Are Robot Overlords Possible?

   Artificial Intelligence, or A.I. for short, has been in the media a lot lately.  The movie Avengers: Age of Ultron was a box office hit and it's plot was all about an A.I. that was developed to help humankind, that then turned on who it was supposed to protect.  The Terminator saga is a classic example of A.I. turning on humans when it was supposed to help us.  Ex Machina is an interesting twist on this trope as it's about a robot trying to prove it's humanity.

I am the Master of my Own Fate

   With both Age of Ultron and The Terminator, these mostly focus their plot on the Singularity.  A point where Artifical Intelligence surpasses human intelligence at an uncontrollable rate.  Ex Machina explores the concept of the Touring Test, of what it's about and it's flaws.  What these movies are ultimately about is us trying to understand the unknown.  Hollywood is exploring the darker sides of what could happen when machines and computers surpass humans.  While there are feel good movies exploring this, such as Wall-E, we as a species are more drawn to negative outcomes, which can be seen by all the apocalyptic media out there (not knocking them, I'm a fan as well).

   Fear of the unknown is the most basic fear humans have, it's the basis for many other fears, such as death, the dark, aliens invading Earth, etc.  The story of A.I. taking over has become such a powerful plot device that it's showing up more and more in media.  The reason behind that is we are getting close to that realization where technology is getting smarter.  I read this article by Engadget about how a toy robot shows us a glimmer of self-awareness.  It seems innocent enough, but it's a powerful message.  We'll soon be competing with technology regarding intelligence.  The top minds are debating if there is a threat.  Elon Musk is worried, as is Stephen Hawking.  We should all panic and keep things from progressing, right?

   While there aren't many in the camp that we should keep developing A.I. with no concerns, that's actually a good thing.  Fear is a human emotion that keeps us safe.  While it can make progress slow and difficult, sometimes impossible, it's there to keep us safe.  We are afraid of A.I. because we don't know what will happen when it becomes self-aware.  I say when because it'll happen eventually.  If Jurassic Park and Ian Malcom taught me anything, is that "nature will find a way."  Regardless, I'm in the neutral camp.

   There is a concern of what can happen as technology is developed faster than we are ready for it.  Like the atomic bomb, there will be some trigger that will cause someone or a group of someones to push past moral grounds to develop A.I. past the point of no return and we will all have to deal with the consequences.  But there is hope, we're already doing the first step to deal with this, and that is having discussions about this in public forums.  It's important for everyone to talk through all the points about A.I. to cover as many bases as possible.

I am Exoskeleton Man!

   Another hope is that we raise ourselves up with the machines.  To do that, we will "evolve" into cyborgs.  We're doing this already with artificial implants like pacemakers or prosthetics.  A mix of organic and tech, we have cyborgs now.  By infusing our organic bodies with technology, we are able to do more.  Exoskeletons are also a great example of cyborgs, and no where near as invasive as implants.  The old saying "if you can't beat them, join them" fits well into this.  Machines are superior in many ways and take a lot of risk off of human lives in many situations, anywhere from deep sea diving to space missions.  That's why I'm not too worried.

   Humans have worked with machines in one form or another since the dawn of time, that's why we're at the top of the food chain is because we're able to use and build tools to increase our chances of survival and reproduce.  A.I. will be the next machine to help us do that, we just have to evolve with it.  Pending some mad scientist who has a vendetta, we're already taking the right steps to ensure we aren't left behind as machines continue to grow and mature.  Otherwise, we could be their batteries.

And as always, stay safe goblins.

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About Jimmy R. Tassin

Jimmy Tassin is the IT Manager of Midwest Regional Bank and has been involved with the Technology field for over thirteen years. His two hobbies are overseeing the daily operations of OmniKraft, a Minecraft server community, and writing at Goblinbyte.com.