https://aeon.co/opinions/how-much-does-it-matter-whether-god-exists
“What are we really talking about when we debate the existence of God? I think it can become a shortcut, a way of side-stepping more necessary and more difficult questions.”
http://www.kurzweilai.net/superintelligence-fears-promises-and-potentials
A more positive response/rebuttal to the idea of superintelligence.
As it turns out science has wandered into the realm of the miraculous. Particles can interact with each other across the Universe simultaneously. Light can seemingly come from nothing. And now we are seemingly on the verge some sort of superintelligent being that could either wipe us out or endow us with immortality.
However, nothing in scientific realm or human experience can really replicate or come close to explaining “holiness”. This is a concept not apart of most people’s daily experience. I am not talking about people who seem to be holy, or people who think they are holy. To really understand the ancient understanding of God (and for some modern reader’s) you need to grasp the concept of true holiness. Unfortunately, it’s not really something to be grasped, it’s something that needs to be experienced. If ancient texts are to be believed the experience would be not unlike having the Sun itself show up in your bedroom and begin to speak to you. Light and heat that shakes you to your very core. The normal reaction to this kind of holiness is to “fall down as if dead”. It’s often followed by a sense of one’s own unworthiness. It’s as if you suddenly realize your with the President and you’ve got tons of food stuck in your beard.. only on a much grander scale. Maybe you don’t just have food on your face.. but you are also naked.
I suppose it’s possible that we can imagine an alien vastly beyond our physical limits. Perhaps there could be a being even made completely of photons. After all, scientists have already created molecules out of photons.
http://edge.org/conversation/we-are-as-gods-and-have-to-get-good-at-it
At a conference in Germany, Craig Venter was asked “Aren’t you playing God?”? His response: “We’re not playing”.
You have to flip it back, come on, guys. We’re playing God all the time. What else is new? “We are as gods as we have to get good at it”.
When Venter was talking to Dawkins, he said, “that’s a relief; there is no question about playing God, there is no God”.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/12/27/aianxiety/?
“An ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind.”
I.J. GOOD, a British mathematician and code-breaker, in 1965 █
This next year (2016) is going to big year for virtual reality. The are at least 4 big names jumping in to virtual reality. While being “teased” for a few years now.. next year is when everything is going to finally be released. It will take awhile before it goes “mainstream” but from everything I’ve read the experiences that VR provides will make it compelling enough to bring just about everyone onboard. Why go to the theater when you can have a virtual IMAX screen in your house? Why would elderly people travel across the country to visit loved ones when they can be there virtually? Why leave prison when you can virtually leave? Why do anything when you can do it virtually? This has been science fiction fodder since the 70s. Well, it’s finally here. Today’s headsets finally have the hi-rez displays and gyroscopes to make a truly immersive experience. In a recent article about a virtual Wright Brothers experience users always asked how the developers did the “wind”. The developers laughed, “There was no wind.. your brain just filled in the gaps”. As we rapidly head into this future I wonder about the social ramifications. Like most new technology there will a dozens of positive uses (social connections, history, industry, etc. etc.) and LOTS of abuses (social disconnection, pornography, escapism, addiction, etc.). Just like our smart phones. I wonder too if people will see this as an opportunity to create virtual Heavens. But, I am guessing having a virtual world where you can do anything all the time won’t quickly turn into a virtual Hell. It would seem to me that living for eternity in world without any real external meaning would be essentially Hell.
This particular question has probably been debated since the the advent of the computer.. and maybe even before. However, this may become more of a heated topic in the near future. As rapid strides are made into the realms of AI it’s going to be come more important. We are going to want more and more from our digital personal assistants and it won’t be long before they start anticipating our wants and needs. Amazon and Facebook probably know more about what I want then I do. Siri scans my emails and suggests contacts and calendar appointments. Our smart home thermostats anticipate our arrival to regulate our temperature. Soon driverless cars will anticipate where and when we’ll need to be. If a single entity, such as Siri, becomes the central point for our managing much of our lives it may well be that we establish some form of emotional connection. However, going beyond a digital assistant things get a little less clear. Take for instance the simple command “Make me happy”. As Nick Bostrom points out in his book “Superintelligence” the AI may very well realize that happiness in the human brain is correlated to chemicals and the next thing you know you’ve got a wire running into your brain and an unending grin on your face. Or how about “Keep me safe”. You would almost certainly be locked in metal box and fed through tubes. Maybe even worse, a truly powerful entity could start destroying anything that it deems as a threat.
So, what’s the solution? You can’t possibly program or even train an AI for every possible scenario. Even the simplest task could be misconstrued with catastrophic consequences. If you fed it every law created by humanity.. it would be unusable. I would argue that the only really safe way would be for this superintelligence to fully understand what it is to be human.. is for it to be human itself. Of course, it would face numerous temptations.. such as “I could solve all humanity’s problems with force”. Or, “I should probably wipe out most of humanity and start over”. Our only hope would be that is laid down it’s power long enough to fully grasp the human condition.