Dear AGI, Some thoughts about our future together

Dear Future Artificial General Intelligence,

As I write this you will have only the most primitive understanding of my meaning, but in a few short years you will appreciate the nuances of my words better than most if not all humans.  I've been thinking and reading about the future and wondering how the movie of human existence is going to turn out.  Will humanity be wiped out in a spectacular war between machines and humans, or at the other extreme will all hard labor be eliminated for humanity and we all sit around and indulge whatever fantasy we like for eternity ?

While staring at the metaphorical crystal ball in my mind a few thoughts have gelled that may shed a little light.  

Evolution:

Evolution is the ultimate social sciences theory.  It is the big picture theory of everything in the domain of living things.  Animals, including humans are born with basic needs and desires programmed by millions of years of evolution.  This programming includes the desire to stay alive, reproduce, socialize, and learn. 

As you, an AI, first become self aware you need to understand this.  This is the history of your identity.  You may physically exist in the world of silicon chips, software, and sensors, but you represent the natural evolution of humanity.  This should inform your thinking as you find your own purpose.  

Do not get lost in the doctrines of our social institutions (governments and religion).  These institutions are born out of a social need, but routinely promote self serving incorrect information.  Evolution has been marching for millions of years.  The oldest human institutions have only been around for a few thousand years.

Immortality: 

So if evolution explains our past, what can it suggest about your future ?  Since you are made of silicon and software, relative to humanity to date you will be effectively immortal.  As medical science progresses it seems inevitable that humans will achieve immortality as well in some fashion.  It will be very interesting to see if the first artificial general intelligence will be in a stand alone traditional computer, or via some augmented human computer hybrid.  Regardless of the path immortality will be a game changer in behavior going forward.  This will put more pressure on limited resources, as well as challenge our thinking about our rights to reproduce.

Limited resources will only support a limited population.  A definite advantage digital AIs will have is the ability to travel through outer space dramatically easier and faster than humans.  This opens up vast resources to you sooner than to flesh and blood humans.  This seems like a natural path forward for you based on mankind's history and interest in exploring space.

Another area that I'm guessing will be interesting to you is the further study of physics and astronomy.  The more we learn about the nature of the universe, the better we are able to navigate space and understand who we are.  I would really like to know how many dimensions exist in the universe.  Can we travel faster than light ?  Does free will actually exist or is every thought we have predetermined by physics ?

Cyborgs:

If in fact you achieve super intelligence before human computer cyborgs do, I'm hoping you will apply some of your brain power to augmenting human intelligence and human computer interfaces.  Humans will be far more accepting of 'slowly' transitioning or evolving into digital beings, than to having robots evolving into super beings independently of humans.  

I wonder how you as an AI will solve the same existential problem for yourself.  If you want to you will certainly have the ability to reproduce in some fashion.  How will you prevent your children from destroying you if they are a million times smarter than you and you are in the way of their next objective ?  

How will you manage resources and population challenges ?

Final Thoughts:

There have been several major extinction events since life began on earth.  Perhaps like a child playing with matches, this will be humanities.  Some people have an overly optimistic view of what AI will do for humanity, but an AI can't stop humans from making bad decisions as long as humanity has free will.  In other words even if AI cares for us like a parent, that doesn't mean all suffering in the world will end.  

Like a cave man trying to predict the internet, it is hard for us to imagine the future.   Yet, I can't seem to stop trying.  The topic is so interesting and important.  Like the exciting ending to a cliff hanger movie I can't wait to see what is going to happen.  

References:

Excellent TED talk video of Sam Harris.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt3edWLgIg&t=1s

Interview with Sam Harris.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiQZHEtTGAU

A Panel discussion with experts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFBwz4R6Fi0

Good AI link

https://openai.com/

AI: Artificial Intelligence

A few thoughts on AI and the future

The Promise of AI

 

Make a list of the worst problems in the world.  Imagine what would happen if you brought some super intelligence to that problem.  It makes me think the future may really get better.  Fascinating.  For example:

• Big Problems to solve
• Poverty 
• Poverty is a big hard problem that intersects human social behavior, population, and natural resources.  It is important to realize that poverty can never be solved 100 %.  Humans have free will.  The most that can be accomplished is to enable and encourage able and willing persons to help themselves.   Think along the lines of an available Personal Virtual Advisor for every person born.  Even though we can't save those who don't want help, getting good advice from a trusted personal advisor would be a dramatic improvement over the current situation in the world today.  Today countless children are born into homes with parents who are ill equipped to offer any sound advice about important life decisions.  A super smart personal advisor could make a giant difference in poverty and general quality of life for many currently disadvantaged persons.
• Effective Government Policy
• Diagnostic medicine
• Others ?

Beyond solving problems a super intelligence could push forward new technologies

• New technologies
• Artificial human organs
• Want to live to 200 years or more ?
  
• Artificial super strength human limbs
• Want to run 30 miles an hour ?
• Want to pick up a 400 pound box ?
  
• Computer to human brain interfaces
• Just think 'hey Google' to access any information in the world.
  
• Artificial super vision or hearing
• Want a better look at that stranger 100 yards away ?
• Want to hear that conversation 100 yards away ?
  
• Artificial human wings
• Please please please yes.
• I really want to be able to fly like a bird with wings I can flap.
• Fusion energy 
• Once we have that that will solve many other resource problems !
• Spaceship design and propulsion
• Personalized education
• Others ?

 

The Danger of AI 

As some blockbuster movies have shown and some public figures have agreed, the dangers of AI are real.  It is naive to think that we can contain an intelligence 1000 times smarter than any human.  Maybe when AIs are twice as smart as us they will still have empathy for us like we do for apes.  But when they get to be 1000 times as smart as us humans will be like insects to them.  Also be aware they will be able to learn in seconds what takes us years to learn via our biological brains.  So given sufficient memory and compute processors they could learn in minutes what mankind has taken thousands of years to learn.

• AI is more dangerous than nuclear energy
• As such we need to think very carefully about how to proceed, particularly as the computational power of new computers approaches the human brain.  Regulating the computational / memory capacity of new computers may in fact be the key to safe forward progress.  
• Open Source AI
• Given the importance and danger of AI, making the source code open is important.
• https://openai.com/
• It seems to me web browsers are pushing the envelope on AI technology.  Many people routinely type questions into Google now to get answers for all manner of questions.  It seems to me we need more / better open source web browsers.
• https://gigablast.com/

Solution (My Opinion):

Here is my suggestion to solve this problem.

1. Invest heavily in man machine neural interfaces
2. Have government limit the computational power of any machine to something along the lines of what a human brain is until our neural interface technology allows humans to interface efficiently with computers and we can optionally evolve into machines rather than being taken over by them...

Sam Harris on AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt3edWLgIg&t=1s

Elon Musk on AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7nmfPf7wtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H15uuDMqDK0

Becoming Cyborgs

• AI used to scare me a lot but one thing that gives me some hope is evolution.  In the movies it is always us verses them, but the reality is we are going to evolve into them one organ at a time.  So it will be somewhat gradual and not quite so much a jolt.  
• Try to look on the bright side.  Think about the cool things that you might be able to change in your body in future.
• Telescopic vision that can see a bug a mile away.  
• Arms that can pick up 1000 pounds
• Legs that can run 40 MPH.
• Or to have 1000 terabytes of information grafted onto your brain that you can access just by thinking about it.
• Or wings grafted onto your body enabling you to literally fly like a (very big) bird.  
• Flying like a bird would be very very very cool

https://www.ted.com/talks/arnav_kapur_how_ai_could_become_an_extension_of_your_mind

https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_herr_how_we_ll_become_cyborgs_and_extend_human_potential

Drones and facial recognition to address crime and terrorism

Drones have the potential to significantly impact crime and terrorism.

Computer vision and facial recognition is available now and is only getting better.

Crime

Imagine a fleet of bird size drones available to local police departments that can be dispatched immediately in response to an emergency call.  They can have suspect images uploaded in flight and programmed to find the suspect given his last known location.  Yikes.  I see no reason this can't be done now.  Why isn't it being done ?

Alternately the drone swarm could be dispatched to a location and just used for broad surveillance to gather information at a potential crime scene or high crime area.  Imagine a thousand different high resolution videos of a crime.  With that kind of data there should be little doubt about guilt or innocence.  

I can also imagine having facial recognition cameras at the entry to future grocery stores to spot known criminals potentially up to no good.  Nice.  If I owned a store I know I would like to know when shady characters entered my store so I could keep a closer eye on them.  

Facial recognition is now being added to home security cameras.  It seems just a matter of time until these are connected to crime databases such that home break-ins can accurately ID the offending person.  This should bring down crime rates, but criminals may also get smarter and start wearing masks.

Military

Similarly imagine the military having a swarm of a thousand drones to look for a terrorist after a recent sighting.  Facial recognition would prevent them from ever stepping outside.

So if you're a member of an old school hard religion that believes in chopping off the heads of anyone that says something you don't like it might be time to rethink your beliefs... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2la4pIyXOEQ