Even though it may seem comical at first, there is definitely a chance in our future that artificial intelligence could rise up and make an attempt to take over the world. If we fail to realize that or prepare for such an occurence we could become the victim of artificial intelligence and we could lose our rule over the world as we know it today.
Famed scientist and author Stephen Hawking told a German magazine that humans must be genetically enhanced to prevent an otherwise inevitable take-over by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence. He gravely insists we must alter and improve our DNA, since “‘The danger is real that this [computer] intelligence will develop and take over the world.” Sounds very real and very possible. Whether or not you’re a believer in robots possibly taking over, watch your back, since they might be eyeing your job. According to Robotic Nation author Marshall Brain, humanoid robots will be widely available by 2030 and will quickly replace the need for humans to work in fields like retail, fast food and house cleaning. Will this leave other jobs for humans or will all jobs slowly be filled by working machines? If so, where will this leave us humans?
Household robots are already all the rage in Japan. Robots that can do simple interaction and perform basic tasks are popular in many Japanese homes, and the market is expected to boom to as many as 39 million robots by 2010. So why aren’t we adopting robots in the West? Author Timothy Hornyak theorizes that America and Europe have a cultural tradition of distrusting intelligent machines, while the Japanese are more easily accepting of robots as helpers and tend to create personal bonds with their robots.
According to John Holland, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, computer sentience is possible. According to an article titled “Why care about artificial intelligence?”, it seems that artificial intelligence would have a very high chance of surpassing humanity and even taking control of it. It has the capability to greatly surpass the human intellect, it has access to all the resources that humanity has gathered, and it can develop to think faster and do more things at once than any human would be capable of. Previously, technologies have only been as good or bad as the humans using them, but artificial intelligences have the potential to be independently-acting agents, capable of outsmarting their creators.
According to an article on Buzzle.com there is a fear of robots superseding us. Ideally human beings should continue being the masters of machines. If things turn the other way round, the world will turn into chaos. Intelligent machines may prove to be smarter than us; they might enslave us and start ruling the world. Man’s greedy creativity may endanger mankind. There is also the question of ethics and moral values. Is it ethically correct to create artificial intelligence? There is no ideal replacement for human beings. Artificial intelligence can help alleviate the difficulties faced by man but intelligent machines can never be ‘human’. We should be concerned with the speed and rapid advancement of such technologies and the possible implications artificial intelligence could have on our society and our world.
