When we talk about AI, we often find ourselves in the great debate. That debate tends to have two sides. One which is in favor of advancing our technology and realizing all of the prolific benefits and one which warns us of the dangers of creating something we can not understand nor control. Of course, there are so many considerations on both sides of the argument. There are all kinds of grey areas associated with this subject as well.
There is one argument though, that I have largely seen left out of this discussion. That is the argument of true evolution and extinction as a choice. We worry that our AI creation will become so powerful that we will not be able to understand it. So our minds attempt to tackle the control piece. We fear what we do not understand, so we control. What we don't know though, is can we even control something much smarter and more adaptive than ourselves?
We've never faced such a dilemma. We've conquered bigger beasts, invisible organisms, and came out victorious when vastly outnumbered. We've done this all with our intelligence but we've never been up against a foe which is simply smarter. This would appear to be the challenge in front of us when facing AI. But maybe we shouldn't be fighting it? It is our creation after all. Maybe our intention should be to create something so perfect that our existence is no longer necessary. Maybe we should be striving to create an AI which is really just the next iteration of the dominant species.
I think it is relevant to ask ourselves very important questions such as, "what is it that we are truly doing here?" We've never really been able to answer that question at a very fundamental level. Within the various religions, there is no real consistent answer. We don't seem to be able to agree on much for that matter. War, slavery, and inequality seem to rule the day. So why then, I ask, do we need to continue to exist?
What is our purpose? All of that which seems so obvious tends to finish last by our measures of success. Love? Happiness? God's thoughts? What? What is the purpose of human existence as a whole? What are we driving towards? Maybe the AI we so fear, is indeed the God we have not yet created.