Predictions and disagreements. (About Artificial Intelligence.)

 

Predictions and disagreements. (About Artificial Intelligence.)

A California couple approached me about The Simple Raven’s Posts. Surprisingly, there are readers of The Pass Herald in faraway California. They wanted to know if I am familiar with the famous Israeli professor and author Yuval Harari. He has been on the number one bestsellers list for a while and is giving lectures all over the world. I had heard his name but didn’t know a thing about him so I decided to investigate. The California readers were right. Both Yuval and I believe that “we are the stories we tell ourselves.” The more I listened I realized that we have a lot in common.

I listen to a few talks Yuval held with famous people on the best world stages and he intrigues my imagination. This article is too short for me to outline all his ideas. During the last Google Talk I listened to, he deals with major threats to humanity and the world. Number one and two I mentioned in my articles often. Nuclear war is guaranteed to end life as we know it and Climate Change will destroy human civilization if unchecked. The next danger is much more subtle since it is yet not fully understood, but first lets deal with some smaller dangers.

Most of our historical effort was invested in getting people together to work on common projects. People existed in caves and forests competing for food. Family groups joined and eventually formed communities. From that point communities began to form tribes, agriculture was born, land ownership developed and human civilization arrived. In recent history we witness small nations forming into the countries we know today and Nationalism becomes a common term.

I grew up knowing that Nationalism is most important. I was born in a country that just became a new nation and the flag, national anthem, language, and other symbols were most important. I moved to a country (Canada) in which two dominating nations were trying to express themselves independently but uniting for mutual gain. According to Yuval, that era will soon come to an end. Together we are facing mortal dangers which can’t be solved by any one nation alone and some form of Globalism will happen. We have global ecology, global economy, and we are trying to manage it with national politics.

Yuval’s third potential danger for human existence is less known but exists nevertheless. It is related to Artificial Intelligence and its relationship with biological human brains. The first aspect to consider is the amalgamation of humans with machines. I have a pacemaker which has been keeping me alive beyond the natural cycle. This is just the beginning. We are developing ways to replace human organs. Soon we will be able to expand human life, but not for everyone.

With the improvements in artificial intelligence, we are facing a huge problem which is global, not national. Computers and robots are able to do most of what low-skill workers used to do. Driving, manufacturing, agriculture and lately service industries are mechanized. A I and communication devices will replace even Family Physicians. When politicians talk about immigrants, they ignore the fact that billions of people in other countries are becoming useless. 3D printing could replace all the cheap labor products we import from poorer countries.

We are already in the era of developing a “useless class” and soon that class will lose its political clout because they are useless. Yuval is agonizing over how to solve the problem while I see us already working on it. I see government after government coming to power implementing steps when people are not seeing. Reduction of funds to public education make future generations unable to understand what is happening to them.

The class that can afford it is pushing for savings on public health or fighting against implementing it where it does not yet exist. The war cry is, we can’t afford public health, but the outcome is shorter lives for the useless class. This endangers World peace.

Poor countries now possess huge firepower and can see what is happening. Poor people in affluent countries realize that corruption and modernization will eliminate their means of existence. In my opinion, we must accelerate our efforts to avoid catastrophe by implementing Christian “Love” and degrading evil “Selfishness,” immediately. The solution is not in solving the abortion issues but in figuring out a story that will ensure a good future for all of mankind. There is one commandment above all and it is: “Love one another as I have loved you.” It involves voluntary self-sacrifice.

Yuval Harari predicts the possibility of humans becoming more machines and less organic human beings.  Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk agree.  He said that we will become Gods. His is one option. The option I choose is to fight peacefully but relentlessly for our humanity. I also believe that we will become Gods, if we are not already, but by studying our spirituality. We ignored it at our own peril for too long.  

In my story of the future of humankind, we will use the creative power that God placed within us and invest in propagating Love and shaming Selfishness. The country people have been like that for generations and they are not gone yet. Their descendants now live in cities but remember their humble past and believe in decency. They are the patient people who always trusted God and nature and it never failed them for long.

Soon we will face a choice that we have never faced before. Are a few humans going to live forever in mechanized bodies or will we use technology to enable all of us to go forth as one body? I believe that we will not destroy those made useless, but lovingly caringly holding children and bringing the injured and elderly will step over the threshold and be in the promised kingdom.

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