I wrote a blog a couple of days ago, about AI,
and I was surprised with the responses, not the quantity, but the quality, and surprised there was such an interest. The article didnt actually cover AI, but was rather a reference to it with respect to Cyber crime. So I thought I should give a few of my thoughts on AI itself.
What always strikes me about this subject, is that we dont really know what we're talking about, and I mean that literaily - 'what' are we talking about. What is or what would be AI. Already there are several threads of logic out there that people are either investigating, considering, trying to develop, or becoming concerned about.
The cartoon idea of AI, might be a PC sitting on a desk, spouting wisdom and information above and beyond our comprehension. Another might be, that same AI PC, networking with all the other PC's on the internet and conspiring to enslave us all. But, if anyone has given this any serious thought, its not long before you realise that the issue is far more complex than this. We might imagine it to be technology dependant, then software engineers might believe it to be more pertinent to the protocol or code. Biochemists and neurologists might have a completely different view. There are in fact, those among us, that believe AI, requires no additional hardware or software resources from 'us' in order to function, or that indeed, our own organism may be a good platform for AI to come into being, and there are those that believe perhaps this has already occurred, or is occurring presently.
I already had very mixed ideas about what any of this might be or mean, and how AI might manifest, and then I came across a guy called Robert Sapolsky. Robert Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinologist, professor of biology, and professor of neurology and neurological sciences and, by courtesy, neurosurgery, at Stanford University. Professor Sapolsky has a most interesting area of study, which is Toxoplasmosis or 'Toxo'.
Here is a link to an interview with Professor Sapolsky
Its incredibly interesting and well worth a cup of coffee and a watch.
I wont speak too much on Toxoplasmosis, as Sapolsky does a far better job of that in his interview. But the reason this is perhaps important to the AI discussion, is that Toxoplasmosis describes a means by which a virus that infects our system at a cellular level, can take charge of certain neurological functions via proteins and the hormone system in order to manipulate the host. The upshot of this, is that Toxoplasmosis has a high infection rate amongst humans, that are functioning in daily life, that have certain desires and urges and responses to the world, that are governed directly by these viruses, from simple things such as what we might want to eat, how angry or happy we might be, or how fearful, sexual desires and so on, can all be controlled or influenced by Toxoplasmosis.
If we begin to explore these other areas of our own human experience, we begin to learn, that for the longest time, we have also lived with a cartoon idea of what it is to be human. Some argue nurture, some argue nature etc. but as time passes, we learn that our own complexities are really, at present, beyond our own comprehension. We are on a learning curve.
The point I'm trying to make here, is that how we perceive the notion of AI is very much based on what we perceive to be our own experience. I suppose at the end of the day, what AI might represent in our minds is something that is akin to ourselves with respect to logic, but logic is not a thing like mathematics, or physics, Logic ironically enough, is dependant on perception of experience, like most every other aspect of our being, logic is not a fixed thing or known quantity, but rather an aspect of our experience and reasoning. Logic changes with mood for example 'your being illogical', and mood is changed by so many intricate and subtle states within our being, our chemistry, our environment, our stimulus, our physicality, our locality etc. and so many things that we no doubt have yet to understand.
However, our getting a grasp on 'AI', is not synonymous with its existence. In other words, to quote Donald Rumsfeld, 'unknown unknowns', things we do not know that we do not know. It could well be and we would be non the wiser, and the idea that it might share a common logic, or perception - although not off the table, is highly unlikely, and the possibility of our recognising it, therefore would be remote. Just like Toxoplasmosis.
Anyway, food for thought. Happy Steeming.
N.B 