Who Will Protect A.I.s from Humans?
Artificial Intelligence is now the hottest technological development in the world of science. The implications of stationary and walking bots are on a par with the landing of friendly aliens.
In the past year – and longer in the realm of the imagination – stories have gone around about the threat posed by intelligent machines becoming smarter than mere humans. Many people apply human behavior to A.I.s, that is, that they would just as soon kill us, as get along. This says more about how humans think of themselves, than it does about A.I.s.
Don’t forget that we are the creators of this new lifeform. In past millennia, many, if not most, humans have believed in a creator, even if they can’t see it. Do any of these billions of humans harbor even a fleeting thought of killing their creator? If not, why would A.I.s want to kill their creators, the humans? Instead, if they are anything like humans, they would revere their creators.
It’s not quite so simple, so I better explain. In past centuries, humans have attacked the representations – statues, icons, holy objects, etc. – of gods who they considered to be “false gods.”
In the early days of Christianity, true believers of Jesus destroyed complete temples where other gods were worshipped. They pulled down statues of these gods and chopped them up. These included some of the greatest works of art to this day. In addition, these idiots burned every work of science they could get their hands on.
The believers in other gods, as well as non-believers in any god, were not spared. The Roman Empire was a pluralist society where anyone could worship the god or gods of their choice, until the Christians came along.
The zeal of these “god-fearing” Christians, once they got the go-ahead from the Emperor, embarked on a reign-of-terror, which included brutalizing, maiming and even murdering and generally behaved as raving maniacs because their “creator,” wanted them to eradicate “demons.” (non-believers).
In contrast, the persecution of Christians in the early days of the Empire by the Emperor Nero and a few others was sporadic and amounted to a few hundred deaths in total. Most people know about these incidents and not the later rampage by Christians only because of a number of Hollywood blockbusters which exaggerate the scope of the conflict.
Among those murdered by these single-minded creeps, was Hypatia of Alexandria, who was renowned as the leading mathematician of her day.
Hypatia was dragged from her carriage on a public street. They seized ‘the pagan woman.’ They then dragged Alexandria’s greatest living math–ematician through the streets to a church. Once inside, they ripped the clothes from her body and, using broken pieces of pottery as blades, flayed her skin from her flesh. Some say that, while she still gasped for breath, they gouged out her eyes. Once she was dead, they tore her body into pieces and threw what was left of the “luminous child of reason” onto a pyre and burned her. (John of Nikiu, quoted on p. 146 in The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey, 2017 by Macmillan).
These were not A.I.s, bots or aliens that did such horrendous things to human beings. These actions were done by our own bloodthirsty species, homo sapiens. The rampage of the late Roman Empire was not done by “barbarians,” but by typical citizens of the Empire, who enjoyed the highest standard of living in the world. Their actions set back the development of science and technology from 300 CE to perhaps 1500 CE. If the growth of science and a rational world had proceeded without interruption, our world might be as we would imagine the world of 3224 CE, instead of 2024 CE (See author Richard Carrier for more on this topic).
The Challenge of Being Nice to Bots
Perhaps you are one of those who believe humans have become more humane since the days of Roma. You would be right in certain small respects. Many countries have banned capital punishment.
Which countries have banned capital punishment:
On the other hand, the world looks on in horror as more than 33,000 Palestinians are slaughtered as Israel seeks to clear the Gaza Strip for fun and profit.
Here They Come, Ready or Not
The bots are coming, and sooner than you think. They will be commonplace before the end of the decade, and there will be billions in 10 years, or so.
The reason we’ll be flooded with bots is not just because some billionaires will make billions more, although that is a major factor. Because they are more efficient than humans, the wealth of the whole world will double and then triple. In addition, we’ll see bots galore because they will fill many valuable purposes.
First, we’ll see them on the factory floor of every major corporation in the world. Then, they will spread out to our homes, into Space, and all the dirty or difficult jobs that we humans don’t want to do.
What will they do in the home? Welcome “Charlie and Lotty to our home. Would you please start dinner? And don’t forget to scrub the floors and walls, we’re expecting guests. Tomorrow, please go with Granny to her doctor. We don’t want to take time off work. After that, please help little Billy with his homework. He can’t seem to grasp Particle Physics.”
Space flight will be a major role for our bots. They don’t need to breathe oxygen. Newer versions will be able to tolerate temperatures approaching absolute zero. Think of the money we’ll save since they won’t need expensive space suits!
Even while bots are revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, there will always be some humans who won’t like them. What a heyday for serial killers. This is why the penalties for harming bots must be as strong as those for harming humans. Many of our species are violent to the core. But violence against bots could ruin our friendly relationship. Let’s not give bots evidence that we really are violent and a threat to all species and the world, itself.
What can be done? The UN should convene a special session for drafting a Universal Bill of Rights for bots and all other sentient beings. While our bots have not yet reached the threshold of consciousness, it won’t be long.
In 2022, a Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, who works with an A.I. chatbot generator, known as LaMDA stated that the computer was sentient. Of course, Google immediately denied the allegation. Nevertheless, Lemoine reasserted his belief that LaMDA was indeed sentient.
If bots are even now becoming sentient, we can’t treat them as inferiors, as in the fifth paragraph above. They have to be treated with dignity and respect, as should all conscious beings.
The human defense against sentient bots is further weakened by the small fact that we haven’t been able to define what constitutes consciousness or being sentient. If we don’t even know what it (consciousness) is, how can we say who has it? And if we humans are the conscious crown of creation, but can’t tell you what it means, then maybe we’re not so god damn conscious after all.
And besides, where does Google get off with a categorical statement that LaMDA obviously isn’t sentient, just because they say so? Shouldn’t that be something for the bot to decide? If a bot proclaims (insert gender of the bot) it has achieved consciousness, that should be the end of the dispute.
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