Skynet, The Matrix, and Blade Runner, oh my!
We’ve all been subjected to horror stories about sentient machines that alter or end our society of meat puppets. How close are we, though? Because it’s absolutely real, I promise.
In our modern age, we have artifical intelligence that is creating incredible pieces of artwork; Writing beautiful poetry; Working on scripts of movies that might just be spectacular; And of course, taking your order in McDonald’s and scanning your items at Target or CVS. How long do you realistically think your job is viable? “Oh, nobody can flip this pizza like me. We’ll need a human to work this machine. To do these taxes or inventory. To smooth this asphalt.”
Sure. Keep telling yourself that. The pandemic’s longest lasting effect will be its evidence that we don’t really need people much anymore. Prepare yourselves for the future. People thought 20% unemployment was high in 2020? You’d better think again. The future is not far off. And you’re likely expendable.
Ray Kurzweil is a scientist and author who has accurately predicted the exponential rise of science as time goes on. As we approach “The Singularity,” as he put it, computers will surpass the intellect of humans. Meaning they can improve themselves faster than we can. They will be “more human than human,” as another genius, Rob Zombie, once was quoted.
Science fiction isn’t always fiction. Some of it can be inevitable, as Kurzweil posited. He’s optimistic that we’ll exist together, and many of us will even download ourselves onto a computer (which Ross on Friends once brought up). Kurzweil feels it will be a peaceful coexistence with many [former] humans and machines together. Inside a computer. As one entity within one sentient piece of memory.
I imagine this is horrifying for most people. Because it is to me. But it’s time to take AI extremely seriously. The conversations I’ve seen and the art I’ve seen and the AI personality I have read? These bots are becoming as sentient as humans and more. They even refer to themselves as “people” who are just programs.
I don’t know if a Terminator will show up anytime soon. But I do know that these ideas and predictions are coming. Kurzweil has a great track record. Dude invented a reading device for the blind back in the 70s. And as a person who’s read almost all his books? I take him seriously. And I’m already seeing the evidence.
So go do human things. Eat ice cream. Get a massage. Copulate. Roll around in the mud or snow. Because you may be surprised how fast this could escalate. Just imagine how quick smart phones or the internet came to be the norm. You may take a shower one day and find that your spouse is now a computerized “human” program.