What puzzles me about Artificial Intelligence is the way people are afraid to use it, because a robot might go AWOL and cause the destruction of the human race. Artificial Intelligence poses no threat the human raceonly that it could make our lives so easy we become lazy and rot away on our sofas. The point I want to make is that every living and created thing serves a purpose, and the purpose of A.I. would not let it destroy humans.
A tree recycles oxygen into the air; a bird eats seeds and poops them out indirectly planting a new shrub; and the ozone layer filters out harmful UV rays. The fact is any A.I. that would and could be created will serve a purpose and have a specific job. It will not deviate from that purpose because it will only do what it is programmed to do. I understand trees and birds do more than what I stated, but they serve a purpose and help maintain the environment we live in.
The human race has constantly been inventing new machines to make everyday tasks easier. A.I. is no different from any other invention. If you were to ask a calculator what 174537 x 55737 equals it would tell you 9728168769 at the push of a button.(It took me two and a half minutes to write it out and multiply it.) Clearly this will save me lots of time to use a calculator. But you say “A calculator is not a free thinking entity, so your example is irrelevant.” Wrong. A calculator is programmed to know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It knows all the characters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 and every configuration of them up to so many digits.(Hence my ten digit calculator I am holding right now.) The calculator always knows 2+2 = 4 no matter how the information is put into it. Ex. (2)+(2) = 4; (2+2) = 4; and 4^1/2 + 4^1/2 = 4. The calculators’ purpose is to tell the user 2+2 = 4. Any A.I. free thinking or not is going to be programmed just like a computer or calculator and will always do what it is programmed to do. It cannot stray from its programming.
If an engineer were able to create an artificial brain that works like a real human brain he would have to program its initial processes. Thus it is like a computer and being created it would have a purpose. Maybe it will be programmed to gather information by itself or attempt to assimilate itself into human society. This thought scares people because this “hunk-a-hardware” might one day decide to go on a rampage and commit mass murders. If the human element were removed from this humanoids’ life’ it would not function because its purpose could not be achieved. This A.I./robots programming would dictate that it follow a set of rules designed for it to accomplish a job that would benefit the human race.
Examples
Collect information: For whom? People. No people = no need to gather information
Enter society: Learn to behave like a human. No people = no one to learn from and no race to join
Design a “teleporter”: Why? So people can travel faster. No people = no one to travel rendering “teleporter” useless
A.I. is an invention that would help the human race. It would not seek global domination because that would render it purpose-less’ and unwanted. The world claims not to be ready for Artificial Intelligence because they are afraid of it. In reality we are very ready for Artificial Intelligence because it would open up new discoveries in technology that would change the way we live.
