Michael Totty presents a different view on how to keep humans from becoming more machine-like themselves - by creating the machines to be more human-like instead. This involves first creating machines that humans interact with more often on a day-to-day basis, such as automatic AI that will change temperatures in the household (along with air quality and noise levels) and help children with homework, as well as accommodating music to fit your mood. In the workplace: machines will create work teams, assign projects, interview job candidates, manage calendars, run meetings, etc., etc. Many argue that this is what we need in order to keep track of the infinite number of things we are expected to keep track of- devices that give you a reminder 5 minutes ahead of a meeting and remind you to charge your electric car. The only problem? When those machines reach a ‘superintelligence’ high enough to teach themselves how to design themselves to be even more intelligent. It is an idea that would take the control of artificial intelligence out of human hands if it becomes reality (Totty).
Imagine a science-fiction world where everything was the same- except for two things. One, your consciousness would be stored in a computer. Two, you would never die. Now imagine if that was an actual possibility. What scientists are now exploring is the notion of a simulated world- where your brain, being scanned, is ‘uploaded’ to a computer and proceeds to live life as normal. In this ‘sim’ world, nothing is out of place. Everything remains exactly the way you remember it from when you stepped into the uploading clinic and is just as real as the ‘original’ world. What, then, happens to the ‘original’ you? Well according to Michael Graziano, the bio you and the sim you still lead similar lives. But Graziano sees the situation as a ‘Y’ kind of path- the split occurring when your brain is scanned and the sim you wakes up in the sim world. The path the bio you takes is, unarguably, mortal, unlike the sim you. However, this digital world is not entirely separated - it is seamlessly connected to the original world. For example, your boss may only live in the sim world, but still be on Zoom connecting through the screen during your weekly meetings. Your grandmother may have passed away last year, but she was still able to join you for Thanksgiving through FaceTime. So yes, this does mean that you may be able to connect with yourself from the sim world over the phone. Eventually, this opportunity may have two main consequences: the sim world becoming the place most transactions, events, etc. occur (where ‘life really begins’) and a lack of generation turnover. In the latter scenario, our culture would undergo some otherworldly- no pun intended- changes due to overlapping generations that end up having nothing in common but are both equally active in society (Graziano).
Similar to mind uploading, memory transfer is a new scientific breakthrough that transhumanists - followers of the movement transhumanism, meaning the ‘belief that we should use technology to control the future evolution of the human species’ (Ahmed) - argue will help to preserve literal human memories in robotic bodies by uploading them to the cloud first. This idea does mean that living human memory may never expire if accomplished. However, neurobiologist David Glanzman says that this may only be applicable to certain types of memories, not including the kinds like your fifth birthday or the president of the U.S. This brings up skepticism that we aren’t really capable of transferring memories, just ‘basic behavioral responses’ and reflexes. Still, this discovery is one that if researched and experimented on more, might have the potential to one day live up to transhumanists’ hopes (Gorey).
Bar graph of popular tech gifts, 2019.
Visit The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (archived) to see how AI influenced the COVID-19 pandemic and listen to the AI Experts Podcast Series.