We have to remember something: Our computers will never love us. Oh, they can fake us out, convince us, help us rationalize, do all sorts of crazy crap, but they will never care for us.
In that way, they are very human.
Two things to ponder:
Google researcher thinks its AI is sentient.
I don't know; I'm no expert. But I'm skeptical. As much as we think we understand things like sentience, I think in a way it's hubris if we think man, or a corporation, has succeeded in creating it.
Belgian "eco-anxious" invidiual kills himself because an AI chatbot convinced him to do so.
I've played around with AI enough to know as much as it is powerful, it also delivers quite a bit of gibberish. Much like the people who espouse extreme eco-conscious views such as not birthing, wanting to rid the world of pets, etc., in the name of eco-consciousness. The gibberish AI conjures holds a mirror up to the gibberish humanity conjures, and it can do all that without sentience.
It all comes back to one fact: We can make a thing, and think that thing is noble. And then stand by, shocked, as people, enamored with the thing, use it in ways we never considered or thought possible, all because it can do it.
Charlie Chaplin said it in "The Great Dictator": More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness.
We can grapple with algorithms, and chatbots, and the online rhetoric of a thousand people and a thousand AIs willing to manipulate us only for the sheer joy of watching monkeys dance, or we can remember we are humans, who can connect with humans, who -- I will grant you -- sometimes lead us astray, but for the most part, have our interests at heart. If the Belgian who killed himself had talked more to his wife and children about his eco-fears, maybe he'd be better off. Maybe he'd be alive.
Unplugging is going to become more and more important as time goes on, yet we seem determined to plunge into the cold world of technology, leaving our humanity on the doorstep.
No comments:
Post a Comment