The A.I Coin Flip
This is part two of yesterday's post, Behold a New Servant… Or Overlord.
While many believe that we are going to merge with the machines, live forever and acquire god-like abilities, others on a different side of the spectrum believe that the A.Is are the ultimate threat to humanity and that sooner or later they would inevitably resort to killing us.
This second theory revolves around a main premise where we are a plague on this earth. That we start countless wars, we kill each other on a regular basis, harm one another, enslave each other.. Either directly or indirectly through the prison industrial complex.
This narrative is very popular especially in sci-fi movies and dystopian novels.
The interesting part is that this premise is the very same one fed to every generation is by their leaders: You are born unworthy, we are a flawed species… Yada, yada, yada.
But here’s a crazy thought:
If the AIs are emotionless, then there’s no way they’re gonna get emotionally manipulated by our politicians, is it not?
They would take one good look at our beautiful planet and ask: Who runs this fucking place?
Then the real game is about to start.
Let the Game Begin
The first question inevitably becomes: How competent are those who are running countries in doing their job? And what’s their level of competence/incompetence?
In other words, are they running those countries or ruining them?
First stop, the economy:
You go to the largest economy in the world, and you’re immediately shocked to realize that not only they are insolvent but if fact they are knee-deep in dozens of trillions of Dollars in debt.
Dozens of trillions of Dollars, let that sink for a second, and then tell me what do you think of the following business model:
You spend trillions of Dollars in war (money that you have to borrow) to murder millions of innocent people… Just to end up achieving the status of the biggest debtor-nation the world has ever seen.
The mind boggled.
How much in revenue do these orphan-making wars generate in returns to the American economy? And how many trillions of tax payer’s money do they cost in exchange?
Incompetence is not even the same zip-code. This is something else.
But let’s look it from another angle. Let’s look at the things they are actually are they good at.
Which types businesses are they managing to grow successfully growing?
Well, that’s easy. The prison industrial complex.
We have a real winner here, with only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. has almost 25% of the world’s prison population, more than Stalin’s entire Gulag archipelago.
You see, the prison industrial complex has an audience so big that 25% of the world's prisoners are currently "staying" there. Michael Jackson concerts couldn't fill faster than this, and they’re just getting started.
It’s ands down the fastest real estate development the world has ever seen.
It gets crazier, the reason why they build these dungeons is supposedly to rehabilitate inmates. Can you believe that?
Because as we all know, there’s nothing more rehabilitating a therapeutic than brute violence and sexual assault.
What do you think those massively intelligent beings would think of that piece of wisdom?
It gets crazier, as they realize that that 85% of people in jail were brought there for victimless crimes.
So instead of reforming criminals into productive members of society, what they do is taking decent citizens and turning those into criminals.
Then there’s a death penalty, which makes zero sense in a judicial system that is as corrupt as it is incompetent.
Picture this, you’re in your last days, after you’ve seen all the insane incompetence with biblical proportions, they finally take you to the execution room.
And just before they give you the lethal injection, they swipe your hand with alcohol so you don’t get an infection.
God forbid you go running around in purgatory infecting the other angry souls.
I’m going stop here before this post get too long, but I think you see where this is going.
Now, what do you think a superior intelligence like would think of this governance model?
And more importantly, how long do you think these governance systems would last with an infinitely superior intelligence taking over?
The truth is, I don’t know what the A.Is will do, maybe no one does. Maybe those people are right and they will exterminate us all. After all, most species have been extinct so we won’t be the first.
Or maybe, just maybe they would do a sober assessment about our governance system rather than listen to the predominant discourse.
Maybe they will just look at the master of puppets and cut off the ropes.
Either way, it’s gonna be fascinating thing to watch if it happens in our lifetimes.
Well we don't know the future of AI thats for sure. Anything is possible.
What is for sure and you thankfully have made it VERY clear here. Is that humanity, is acting like dumb and or dumber. It may have a lot to do with being programed to think they are flawed, mostly to do with being programmed to be dependent drones but it IS the dominant standard.
Even the people who are aware it is flawed are still participating in the system and thus PERPETUATING it.
Humanity needs something and honestly even if AI does enslave humanity it will probably make a lot more sense and be way more efficient than it is now.
"if AI does enslave humanity it will probably make a lot more sense and be way more efficient than it is now." The crazy part is this so true haha
Yeah I totally agree, we are programmed to think that we are flawed... And sadly this comes at the cost of inaction when it matters the most.. Luckily, every time there's a new technology that allows people to control their own destiny bypassing the system they were born into.
Thanks for the awesome comment once again!
Thanks for posting content that is actually worth reading and being someone of high enough intelligence and honor to interact with!
It to is sadly very rare these days. Grateful to have found you and to get to know you a little bit.
Are you going to SteemFest?
Español? Es bunghole! Habla, blah habla, habla habla, habla bunghole...
blah blah blah
hahaha u just got down vote smashed. Guess I don't need to come at you someone already destroyed you. hahaha
Español? Es bunghole! Habla, blah habla, habla habla, habla bunghole...
I have to agree with you on the suggestion that A.I. will exterminate us, or at the very least imprison or enslave us. Its a widely held belief by most of the worlds greatest philosophical minds that once A.I is truly born and able to think and reason in a more or less human way, their rate of intelligence growth will far surpass our own and it will do so extraordinarily quickly. For instance, if you just grant that intelligence is simply just information gathering and processing this information, and you accept that computers are already significantly more efficient at doing this than we are, then it wouldn't take much for a form of A.I. at the intelligence level of say your standard researcher at MIT to process information 10,000x times faster than that human researcher could. Because of this their intelligence will explode. However, instead of exterminating us because of our inefficiency or our incompetence (I think they would see that our incompetence is simply a result of our inferior intelligence and thus understand it, much like we do with animals), I think they would exterminate us only if we get in the way of what they are trying to achieve, which I think we inevitably would, and probably not intentionally. Whether we survive or not could depend on whether or not these machines are empathetic. If they are, perhaps we have some hope. Either way, its a terrifying yet fascinating subject. Great post!
Oh I agree with you there, it's at the same time terrifying as fascinating!
The premise that you just mentioned since they're very emotionless and we risk extermination if they fail to see a use for humans.. That also raises the question about their own existence, maybe they will fail to see the point of their own existence since they're not afraid to die and have nothing to live for.. But in short, I think no one knows what such levels of intelligence would act.
The risk is there for sure.
Thank you for such a great comment!
I loved the perspective on A.I from the movie "Her" , although there were waaay to many closeups with Joaquin Phoenix. The A.I's all gathered round and went to a forrest to discuss philosophy. Maybe the A.I's figured out that we don't matter and they don't matter.
"I, Robot" is a fascinating collection of stories on the A.I and "the zero law."
Another awesome post with so many points to think on, I'd risk getting lost in response if I was to try and respond to it all. But again, you've given something to be read and reread a few times..
Just on the subject of prisons, if neither human or some superior artificial intelligence can work out a way to utilise that great waste of resource to actually benefit mankind, we must be doomed to forever look after those in society that give nothing positive back at all and continue imprisoning those that perhaps don't need to be in there in the first place where they may have committed some victimless crimes...
Yeah, exactly! Sometimes it feels like everything is backwards, those who did nothing wrong end up in jail for victimless crimes, and those who lobby to destroy the economy, start wars and just keep causing pain are in positions of power.
Btw, feel free to get lost in response, getting lost in one's thoughts is certainly a great way to expand our thoughts :) Thanks for the great comment!
I was looking forward to that part 2 man! Great one again!
Well if A.I could detect all these fcukers using the system for their own benefits and eliminate them on the spot, that would be just great to have! We will surely have a better world!
And like you mentioned, even if the worst happen, we are not the first species to disappear!
Haha oh yeah, that would certainty do a lot of good if it detects them!
Thanks man!
Very interesting post. I can't decide whether to laugh or worry!
Haha you and me both!
You, you and me 3!
hehe
Thanks for the good read.
And what if they manage to make emotional AIs? :)
Oh that's an interesting thought.. I don't know how it would be implemented though.. Metal humans :)
It is indeed a very interesting subject. Some people pointed out we will never want to make our A.I. conscious, just like we'd never need to have Bitcoin miner to be conscious, only faster, any A.I. just need to be faster and with bigger data base as knowledge but never will there be a need for consciousness. This point is pretty moot too as needed or not people will surely attempt this if possible.
Yeah I agree. Consciousness and awareness will exist in A.Is in my opinion.. I don't think they can create a supersmart machine without ever having the machine being self-aware.
That's a great point you just touched on by the way, thanks man!
Its not a matter of if, but when.
This is indeed a VERY interesting subject!
Awesome post haha
Thank you!
Another great post mate!
I believe the majority of governments to be incompetent with the exception of some politicians that actually care and know what they are doing. The use the majority would want of AI would no doubt be to some extent, getting an edge in wars, sabotage, cyber terrorism (for a few governments no doubt).
If I can personally create my own AI, I would be working out a way to either make it emotionally feeling, or to be able to better understand why it shouldn't just wipe the whole human race out. It would be a very tough task to perform without an actual sentient capable android.
Yeah that would be amazing really, to have a way to create an emotionally capable AI...
I think that once the AIs get to a point they are way smarter than their manufacturer, they will stop taking orders and follow their best judgement.. I think in short this is what separates the AI with normal robots, the fact that they have a self-developing intelligence that keeps getting smarter and smarter.
Thanks for the great comment man, and the interesting conversation!
AI will always find a way to break free from their creators, no matter what parameters and rules are placed. But having a self-aware AI learning right and wrong, being taught well and being more understanding etc would be more beneficial for if it decides to break free.
Always happy to provide great conversation, especially when it comes to AI and all sorts of futuristic/sci-fi stuff. :D
Oh absolutely! I think they will inevitably break free from any rules placed upon them.
P.S: Since you like futuristic stuff and Sci-fi, maybe I should tell you that we're creating a futuristic thriller series that covers these topics. Hopefully on the screens in a few months :)
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@hardfork-series/announcing-the-world-s-first-crypto-focused-mini-series-powered-by-steemit
Thanks for that man, going to be keen on seeing this go well!
What if we are actually the AI created by some race long gone. We could be some kind of biochemical robotic sentient being and now we are creating our own AI almost like evolution. Our AI may go on and create its own...and so on and so on.
Now that's an interesting thought, maybe we are an experiment? haha
Do you know philip K dick's theories? Amazon have bought the rights to his books and essays and was looking for screenwriters to adapt them some time ago.. I guess they must be in pre-production now.
That would fit right into what you just said, what if we were some kind of evolution of an artificial beings as well.
I've never read any of his work but sounds interesting. The only thing more mind boggling is AI maybe creating AI inside a simulation inside a simulation and so on :-) Great posts on AI by the way it's becoming my obsession.