipedia and other resources to enhance their wisdom. Crowd-source software for ideas will have arisen as well, to increase cleverness. Hive minds will be more intelligent than a single mind, and there is no reason that the future of wolfram alpha won't further increase simple math skills.

This path to human enhancement and immortality is more borg-like than people tend to be comfortable with. But people we were once frightened that technology would allow anyone to see where you are at all times; to spy on you and that this would make you vulnerable. Today, you are considered strange for fearing facebook, google, or twitter; When each of these knows who you are and what you do on a level once completely impossible.

We will get over the fear of losing ourselves to a collective too, because we won't really notice it happening. It will just be, one day.

What about pure machine intelligence? Could it be born and usurp us? Tune in next time.