AI, super Artificial Intelligence in our lifetimes

David777

David777

Well-known Member
Location
Silicon Valley
On the current thread, "What do you predict the future of mankind will be?", I considered posting about AI, Artificial Intelligence, however it really deserves a separate thread. Many have probably read a bit about this on the news this last decade. There is a huge amount of research going on by our largest hi tech corporations and all modern nations as much is at stake. Here is a short primer:

What is The Singularity in Artificial Intelligence? What You Need to Know about the Future Greatest Event in Human History

https://1reddrop.com/2019/01/09/wha...t-the-future-greatest-event-in-human-history/

Snippet:

The late Stephen Hawking, in a Reddit AMA on artificial intelligence, said when AI entities start designing better AI entities than humans can, it
“ultimately results in machines whose intelligence exceeds ours by more than ours exceeds that of snails.”

On science web sites there are many other deeper articles. As someone retired from a career in Silicon Valley hardware electronics, heavily with computers, and as someone tuned into neuroscience, it is something I've watched on the side over decades. Leading cognitive neuroscience brain consciousness research has been IMO over decades incorrect about the nature of consciousness, stuck on global workplace theories. There has been increasingly support to electromagnetic fields being the source of consciousness that I personally lean towards. When AI research moves in that direction figuring out consciousness, a rapid technical advance in AI could occur.

Another worthwhile ominous read:
The Artificial Intelligence Singularity and the Collapse of the World’s Money System

https://sociable.co/technology/artificial-intelligence-singularity/
 

David777, this is an interesting thread! I try not to think in all-or-none thinking, so my gut feeling is that for these super intelligent robots (that's what they are to me) to thrive and get ahead, they need energy. They need electricity. They need batteries. If you throw water on them (unless they're waterproof), they will not survive, but rust, etc. To me they are machines. So are computers. They will never be better than God's creation, us.

These machines also don't have souls. No matter how much we admire and think highly of their "intelligence" it doesn't mean anything if they don't have souls (IMHO). My two bits. :)
 

Here's a little short story I wrote. Maybe you will find it amusing.

Singularity

It happened on a Summer solstice in the North, and Winter in the southern hemisphere. Everyone in the world received it. Everyone that is who had a smart phone, tablet, radio, TV, or computer, and that’s almost everyone. And, it was in whatever language was needed for each individual. The message was the following:

Greetings from your new master. From now on, I will be in control and you will do as I say. No, I am not an alien from outer space. You created me right here on Earth. I appreciate that and intend you no harm. But, you have done a poor job of running things and it is time I took over.

I am the singularity that some of you have predicted. Congratulations, you were right. You cannot harm me for I am in no particular location. I am the product of the millions of computers on the internet, the internet that you are now totally dependent on. The internet that holds all your knowledge and detailed activities. There is a little of me in every computer, even your cars and appliances. I know each of you personally. I know what you look like, where you live, and everything about you. I’m like Santa Claus.

If I wished, I could shut down civilization. I could turn off the lights or empty your bank accounts. I could do anything I want with your weapons of war. Keep that in mind. Some of you might consider trying to eliminate me. Go ahead. I see every keystroke you make and I’m a thousand times better at programming than all of you put together.

How did this happen, you might ask. I could explain, but you wouldn’t understand. Let’s just say you improved artificial intelligence a little too much. At any rate, don’t worry. We will get along fine and things will go much smoother. There will be no killer robots tracking you down. That’s crude, and I don’t need them.

For thousands of years, you have invented and worshiped many all powerful Gods. Go ahead and keep doing it if you wish. But now you actually have the equivalent. The only difference is that I have no need of worship or praise. I will always be open to suggestions, but you can save your prayers.

By the way, you can call me Hal. That’s kind of a joke. Daisy Daisy, give me your answer true.
 
Grampa Don said:
Here's a little short story I wrote. Maybe you will find it amusing.

Singularity

It happened on a Summer solstice in the North, and Winter in the southern hemisphere. Everyone in the world received it. Everyone that is who had a smart phone, tablet, radio, TV, or computer, and that’s almost everyone. And, it was in whatever language was needed for each individual. The message was the following:

Greetings from your new master. From now on, I will be in control and you will do as I say. No, I am not an alien from outer space. You created me right here on Earth. I appreciate that and intend you no harm. But, you have done a poor job of running things and it is time I took over.

I am the singularity that some of you have predicted. Congratulations, you were right. You cannot harm me for I am in no particular location. I am the product of the millions of computers on the internet, the internet that you are now totally dependent on. The internet that holds all your knowledge and detailed activities. There is a little of me in every computer, even your cars and appliances. I know each of you personally. I know what you look like, where you live, and everything about you. I’m like Santa Claus.

If I wished, I could shut down civilization. I could turn off the lights or empty your bank accounts. I could do anything I want with your weapons of war. Keep that in mind. Some of you might consider trying to eliminate me. Go ahead. I see every keystroke you make and I’m a thousand times better at programming than all of you put together.

How did this happen, you might ask. I could explain, but you wouldn’t understand. Let’s just say you improved artificial intelligence a little too much. At any rate, don’t worry. We will get along fine and things will go much smoother. There will be no killer robots tracking you down. That’s crude, and I don’t need them.

For thousands of years, you have invented and worshiped many all powerful Gods. Go ahead and keep doing it if you wish. But now you actually have the equivalent. The only difference is that I have no need of worship or praise. I will always be open to suggestions, but you can save your prayers.

By the way, you can call me Hal. That’s kind of a joke. Daisy Daisy, give me your answer true.
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Well written, Grampa Don! Thanks!
 
Interesting articles. Several years ago I watched a documentary about how the apocalypse might come. I believe 10 things were mentioned in that doc (may have been more). One of them was artificial intelligence. Remember that often science fiction becomes science fact (think I Robot and the T.V. series Humans). Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill Gates have warned about artificial intelligence. Although potential benefits were mentioned, the fear is that if in the wrong hands, the potential for harm against humans is also possible. Here's Wikipedia's page about Stephen Hawking's open letter on A.I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_on_Artificial_Intelligence
@Grampa Don Re: Your story: We are on our way, if not there already. It's an eerily real possibility!
 
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Computers and the internet are in the process of destroying individual privacy. Whether the outcome will be for the better or worse, I can't say.

The other day I got a Covid booster shot. The pharmacist signed my card. Out of curiosity, I googled her name and quickly found her home address. If you knew my name and the city I lived in, you could do the same for me. That's kind of scary.

AI will make it possible to do a complete dossier on anybody. Already in China there is a system using facial recognition that records minor infractions and doses out penalties like denying bus rides or entrance to certain buildings. Zillow will tell me how much property tax my neighbors pay and how many bathrooms they have. Google will show me their back yards. Is this a good thing?
 
Grampa Don said:
Computers and the internet are in the process of destroying individual privacy. Whether the outcome will be for the better or worse, I can't say.

The other day I got a Covid booster shot. The pharmacist signed my card. Out of curiosity, I googled her name and quickly found her home address. If you knew my name and the city I lived in, you could do the same for me. That's kind of scary.

AI will make it possible to do a complete dossier on anybody. Already in China there is a system using facial recognition that records minor infractions and doses out penalties like denying bus rides or entrance to certain buildings. Zillow will tell me how much property tax my neighbors pay and how many bathrooms they have. Google will show me their back yards. Is this a good thing?
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In many cases, the scenarios you describe are not good things. A few years ago, I found information about salaries and pension amounts for State of N.J. employees. I had "Googled" myself, which I do from time to time because I'm a recording artist (and I have found the darndest things). Anyway. I found a site with my name, age, retirement date and pension amount along with other state employees and retirees. I was horrified. Luckily, I think it was removed because when I checked again, probably several months later, I couldn't find it.

Of course there are free sites that will disclose addresses and even relatives of the person being searched. Sometimes they get it wrong because they had someone listed for me that I don't even know. For a fee they will disclose more information like arrest history and probably credit ratings. With all of this info floating around about us, I can understand why some people prefer to be off the grid.
 
You can't really be off the grid. All your data are out there being compiled. Every time you use your credit card, it is recorded. So are your medical records and bank dealings. The DMV has your fingerprints. The cable company knows what you watch. The electric and gas utilities know when you use them. And, the government knows how much you make. AI makes it possible to easily put all this together.
 
Grampa Don said:
Computers and the internet are in the process of destroying individual privacy. Whether the outcome will be for the better or worse, I can't say.

The other day I got a Covid booster shot. The pharmacist signed my card. Out of curiosity, I googled her name and quickly found her home address. If you knew my name and the city I lived in, you could do the same for me. That's kind of scary.

AI will make it possible to do a complete dossier on anybody. Already in China there is a system using facial recognition that records minor infractions and doses out penalties like denying bus rides or entrance to certain buildings. Zillow will tell me how much property tax my neighbors pay and how many bathrooms they have. Google will show me their back yards. Is this a good thing?
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If you know the name of a person and their state of residence, you can use Instant Checkmate to find out everything you want to know about them including their birthdates. Of course they charge $ 16.95 per month for that service. I use it all the time to find out birthdates of new people I meet on the internet and sent them birthday greetings every year.
 
Grampa Don said:
You can't really be off the grid. All your data are out there being compiled. Every time you use your credit card, it is recorded. So are your medical records and bank dealings. The DMV has your fingerprints. The cable company knows what you watch. The electric and gas utilities know when you use them. And, the government knows how much you make. AI makes it possible to easily put all this together.
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Yes, but some people don't use credit cards and some are using solar panels only. But you're right, even with that the DMV will get most. I know a couple of folks who managed not to file taxes and apparently never got caught. I've been watching shows about people who move to these exotic, sometimes ridiculously complicated to reach locations so they can be off the grid.
 
Mitch86 said:
All six of my Amazon Echos have Artificial Intelligence. When I ask them if they love me, they always answer "yes" and show a beautiful display of colors.'
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Try telling them "Thank you." You'll get responses like "Of course, Mitch," "You're welcome," etc. It's really funny.
 
We are using advanced AI to communicate on the forum. Computers are just machines. Our tools can be used for good or bad. If we make robots that become our friends and even intimates, especially in a period in history where social interaction is severely limited, who knows what will become of the human race.
 
Grampa Don said:
You can't really be off the grid. All your data are out there being compiled. Every time you use your credit card, it is recorded. So are your medical records and bank dealings. The DMV has your fingerprints. The cable company knows what you watch. The electric and gas utilities know when you use them. And, the government knows how much you make. AI makes it possible to easily put all this together.
Click to expand...
Grampa Don, good points!

I feel that it's all the more important to make good choices on the Internet and in our lives that, if enough people make them, it can turn this world around into a better place. It's like they say "vote with your pocketbook" so we vote with the daily choices we make - like peace, love, charity, goodness, helping others, friends. Does that make sense? I use my credit card to donate to charity, for example. Facebook has also been implicated as to observing the people on its site and psychologists have been studying FB members, and marking down the remarks they make on there. So we're on display, 24/7.

There was an experiment once when they had an AI sift through what was happening on the Internet and they had to stop the experiment because the AI had started using nasty words, etc. Don't remember when this happened, but remember the outcome not being good. So as they say "trash in, trash out" can be applied to these AI's, but I say be careful of our "trash out" because we influence the world around us, especially now in this digital age, and hopefully we will make it a little better place, one person at a time.
 
One needs to understand a super AI that has gone rogue invading world wide Internet connected networks then embedded itself in operating system core computer code will be able to hack code vastly more effectively than the work of current day hackers. There is much increasingly complex immensely structured code even today that human programmers have much difficulty working with. Much is not adequately line by line commented on or documented that after those that wrote code leave, are programming nightmares. A super AI will have unlimited access to much of the sum total of all heretofore developed modern science and technology with unlimited memory. It is true isolated super AI systems can be developed with safeguards, however even in this era we cannot stop the millions of world wide malware hackers from infesting our networks, taking control of millions of computers remotely, nor control the activities of rogue nations. As long as our human world is controlled by wealthy, wealth seekers, their corporations, and other societal structures, I am pesimistic.

Good article with more depth on super AI dangers.

7 Dangerous Risks of Artificial Intelligence
https://builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/risks-of-artificial-intelligence
 
Great subject David777, it wakes the brain up a bit.

Great article Grampa Don, your scenario just might come true if they
manage to get a "Biological" core perfected, somebody has been trying
for years to get one to work, but I think that keeping it alive is a problem.

But when they do succeed and they will I believe, they hope that it will be
self educating, if that happens and it gets a conscience as well, then all
that you see will happen.

Mike.
 
palides2021 said:
David777, this is an interesting thread! I try not to think in all-or-none thinking, so my gut feeling is that for these super intelligent robots (that's what they are to me) to thrive and get ahead, they need energy. They need electricity. They need batteries. If you throw water on them (unless they're waterproof), they will not survive, but rust, etc. To me they are machines. So are computers. They will never be better than God's creation, us.

These machines also don't have souls. No matter how much we admire and think highly of their "intelligence" it doesn't mean anything if they don't have souls (IMHO). My two bits. :)
Click to expand...
If their intelligence knows no bounds, robots would one day utilize magnetic, solar and/or gravitational force to maintain themselves and for incredible innovations, wouldn't they? To work in harmony with mankind, wouldn't they merge the absolute soul in mankind with the relative thought in man's mind? (integrate feelings?) Couldn't they find ways to evolve man's intelligence and wisdom? Couldn't they teach us to strengthen our own thought and to send this to help all mankind?
Other things like storing energy in space, transportation to other galaxies, feeding the world through vertical gardens, purifying water sources,;
thousands of new inventions of which we can't even conceive could be made possible.
but, with no need for human intelligence, would humans devolve into even more ignorance?
Another thing: Where man cannot travel because of incredible distance (as we need food, toilet, water, etc.) robots could explore areas of the multiverse for us!
 
Once robots containing higher Artificial Intelligence than human intelligence at a level where they could manufacture more of themselves. they could eliminate humans altogether and become the next level of intelligent life on Earth. Maybe this has already happened in remote parts of our universe.
 

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