Artificial Intelligence – Will it destroy Humanity?

Guess the latest, most fashionable talking point, is this so-called “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI” for short. I find this quite a fascinating subject. It took someone, of all people, Ellon Musk to make it a kitchen table topic, when he [Musk] recently warned that AI could cause ‘civilization destruction,’ as he said in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.

So, first things first, what exactly is AI? And there are two answers to this question, one is a sophisticated definition, which academia defines as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.” Then there are all kinds of mundane answers, including mine which is “man trying to clone man via a machine” – your pick, whatever suits your fancy.

I cannot help it, that this AI topic and its inherent controversies, reminds me back in the early 70’s and 80’s as the world started to become computerized, there was a global panic regarding what these new machines called “computers” would do to humanity. The doubts ranged all the way from computers replacing jobs in the workplace all the way to computers taking over the world.

The point I am trying to make is that this AI is no more, no less than an extension of the same old, same old fear that we have of ourselves, really, moreover than our machines. As far as this latest version, hey, think about it, the name given to this new high-tech threat is, again, “Artificial Intelligence.” The keyword here being ‘artificial’ defined as “made, produced, or performed by human beings often following a natural model or process.” Add to that some of the most renown synonyms for “artificial” such as are, unreal, fictitious, faked, false, etc., etc., and there you have it. If you care to substitute the name given to this intelligence, for anyone of its synonyms, bingo!

As far as I am concerned, this AI thing is nothing but our own 21st century version of more advanced, more sophisticated, more innovative editions of the same machines we questioned back when I was in college. Hey, to be expected, don’t you think? Man progresses, increasingly each day. On the positive side, think about all that computers have done for humanity, we have made light years of progress as a result of our computer age. Today’s technologies are so far advanced it is sometimes difficult to comprehend the magnitude of advancement that we have achieved in the last fifty years. I could author a never-ending book on the benefits that computers have brought to humanity. Probably another book on all the evils that also came with it.

Notwithstanding all the known benefits brought about by computers, however, there is still that controversial question: Can computers eventually be mankind’s downfall? My short answer to this very crucial question is: “No.” Mankind’s downfall will not be machines; it will be humanity itself. Yes, we can go extremely far as to how intelligent we can make a machine, but, at the end of the day, a machine will never be a human will it? Which, if you think about it, all it means is, machines can only be as evil as man makes them out to be.

Bottom line and the moral to my narrative today is. Man is having been in a never-ending crusade to clone himself however knowing this will never happen. No one has ever cloned a human being. And, until that happens, man will still be in command of his own destiny. By today’s standards, if we were to clone a human, like we have cloned a sheep, we would only be multiplying our evilness, wouldn’t we?

I, personally, have no doubts that eventually humanity will self-destruct. I have not a single doubt about that. It is not a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when.” Can man use AI to destroy himself, answer is, absolutely “yes,” no doubt about it can, and that is what Elon Musk was referring to. I would, however, be much more concerned about our humanoid ways, about how evil we are, about how we interact with each other than I am about machines destroying civilization. Bottom line, I think man should be more resolute, more devoted, more keen, more focused in making himself better as human beings than in trying to clone his present evil nature.