How safe are we from our own future technology
Much of our technology including green technology is becoming more and more intelligent. Washing machines can sense the size of a load of laundry and adjust water levels accordingly. Car transmissions can sense the need for changes and adjust quicker than their drivers can improving gas mileage. As our technology gets more intricate and intelligent, scientists are beginning to worry.
According to The New York Times and Dave Parrack at Blorge, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) held a meeting in Asilomar, California to discuss concerns over the safety and ethics of artificial intelligence research and implementation.
Self-driving cars, computerized personal assistants, and self-guided household robots are looking more and more probable. Self-driving cars could save gas, save lives, and cut down on traffic congestion. Commuters could text in total safety while “driving” on their way to work.
Self-guided household robots could quickly clean, sort laundry, sort recyclables, and meet the owners at their door with their favorite beverage at the end of the day. No more need for cleaning services, laundromats or human servants.
There are other as yet un-thought of possibilities for artificially intelligent devices and mechanisms in green technology, medical technology, and of course the military.
Currently, the military uses drones like the the MQ-9 Reaper bomber squadron that was deployed in Iraq. The unmanned planes carry 500 pound bombs and are guided by air force personnel to their targets. How soon will it be before scientists determine that planes like this would be more efficient if they could guide themselves and drop their bombs when onboard sensors said they should? How soon before fully automated robot soldiers are created?
A few days before The New York Times story, The Telegraph reported that creating an artificial human brain could be accomplished within the next decade. Professor Henry Markram, “a member of the Blue Brain Project, which seeks to unravel the mysteries of brain function and dysfunction using laboratory data,” said that an artificial human brain could help develop cures and treatments for the “two billion people on the planet affected by mental disorder.” Could an artificial human brain also be used as the basis for military or domestic security applications?
The AAAI will be issuing a report assessing the possibility of “the loss of human control of computer-based intelligences.” The report will also address “socioeconomic, legal and ethical issues, as well as probable changes in human-computer relationships.”
Dr. Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher and president of the association had the following to say about where technology is leading us:
Something new has taken place in the past five to eight years. Technologists are replacing religion, and their ideas are resonating in some ways with the same idea of the Rapture.
For these reasons and others, Dr. Horvitz said that the organization “was looking for ways to guide research so that technology improved society rather than moved it toward a technological catastrophe.”
As with genetics research, bioengineering, and medical research, ethical guidelines need to be created. We are already doing a good job of destroying ourselves without the aid of advanced technology. We don’t need to create advanced technology that will complete the process.
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July 27th, 2009
It’s just another way for the government to distract you from the real problems of the world.
There are more important things going on and we’re worried about this?