"As
astronomers continue their hunt for intelligent neighbors,
computer scientist are determined to create them. Artificial
intelligence research has been under way for decades, and a
few AIs have arguably already passed the Turing test. Apply
the exponential logic of Moore’s Law and the arrival of
strong AI in the next few decades seems inevitable. We will
have robots smart enough to talk to and so emotionally
appealing that people will demand the right to marry them.
One
way or another, humanity will find someone or some thing to
talk to. The only uncertainty is where the conversations
will lead. Distant alien civilizations will make for
difficult exchange because of the time lag ... and despite
the distance, we will of course try to talk to them. A third
of us will want to conquer them, a third of us will seek to
convert them, and the rest of us will try to sell them
something.
Artificial
companions will make for more intimate conversations, not
just because of their proximity but because they will speak
our language from the first moment of their stirring
sentience. However, I fear what might happen as they evolve
exponentially. Will they become so smart that they no longer
want to talk to us? Will they develop an agenda of their own
that makes utterly no sense fro human perspective? A world
shared with superintelligent robots is a hard thing to
imagine. If we are lucky, our new mind children will treat
us as pets. If we are very unlucky, they will treat us as
food." |