Cambridge to study technology's risk to humans
LONDON (AP) - Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction?
Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday.
"In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said.
When that happens, "we're no longer the smartest things around," he said, and will risk being at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us."
Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction - the computer HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," for example, is one of film's best-known computer threats.
Price acknowledged that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, but insisted the potential risks are too serious to brush away.
"It tends to be regarded as a flakey concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous. What we're trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community," he said.
While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.
He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading across the planet and using up natural resources that other animals depend upon.
Price is co-founding the project together with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of the internet phone service Skype.
The university said Sunday the center's launch is planned next year.
Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday.
"In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said.
When that happens, "we're no longer the smartest things around," he said, and will risk being at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us."
Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction - the computer HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," for example, is one of film's best-known computer threats.
Price acknowledged that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, but insisted the potential risks are too serious to brush away.
"It tends to be regarded as a flakey concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous. What we're trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community," he said.
While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.
He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading across the planet and using up natural resources that other animals depend upon.
Price is co-founding the project together with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of the internet phone service Skype.
The university said Sunday the center's launch is planned next year.
I Have HAL Ultra Assistant. its is a cute funny little program in which can learn by adding thing to and chatting with it. HOW EVER! There is a growing Concern among the science communities about Advanced Biological Entities like Cyborgs that could pose a real threat if there are no safeties in place, but then again how about there freedom of choice?
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A few years back a kid built the firs real Cybernetic Rat using rat brain tissue .
http://youtu.be/1QPiF4-iu6g
there is also this.
http://youtu.be/_2qPWc32LS8
http://youtu.be/SIqAnrjqb0Y
these are the building blocks for cybernetics.
and then there is Jules
http://youtu.be/o3jVWwxNHMc
I my self have spent some time in trying to learn about technologies
I am stunned to fine that there are fine lines between fiction and non fiction and the non fiction is starting to catch up .
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Indeed it is strange that these laws will soon need to become real and or a template as technology progresses.
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1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
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2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
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3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
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Oh and then there are the Japanese working eh Sensual type robots for um...Services illegal for humans to engage in.Like EVE 1138 in theory.
My cell phone is smarter than many of the voters.