Arlindo Oliveira
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262036030
- eISBN:
- 9780262338394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036030.003.0012
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
This chapter, the last chapter in the book, presents some far-fetched ideas about the future of technology and the human species. It starts by discussing the concept of technological singularity, an ...
More
This chapter, the last chapter in the book, presents some far-fetched ideas about the future of technology and the human species. It starts by discussing the concept of technological singularity, an even that would create a discontinuity in the evolution of technology. The idea that mind uploading may one day become possible leads many people to believe that the singularity will one day happen, making it possible to eradicate death entirely. Approaches such as cryonics, that aim at preserving bodies until the singularity arrives, are considered and discussed. The creation of digital minds also raises complex questions about the possible future existence of intelligences much superior to those of humans, leading to the problem of how to deal with such intelligences. Finally, the chapter analyses the possible relations between digital minds, the long term future of technology and how these questions may be related with Fermi’s paradox: if there are many intelligences in the galaxy, how come we never met any?Less
This chapter, the last chapter in the book, presents some far-fetched ideas about the future of technology and the human species. It starts by discussing the concept of technological singularity, an even that would create a discontinuity in the evolution of technology. The idea that mind uploading may one day become possible leads many people to believe that the singularity will one day happen, making it possible to eradicate death entirely. Approaches such as cryonics, that aim at preserving bodies until the singularity arrives, are considered and discussed. The creation of digital minds also raises complex questions about the possible future existence of intelligences much superior to those of humans, leading to the problem of how to deal with such intelligences. Finally, the chapter analyses the possible relations between digital minds, the long term future of technology and how these questions may be related with Fermi’s paradox: if there are many intelligences in the galaxy, how come we never met any?
Arlindo Oliveira
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262036030
- eISBN:
- 9780262338394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036030.001.0001
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to ...
More
This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to process information, using algorithms to create order out of chaos. Before computers, the job of processing information was done by living organisms, which are nothing more than complex information processing devices, shaped by billions of years of evolution. The most advanced of these information processing devices is the human brain. Brains enable humans to process information in a way unparalleled by any other species, living or extinct, or by any existing machine. They provide humans with intelligence, consciousness and, some believe, even with a soul. Brains also enabled humans to develop science and technology to a point where it is possible to design computers with a power comparable to that of the human brain. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies will one day make it possible to create intelligent machines and computational biology will one day enable us to model, simulate, and understand biological systems and even complete brains, with unprecedented levels of detail. From these efforts, new minds will eventually emerge, minds that will emanate from the execution of programs running in powerful computers. These digital minds may one day rival our own, become our partners, and replace humans in many tasks. They may usher in a technological singularity, may make humans obsolete or even a threatened species. They make us super-humans or demi-gods.Less
This book addresses the connections between computers, life, evolution, brains, and minds. Digital computers are recent and have changed our society. However, they represent just the latest way to process information, using algorithms to create order out of chaos. Before computers, the job of processing information was done by living organisms, which are nothing more than complex information processing devices, shaped by billions of years of evolution. The most advanced of these information processing devices is the human brain. Brains enable humans to process information in a way unparalleled by any other species, living or extinct, or by any existing machine. They provide humans with intelligence, consciousness and, some believe, even with a soul. Brains also enabled humans to develop science and technology to a point where it is possible to design computers with a power comparable to that of the human brain. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies will one day make it possible to create intelligent machines and computational biology will one day enable us to model, simulate, and understand biological systems and even complete brains, with unprecedented levels of detail. From these efforts, new minds will eventually emerge, minds that will emanate from the execution of programs running in powerful computers. These digital minds may one day rival our own, become our partners, and replace humans in many tasks. They may usher in a technological singularity, may make humans obsolete or even a threatened species. They make us super-humans or demi-gods.
