The majority of films about computer intelligence ascribe human principles to the machine. They create the impression that machines, if allowed to gain consciousness and thrive, will actively seek to enslave or destroy man. What if the speculators are wrong? I don’t see why a machine brain would even want to busy itself with the destruction of humanity. On the other hand, I can see why humanity would attempt to destroy it.
We are incapable of believing in benevolence. Even our concept of God is born from fire and brimstone. Given our proclivity for binary confrontations, there will always be an us vs. them mentality. Thus, the only way to unit all of us humans is to have a them–non human. I think we’re seeing the beginning of this philosophy budding in books like 1984 and shows like Person of Interest where an overarching presence watches all that we do. POI treats the force, a semi-autonomous knowledge construct, as benevolent. It has a singular purpose of discovering threats and informing the law of those threats. It has a side gig of telling its creator of smaller threats as well, which is the focus of the show. This system is powerful and intelligent and does, on occasion, take the initiative to help its creator accomplish goals.
Is this a possible future? Surely. We have the technology and the connectivity to make these things a reality. Ideas such as the cell phone hacking concept that bubbled up in The Dark Knight are not born in the darkness. They come from scientific fact and attempt. Will the force we create be benevolent? Only as much so as the creators allow.
Some Thoughts:
- The new Iron Man film looks better than the 2nd, which isn’t very hard. Still, it may be the case that Iron Man III will be better than I. I hope they do a six film run that is spectacular throughout.
- I really do need that vacation.
- Tough class again today. I often feel extremely disrespected by the students. They should be there to learn, but they are not. I am at the point that the next student who disrespects me will be thrown out of the classroom.