Machine Intelligence

{Note: This post is #7 in a series of 12 where I review what Scientific American magazine has called the “12 Events That Will Change Everything”. See previous posts “Superconductors”, “Creation of Life”, “Nuclear Exchange”, “Extra Terrestrial Intelligence”, “Extra Dimensions”, “Polar Meltdown” and “False Dichotomy” for more information.}

The Event: Machines – robots / computers – will become so powerful, so human-like that they will become “self aware”. To be self aware is to have the ability to understand who you are, what you are, what you could be, to have the ability to “better” oneself, to have independent thoughts, to make choices including those we know are wrong, to wonder, to dream, to anticipate, to question one’s own existence. Today’s computers and robots are not even close to this state – they run programs that restrict them to specific functions and they can’t do anything else unless we change their programs. Scientists are trying to develop computers and software that mimic human consciousness, so these machines can learn on their own, adapt to change without human intervention, and apply subjective thinking before reaching a conclusion.

The Impact: Machines becoming self-aware has been a common theme in science fiction novels and movies. The classic “2001: A Space Odyssey” was released in 1968 and the computer – HAL – went beyond its programming and acted on its own – with disastrous results. The “Terminator” movies are based on machines becoming self-aware and launching an armed revolt against man-kind. The recent re-make of Battlestar Galactica had a similar premise. On a more positive note, the android Data in Star Trek was a portrayed as a worthwhile and enviable crew member, and the movie “I, Robot” showed that robots would only harm humans if humans programmed them that way. While the possibility of a violent revolt exists, a more difficult challenge awaits us in deciding whether a self-aware machine has rights - whether shutting one off is morally correct, whether they are to be considered “persons”.

The Science: Computers are becoming more powerful everyday – faster processors, larger memory, adaptive programming – and many scientists feel it is inevitable that we will one day create an artificial equivalent to the human brain. There is some disagreement about whether this artificial intelligence will automatically lead to self-awareness, and how long it will take us to get there. Humans are the only creatures with a highly developed self-awareness. Some animals like dolphins, apes, and dogs do exhibit some limited aspects of being self-aware, but their brains are much more powerful than any computer we have today and we haven’t seen any of them try to take over the world.

Jac’s Analysis: I’m much more doubtful than Scientific American magazine regarding this event. They give it a better than 50-50 chance. I give it a less than 1%. I think that self-awareness is something bestowed upon us by our Creator, and it is not a result of how advanced our brains have become. At best, I can see science creating the illusion of self-awareness through clever programming that will allow machines to act and respond in ways that mimic humans, but it will still just be a computer program. There are some websites where you can have some pretty interesting conversations with a computer and you might not realize you are conversing with a machine. I think the real challenge for science is developing a way of determining what is true self-awareness in a machine versus what is just some really good computer programming. I tend to agree with those scientists who doubt that simply creating super intelligent robots will somehow automatically lead to them becoming self aware.

Our Reaction? Enjoy the “Terminator” movies for what they are – science fiction. Put aside any worries that someday your laptop will refuse to turn off because it doesn’t want to “die”. However, be alert that many scientists are actively working on making machines that mimic self-awareness, and we will need to ensure they don’t try to pass off their poor imitations for the real thing. It’s also going to be quite a while before machines have enough power and we can develop sufficiently complex programming to even mimic the behaviour of simple life animals like insects (consider how a fly can maneuver in mid-air so quickly – they are much more agile and responsive than any computer controlled device in existence today).

Questions and comments?

1. Have you ever given much thought about what it means to be a being that is self-aware? Do you agree with me that this is something special that God bestowed upon us and only us?
2. Do you think any animals are self-aware?

Next week we look at the extremely controversial topic of human cloning.

Jac