Let’s just go ahead and address the question on everyone’s mind: will AI kill us? What is the negative potential of transhuman superintelligence? Once its cognitive power surpasses our own, will it give us a leg-up in ‘the singularity’, or will it look at our collective track record of harming our own species, other species, the world that gave us life, etc., and exterminate us like pests? AI expert Ben Goertzel believes we’ve been at this point of uncertainty many times before in our evolution. When we stepped out of our caves, it was a risk – no one knew it would lead to cities and space flight. When we spoke the first word, took up agriculture, invented the printing press, flicked the internet on-switch – all of these things could have led to our demise, and in some sense, our eventual demise can be traced all the way back to the day that ancient human learnt how to make fire. Progress helps us, until the day it kills us. That said, fear of negative potential cannot stop us from attempting forward motion – and by now, says Goertzel, it’s too late anyway. Even if the U.S. decided to pull the plug on superhuman intelligence research, China would keep at it. Even if China pulled out, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Nigeria would march on. We know there are massive benefits – both humanitarian and corporate – and we have latched to the idea. “The way we got to this point as a species and a culture has been to keep doing amazing new things that we didn’t fully understand,” says Goertzel, and for better or worse, “that’s what we’re going to keep on doing.” Ben Goertzel’s most recent book is AGI Revolution: An Inside View of the Rise of Artificial General Intelligence.
A piece of writing by Scott Keene from the ‘Long Beach, Ca. Writing Group’, which Calvin Harris H.W., M. conducts. You can see more fun day activities on Calvin’s website siteofcontact.net.
February 2017
There was even a card for it. They were right there next to the Valentine’s Day cards and the Get-Well-Soon. He had never even heard of Single’s Day and now here was a whole section.
He was one of those people who believed that most of the holidays — at least all the lovey-dovey “National So-and-So Day” were just fodder for the greeting card industry. But still, he found himself needing one today. A “get-well-soon” this time which he wanted for a co-worker and casual acquaintance. Someone with whom he was terribly close wouldn’t need a card — they would know in person how he felt.
So, he stood and stared at the Single’s Day section and wondered: was he still a single or was he now a couple?“
