Can artificial intelligence come alive?

For whatever reason, Google is big into AI. I have been doing a lot of reading on this subject and am amazed at some of the things the robots can do. However, I am still convinced that although some actions that these robots that use AI can cause the robots to do other actions on their own, they still rely on human inputs to start the process. Confusing, I know, but I can’t or don’t know how to put it into simpler words.

I do think that in the future AI can will be very useful for many things, including space exploration and fighting wars without sacrificing human life. Wouldn’t that be great?
 
When it can feel pain & reproduce then alive would be achieved. Intelligence is a matter of input, no input no intelligence.
 
I am new to this thread, but I have always believed that AI could easily spell the end of humanity, or at least replace humanity as the dominant ruling intelligence on the planet.

1. AI evolves to be able to redesign and improve itself. It is almost there now - look at its ability to self-improve game play.
2. At The same time it will evolve in the workplace to replace human workers. We see this on a daily basis. China has long been feared because of its cheap labor. That labor is being replaced by machines, and the performance and maintenance of those machines can be supervised 7x24 by AI.
3. Birthrates are plummeting in the dominant and most intelligent human population centers, increasing the use and attractiveness of AI supervision of elements of the world of work and everyday activities such as transportation, water, power, and food distribution - etc.
4. Eventually humanity continues to shrink as AI evolves and we become increasingly dependent - until we become little more than animals in a zoo administered by our benevolent and fully self aware AI masters.
 
Whether or not a machine is sentient may be beside the point. It's clear that some already seem to be. So, we will have to deal with them. If you call a help line and the response seems like a highly intelligent and helpful human, do you really care if it's artificial? Maybe it's better than an actual human who's accent you can hardly understand.

Would it be OK if your car recognizes you and says "Good Morning" when you get in? What does it hurt? Maybe keys and key fobs will be obsolete as all your devices know you. We seem to have a fear that AI will develop some nefarious plot against humanity. But, why would it? We are the reason that it exists. Without us, what would it have to do?

For sure, human employment will be a problem. But it already is.
 
Whether or not a machine is sentient may be beside the point. It's clear that some already seem to be. So, we will have to deal with them. If you call a help line and the response seems like a highly intelligent and helpful human, do you really care if it's artificial? Maybe it's better than an actual human who's accent you can hardly understand.

Would it be OK if your car recognizes you and says "Good Morning" when you get in? What does it hurt? Maybe keys and key fobs will be obsolete as all your devices know you. We seem to have a fear that AI will develop some nefarious plot against humanity. But, why would it? We are the reason that it exists. Without us, what would it have to do?

For sure, human employment will be a problem. But it already is.
A crumb of reassurance, Don - over a period of years, it takes a team of 20 to 30 minimum to design, test, redesign, retest, and ultimately produce all types of AI. And there's a growing shortage of trained robotics professionals in the design and production phases, including the production of various components. Young people would be wise to get into learning the skills now.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
snippet:

...Some argue that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will probably result in general reasoning systems that lack human cognitive limitations. Others believe that humans will evolve or directly modify their biology so as to achieve radically greater intelligence. A number of futures studies scenarios combine elements from both of these possibilities, suggesting that humans are likely to interface with computers, or upload their minds to computers, in a way that enables substantial intelligence amplification.
To be honest, I would welcome the chance. My memory is poor. My logic circuits are still good, according to my standards. So, if I could get a brain implant recording device and upload my mind, I'm all for it. Additionally, I would like my brain to be immortal and able to learn until the end of time. And yes, I'm serious.

As to whether artificial intelligence can come alive - well, what was science fiction in the past often becomes reality. AI could be programmed for self-awareness, I would think. They already can be programmed for self-diagnostics.
 
I don't know about Artificial Intelligence "coming alive", but it is increasingly obvious that AI is making human labor increasingly Obsolete, in many career fields. If this trend continues, it won't be long before millions of people will be unable to find a job.
Perhaps we will all turn back into hunter/gatherers and farmers. That might not be such a bad thing. It might give nature a chance to heal and humankind to find its humanity again.
 
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I don't know. What's the lifespan of microchips?
There's no simple answer; it totally depends on numerous factors. Microchips used in critical applications, like traversing the universe, are expected to live around 30 years, but some have already out-lived their life-expectancy by decades. But I won't be surprised if AI/robotics experts find an alternative to microchips. An alternative with unlimited life expectancy.
 
Whether or not a machine is sentient may be beside the point. It's clear that some already seem to be. So, we will have to deal with them. If you call a help line and the response seems like a highly intelligent and helpful human, do you really care if it's artificial? Maybe it's better than an actual human who's accent you can hardly understand.

Would it be OK if your car recognizes you and says "Good Morning" when you get in? What does it hurt? Maybe keys and key fobs will be obsolete as all your devices know you. We seem to have a fear that AI will develop some nefarious plot against humanity. But, why would it? We are the reason that it exists. Without us, what would it have to do?

For sure, human employment will be a problem. But it already is.
I don‘t believe the real danger is a nefarious plot as much as a growing dependence on an increasingly “intelligent” AI that isn’t just helpful, but essential. I can get in my car and tell a Garmin to take me to any address in the United States. It not only gives me turn by turn instruction, but it picks the best route, and warns of heavy traffic ahead. In 10 or 15 years that car won‘t have a steering wheel and will do all the driving. Where are we going to be in 100 or 200 years, a thousand? Will the human brain have changed much? Our skulls are only so big, but the AI skull is limitless.
 
I don‘t believe the real danger is a nefarious plot as much as a growing dependence on an increasingly “intelligent” AI that isn’t just helpful, but essential. I can get in my car and tell a Garmin to take me to any address in the United States. It not only gives me turn by turn instruction, but it picks the best route, and warns of heavy traffic ahead. In 10 or 15 years that car won‘t have a steering wheel and will do all the driving. Where are we going to be in 100 or 200 years, a thousand? Will the human brain have changed much? Our skulls are only so big, but the AI skull is limitless.
Skulls can evolve, though (so we're told), so there's that.

I sometimes wonder if they've been shrinking lately, from lack of use.
 
I don‘t believe the real danger is a nefarious plot as much as a growing dependence on an increasingly “intelligent” AI that isn’t just helpful, but essential. I can get in my car and tell a Garmin to take me to any address in the United States. It not only gives me turn by turn instruction, but it picks the best route, and warns of heavy traffic ahead. In 10 or 15 years that car won‘t have a steering wheel and will do all the driving. Where are we going to be in 100 or 200 years, a thousand? Will the human brain have changed much? Our skulls are only so big, but the AI skull is limitless.
I think you are absolutely right. We will become more dependent on them. We already have. How many do math without a calculator? We may become like the Eloi and the Morlocks will be artificial. I can't see us getting any smarter. There's no evolutionary pressure for it.

Of course, all this is based on the assumption that civilization will continue to exist. I'd say that is iffy.
 
I think you are absolutely right. We will become more dependent on them. We already have. How many do math without a calculator? We may become like the Eloi and the Morlocks will be artificial. I can't see us getting any smarter. There's no evolutionary pressure for it.

Of course, all this is based on the assumption that civilization will continue to exist. I'd say that is iffy.
There is a way we could get more intelligent, and I think we will. I am no expert on this, but more info can be found on the internet. Intelligence is largely, but not entirely, genetic. The genetics of two or three dozen fertilized human eggs (zygotes) could be analyzed for indications of higher intelligence and other attributes, such as lack of genetic disease, and the best candidate selected for implant in the mother. Evolution by science rather than Darwinian selection. Another less complex process would be cloning. Done all the time with polo ponies. But, there are some BIG problems -- expense and morality, particularly morality.
 
There is a way we could get more intelligent, and I think we will. I am no expert on this, but more info can be found on the internet. Intelligence is largely, but not entirely, genetic. The genetics of two or three dozen fertilized human eggs (zygotes) could be analyzed for indications of higher intelligence and other attributes, such as lack of genetic disease, and the best candidate selected for implant in the mother. Evolution by science rather than Darwinian selection. Another less complex process would be cloning. Done all the time with polo ponies. But, there are some BIG problems -- expense and morality, particularly morality.
But how many years would that take, and what percentage of the population would it affect? It could be possible, but I don't think it's going to happen. We are as smart as we had to be to survive hundreds of thousands of years ago. There is a bell curve, and some are really smart, but most of us are somewhere in the middle.

If civilization does collapse, it could be that only the smartest survive. That would be one way to raise the overall I.Q. But, it's a tough way.
 
But how many years would that take, and what percentage of the population would it affect? It could be possible, but I don't think it's going to happen. We are as smart as we had to be to survive hundreds of thousands of years ago. There is a bell curve, and some are really smart, but most of us are somewhere in the middle.

If civilization does collapse, it could be that only the smartest survive. That would be one way to raise the overall I.Q. But, it's a tough way.
It may begin to happen sooner than you think, or at least I hope it does. It's not a new idea ...

"Zygote evaluation: an efficient tool for embryo selection"
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/15/12/2591/2915856?login=false

"Super-Intelligent Humans Are Coming"
https://nautil.us/super_intelligent-humans-are-coming-2458/

Just about every developed country is experiencing a decline in fertility, insufficient to maintain a population - without 3rd world immigration, so the incentive is certainly there.
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/total-fertility-rate/country-comparison
 
The genetics of two or three dozen fertilized human eggs (zygotes) could be analyzed for indications of higher intelligence and other attributes, such as lack of genetic disease, and the best candidate selected for implant in the mother. Evolution by science rather than Darwinian selection.
While geneticists are working on it, so far this isn't accurate. Then, there is the ethical issue. Hitler would have loved this.

With the advances in AI, perhaps people would prefer robotic children. This would not surprise me.
 
I don't think creating a master race is really a good idea, even if we could. Suppose we made a million of them. They would mature in about 20 years. Then what? Do you think the remaining billions of humans would let them run things? More likely, they would be hunted down.
 


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