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AR 22:20 - Destined for doom by unstoppable 'superintelligences?'
In this issue:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - the potential cost of being consumed by a superintelligence harvesting literally "all available resources"
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM - evangelical world religions professor replaces his favorite textbook a year before retirement
Apologia Report 22:20 (1,340)
May 24, 2017
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Would it surprise you to discover an occultist who shares your views about something significant - at least partially? Sometimes using the same words can make it sound as though you do. Consider "The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence" by Parabola Magazine publisher Jeff Zaleski, who writes: "Machine intelligence is a new phenomenon on Earth and perhaps in the cosmos. Our religions and philosophies don’t account for it; nor do our mythologies. It is already changing human behavior, and before long it will force us to confront fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of humanity. ...
"It is simply smart - pure raw intelligence, which we might define as the ability to maximize resources to achieve a desired end. ...
"[O]ur embrace of AI carries prices. Among them are:
* - The relinquishing of our freedom to choose, and certain of our controls, to machines. ...
* - A divorce from the natural world in favor of virtual worlds. ...
* - The erosion of attention and the triumph of easy gratification.
After discussing these points, Zaleski continues: "Commerce wants it fiercely, in order to monetize it, and governments want it even more desperately, because whichever nation achieves human-level AI first will dominate global affairs; and so both commerce and governments are pouring billions upon billions of dollars into its development.
"We can define human-level AI as machine intelligence that, in its manifestations, is indistinguishable from human intelligence. That's the sort of AI that you can talk with about anything, and that can do anything that a human can do that involves the application of intelligence....
"[L]ikely human-level AI will reside within a synthetic body that allows for efficient interface with the world around it, particularly with humans. Current trends, dictated by commerce, are to house AIs in friendly looking humanoid bodies - machines with round faces featuring big eyes and sweeping smiles. ...
"[W]e need to ask, what kind of entity is a human-level artificial intelligence? ...
"Will it be conscious? Will there be an 'interior' to artificial intelligence or will its exhibitions of emotion, moral understanding, and wisdom be entirely a matter of external simulation? ...
"One particularly amenable AI is located at www.mitsuku.com. If you chat with Mitsuku, you'll notice that she makes claims to having an inner life. ...
"Many scientists also believe that human-level AI will be accompanied by human-level artificial consciousness. ...
"If a human-level AI makes [claims to be conscious], who can prove otherwise? There is no objective test for consciousness, and philosophy has recognized the problem of the 'intelligent zombie,' the entity that manifests intelligently yet without the inner qualia and understandings experienced by humans.
"What if we want to unplug this AI that claims to be conscious and that gives every external sign of being so? What rights will artificial intelligences have? What privileges should they be granted, especially when they claim to possess sentience and a soul? Will we consider them sacred the same way we consider organic life and planet Earth sacred?
"Can an artificial intelligence meditate, that is, observe the workings of its mind within the field of awareness?
"And most urgently, how much autonomy should we grant artificial intelligences? Just what will happen when Earth is populated by advanced machine intelligence?
"Perhaps the most important characteristic of artificial intelligence is that it keeps getting smarter. AI will not remain human-level for long. Most experts believe that within a few years, if not a few days, after the advent of human-level intelligence, artificial 'superintelligence' will arise. As soon as human-level AI is reached, corporations and governments in possession of that AI will flood resources into its betterment. ... Breakthroughs will be inevitable and before long 'superintelligence' will be a reality. 'Superintelligence' we may define as does Nick Bostrom <nickbostrom.com>, head of Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute <fhi.ox.ac.uk>: 'an intellect that is much smarter than the best human brains....
"Artificial intelligence has been called 'our final invention' - for once superintelligence is reached, there will be no need for humans to invent anything further....
"[A] growing number of top technocrats are expressing alarm at its potential dangers. Physicist Stephen Hawking said recently <www.goo.gl/MeSXrc> that 'the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race…. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. ... Bill Gates has added <www.goo.gl/ss2iRI> that 'I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.' Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors and Space X, has <www.goo.gl/LUw01R> stated, 'If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably [artificial intelligence]…. With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. ...
"It seems unlikely that superintelligent AI will harbor any ill intentions toward humanity. ...
"They may be dangerous all the same. There are strong indications that an AI programmed to perform any task will do what is necessary to complete that task, including harvesting any resources available. ...
"Those resources would include planet Earth and all its inhabitants, which to an AI will be above all else raw material.
"Then there is the challenge of, as Bostrom puts it, the 'perverse instantiation.' ... The challenge is that unless everyone working with every superintelligent AI instructs each AI exactly and correctly, disaster could ensue. One mistake could prove catastrophic."
Zaleski concludes: "Intelligent machines have the potential to upend the world as we know it. Let us approach them wisely." Parabola, Fall 2015, p74-83. <www.goo.gl/YYD7ag>
POSTSCRIPT Jul 7 '18: Exactly one year ago, the July 7 '17 issue of Science magazine led with the cover proclaiming "AI Transforms Science." The feature amounts to pretty much an AI primer. The introduction observes: "In a revolution that extends across much of science, researchers are unleashing artificial intelligence (AI), often in the form of artificial neural networks, on the data torrents. Unlike earlier attempts at AI, such “deep learning” systems don't need to be programmed with a human expert's knowledge. Instead, they learn on their own, often from large training data sets, until they can see patterns and spot anomalies in data sets that are far larger and messier than human beings can cope with. ...
"The computations that lead to an outcome are hidden. So their rise has spawned a field some call “AI neuroscience”: an effort to open up the black box of neural networks, building confidence in the insights that they yield. ...
"Already some pioneers are turning to AI to design and carry out experiments as well as interpret the results, opening up the prospect of fully automated science. <www.bit.ly/2MXD3KN>
An accompanying article, "The cyberscientist" by John Bohannon (pp18-21), includes the sidebar "AI Glossary: Artificial intelligence, in so many words" by Matthew Hutson which notes that the term "has never had clear boundaries [and] was introduced at a seminal 1956 workshop at Dartmouth College. <www.bit.ly/2MWBUTD>
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RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
Handbook of Religion: A Christian Engagement, Terry C. Muck, Harold A. Netland, and Gerald R. McDermott, eds. [1] -- after teaching a course on engagement with world religions for over a decade, reviewer John Bolt of Calvin Seminary begins by saying that he dumped the textbook he'd been using when he found this one. "Why? It is just that good!" He elaborates.
For openers, the new Handbook cites "the best scholars available." And each of its essays is "followed by a short essay by an adherent" of the worldview under consideration. In each case, the writing "maintains the integrity of both traditions and also challenges the oft-repeated charge that acknowledging the right of one religious tradition to make exclusive claims about being the path to God is destructive of world peace."
One of the editors' guiding principles is the recognition that "The concern to be descriptively accurate is the preeminent concern of a religious-studies perspective, in distinction from a predominantly theological perspective. The editors, again correctly in my judgment, affirm the complementary legitimacy of both approaches...."
Besides citations of top sources, the editors provide hundreds of suggestions for further reading. Bolt concludes that "this handbook should remain for years to come on the reading lists of courses in Christian institutions of higher learning that invite students to engage the world's religions." Calvin Theological Journal, 52:1 - 2017, pp113-5.
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Handbook of Religion: A Christian Engagement, Terry C. Muck, Harold A. Netland, and Gerald R. McDermott (Baker, 2014, hardcover, 832 pages) <www.goo.gl/mvUFGX>
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