In my note, "End of Ze World," I talked about how some scientists believe the world will end / how the human population will die out someday. I talked a little bit about the all too common idea of super computers taking over. I know that sounds crazy if you haven't done research on the topic or seen documentaries on it, but it's actually a widely believed view of scientists and a legitimate theory. I want to explain what it really involves, some potential outcomes that could happen should we develop super computers that can think on their own, and some examples from a really cool tv show called Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. I cited this show in my last note, and I definitely plan to continue citing it, since it's a very interesting show.
So how in the world could super computers that think on their own exist? Well, the human brain really is exactly like a computer. I mean, think about it. What are human brains made of? How do they work? Just like a computer, the human brain is an accumulation of tons of atoms that make up matter than has the power of intelligence. Ok, that sounds confusing. How do our brains think? You might say it's impossible for a computer to think, but if you really think about it (pun intended,) isn't it weird that a clump of matter such as the human brain has the ability to think? It's the same concept with computers.
There's this really neat computer that I saw on Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, which I'll call TWMF for short. This computer is told to construct a functional body that can walk across the computer screen. The computer is given specifics about the mobility of the body. For instance, if we instruct the computer to create a body with two legs that can successfully move across the screen, the computer will construct body after body after body until it figures out an efficient body that moves across the computer screen, no matter how awkwardly the body walks. It's kind of like the computer is thinking, since it's trying to figure out how to construct a functional body that can move efficiently. As Morgan Freeman put it, what took humans millions of years of evolution takes a computer only a few hours. (I tried to find a video or, at least, a photo of this computer and what it does, so you guys can get a visual of it, but I can't find anything, so just go watch the artificial intelligence episode of TWMF.)
Many people believe that a person (or computer) must be conscious in order to be able to think. But what does it mean to be conscious? It's open to interpretation. One scientist who spoke on TWMF said that consciousness is when a person (or computer) is able to feel (like with sensory systems) and associate those physical feelings with emotional feelings. This scientist has built and trained a robot exactly in this way as an experiment for this theory. For instance, he placed a green object on a table and allowed his robot to scoot across the table and pick up the object. I can't remember how he said he did it, but he taught the robot to associate the color green from the object with bad emotions. The robot said out loud "Green = Bad." And from then on, it avoided anything that was green in color. Then the scientist placed a blue object on the table and allowed the robot to scoot over to it and pick it up. Then the scientist stroked the top of his robot, giving the robot the feeling that the blue object was favorable, so the robot said "Blue = Good." And that gave the robot a sensation whenever it saw anything blue in color. This is just a small example of how it may be possible to teach computers to associate colors, words, etc. (ideas that it gets from physical feelings and sensory systems) with emotional feelings.
Some computers are even smart enough to learn new languages that we don't understand. I know it sounds insane, and this will blow your mind, I promise. One scientist who spoke on TWMF talked about his robots, which he programs to be able to make up their languages. He programs them with different letters, sounds, and ideas of how they might be able to connect the sounds and letters to form words, and the computers use that new knowledge to create their own language, and then they teach it to each other. On the show, one robot put together a sequence of sounds to create its own word. Then it raised its right arm. It did this right in front of another robot, and when the first robot spoke the word, the second robot was expected to raise its right arm. When it made the wrong movement, the first robot shook its head and then raised its right arm to show the second robot what to do. Then it repeated the word it had said before, and the second robot raised its right arm. Then the first robot nodded its head, because the second robot had done exactly what it wanted it to. The first robot literally taught the second robot a word. And then the first robot then turned to the scientist and taught the scientist the word in the exact same way. Robots can actually use this method to teach an entire language to other robots and to people, and the memory in robots is immense and permanent, so once the robot learns something, it will store it in its memory and be able to use it in the future. So some super computers have already created their own language, and at some point, they may end up cutting humans out of their conversations and language. What if they communicated through languages they created and taught each other, and then refrained from teaching the language to humans, so that their language is their own?
What does this mean for the future? It's true that super computers could really help us out a lot. I mean excel, calculators, alarm systems, etc. already help us out A LOT. So what if we had some super computers to be nannies to our children? What if we had super computers to do chores for us? There are so many potential uses out there for super computers. What if the computers ended up becoming so smart that they take over the world? What if they are the future after humans die out? What if they end up creating their own super computers to continue their race? Could they kill us off or enslave us?
What if super computers and humans end up working together? For instance, there's a super computer that you can actually hook up to a paralyzed person who can't speak that can actually speak for the person. The computer measures brain neurons (or something along those lines) and actually speaks out load what the person wants to say. How incredible is that? There's also this really neat computer that paralyzed people can hook up to their legs and/or arms that do the same type thing as the other computer and can make movements based on what the person's brain tells them to do. Instead of the brain sending messages to the body to tell it to move, it's sending messages to a super computer to tell it to move the body. These machines are super strong too, which could really benefit us. We could potentially use them to be just like the most talented of athletes. What if we could teach them to be incredible artists or builders? There are all kinds of possibilities here.
So I don't really know what the future would hold for the human race or the super computer race if we were to actually figure out a way to make super computers just as smart or even smarter than humans. I mean lots of computers have the capacity to do more than the human brain and to do things faster than the human brain can. So I really have no clue what would become of us if these computers were to become incredibly intelligent. I mean we've all seen movies like I, Robot and AI: Artificial Intelligence. We know what lots of people say could happen when computers become incredibly intelligent. Lots of people say they'll take over the world, and that we will be inferior to them, if not die out. But a lot of scientists say they'll just help us, and that super computers are the future. I mean technology has definitely helped us out in a lot of ways we never dreamed possible. However, technology can also be a bad thing. It can rot the brain, it can keep us from learning how to do things on our own (since we learn to rely on computers to do it for us,) and people can become addicted to it (tv, internet, video games, etc.) It can make people lazy and incompetent, and it can even hurt or kill people (for example, when something malfunctions, and a plane crashes.) Sometimes technology can cause more harm than good. Would super computers be more harmful than helpful? Are we killing our own selves off by creating super computers? Are we too smart for own good? Afterall, we're the only species that is so smart that we're actually killing ourselves with our intelligence. So are we killing ourselves by trying to further our intelligence and our species? By trying to make our lives easier, teaching ourselves more, being curious, working hard to make the impossible a reality, and attempting to make our lives and the world better, are we having the opposite effect and causing harm instead? Or does the future of artificial intelligence really have a place here? Could we use it to our benefit? Could we live and work side-by-side?
Now I encourage you guys to watch TWMF, especially the artificial intelligence episode, so you can get a better idea (and more importantly, a visual) of what I'm trying to describe in writing. All of the episodes are mind-blowing, though, so I encourage you guys to watch them all! Also, check out the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence, because that movie was really great too. It was not only super entertaining, but it was thought-provoking too. It offers an incredible idea of what might be the future of humans and super computers.
Well, when you put it that way...
Could we program all of these abilities into a super computer?
This is the walking machine I was talking about above. It is a NASA invention, and it is actually called an "Exoskeleton."
Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law did an amazing job as the two main characters in AI: Artificial Intelligence. They played two super computer robots in a future with tons of super computer robots.
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Will Smith played in I, Robot. In the movie, tons of super computer robots took over the world. Could that be our future?
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