Kurzweil's predictions are becoming more and more mainstream apparently. There was a time, a few years ago, where mentioning "The Singularity" or "Nano-technology" or "AI" would have made you an:
A) Geek
B) Sci-fi/Comic con nut
C) Modern cultist
D) All of the above
Now, however, it's not such a big deal. You might just be a scientist or simply a reader of the Wall Street Journal.
Ray Kurzweil has been writing and speaking about reverse engineering the brain, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, Moore's law, and "The Singularity" for quite some time. (The technological singularity was first noted by mathematician John von Neumann in 1958.)
If you are a musician you may recognize his name from his pioneering work with the synthesizer. Yep, same guy.
Or perhaps you know him from his reading machines for the blind.
If neither of those ring a bell, then how about a little company called "Google" where he is employed as the Director of Engineering.
Ray Kurzweil is obviously smart, ambitious, inventive, powerful, and influential. So when he started talking about the Singularity, I listened (0r to be more accurate read.)
And his books are intriguing. I am not a professional tech guy or neuroscientist, and yet I could grasp a great amount of his writings and theories.
It goes something like this: We are exponentially increasing our technological power and ability to record, analyze, and transmit data. With this ability we have the benefit of greater understanding of our material world and our own organic tool of understanding, the brain.
Much like what has happened in the complex field of DNA, we are (relatively speaking) rapidly approaching a time when our brain will be mapped and effectively reverse engineered.
As we learn more, and develop better and more efficacious modalities medicine and technology will merge almost seamlessly.
So eventually, the human brain will merge with technology to create a hybrid organic computer brain. And according to Ray Kurzweil this will become a necessity simply to keep up with the rapid advancement we are already witnessing today in 2014.
According to Kurzweil's prediction by 2045 human intelligence and all data will merge into a "Singularity" (yes, like the nomenclature in physic signifying a gravitational field becoming infinite.) Artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence, and human intelligence will transform into super-human intelligence becoming a hybrid with technology. Organic intelligence entwined with synthetic intelligence... and vice versa.
Yes, if you are thinking about "The Matrix" or "Terminator" you are on the right path. It is that kind of sci-fi fantasy technology that is becoming recognized as a real possible reality in the near future. Remember if Kurzweil is correct, 2045 is just 31 years away for those of us living today in 2014.
Okay, so why is this an Ultimate Issue?
Well like I stated earlier this is not just science fiction, it is becoming science fact. The very well respected and well read Wall Street Journal recently published this on March 14, 2014:
(click on Heading or here for full article.) Below is the beginning. I read more in the podcast and throw in my comments as well.
By
What would you give for a retinal chip that let you see in the dark or for a next-generation cochlear implant that let you hear any conversation in a noisy restaurant, no matter how loud? Or for a memory chip, wired directly into your brain's hippocampus, that gave you perfect recall of everything you read? Or for an implanted interface with the Internet that automatically translated a clearly articulated silent thought ("the French sun king") into an online search that digested the relevant Wikipedia page and projected a summary directly into your brain?
Science fiction? Perhaps not for very much longer. Brain implants today are where laser eye surgery was several decades ago. They are not risk-free and make sense only for a narrowly defined set of patients—but they are a sign of things to come.
Unlike pacemakers, dental crowns or implantable insulin pumps, neuroprosthetics—devices that restore or supplement the mind's capacities with electronics inserted directly into the nervous system—change how we perceive the world and move through it. For better or worse, these devices become part of who we are.
And near the close of the article:
Will these devices make our society as a whole happier, more peaceful and more productive? What kind of world might they create?
It's impossible to predict. But, then again, it is not the business of the future to be predictable or sugarcoated. As President Ronald Reagan once put it, "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."
Actually I will argue that the future is predictable, because human behavior is so predictable. The authors presume that these advancements in people or society have never happened before, but they have.
Whether historic, allegoric, or etiologic - it does not matter, the Torah has a story in it that is applicable to our arguably impending future.
Go back to the first book, Genesis, and read about the city and tower of Babel. It is a story of hubris and uniformity. But just in case you went to grad school and don't know this important story... How is it that so many people who are considered "educated" are also Biblically illiterate? Even if you think its just literature, please respect its influence on the world. And know that the book you consider literature is largely responsible for America's founding, and the values systems you benefit from.
But I digress...
Here are the verses:
The Tower of Babel
1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As people moved eastward,a they found a plain in Shinarb and settled there.
3They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babelc —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Okay, I am not going to write my recorded Torah geek out rant, but here is the summary from the podcast:
So, since I believe the Torah is Divine, and Torah means "teacher" or "instructor" then I see this as an instruction from God not to build ourselves up to be gods, and not to become a singular mind melded together with each (or for that matter artificial intelligence.) God created an amazing universe of order and separation despite the random chaos we sometimes perceive.
Man is man and machine is machine.
Should man utilize machine? Yes of course, so long as it is for the good and ethical.
Should we allow for technology to be implanted in us? Again, yes so long as it is for the good and ethical. Technology is a tool just like a machine, or a hammer. If you go purchase a hammer with the intent to murder someone with it, then we have a problem... But if you purchase it to build shelter for someone, then that is obviously wonderful. To be clear I think it is perfectly reasonable to utilize technology to allow a heart to beat regularly, an eye to see, ear to hear, and so on. And we are obligated to utilize technology to save a life. But the problematic issues is when people will routinely implant technology to enhance otherwise normative life.
The fact is that humans are very predictable. Those who utilize technology for goodness, will likely utilize whatever advancements are achieved with the same motivation and results. And those who utilize tools for selfish or evil purposes will also do the same regardless.
We have better weaponry than ever before. More sophisticated, precise, and powerful than ever. So we should feel very protected right? But we don't, why? Because while weapons in the arsenal of a good guy protect, free, and rescue; we know that those same arms in the arsenal of a wicked villain torture, destroy, and enslave.
I am fairly certain that this future Kurzweil and others predict is immenent and will likely happen within my lifetime, and for sure within our children's lifetime (remember technology is also allowing longevity to perpetually increase.)
I am also certain that it will create a world of problems people cannot fully imagine today. Imagine what hacking will be like. Imagine a virus that infest the data cloud where nearly every person's brain is linked into. Thank about a system crash, whether it be malicious or simply an act of extreme solar activity (i.e. EMP's from flares.)
Think about today's internet porn and all the problems that it raises (porn addiction, shame, antisocial behavior, disconnect, and desensitization) and now imagine that at any moment a person could enter a virtual world and have virtual sex but the experience feels better than real. Fantasy and reality will become insignificant... because everything will be experience in the mind as real (like a dream.)
Also, realize that just like all other technology the wealthiest will have access to the best technology available. True, others will also have a version of it... but there will be a new class distinction. We don't need any additional class warfare rhetoric.
But even still, the worst scenario I believe will be what I call the "Borg" scenario. Yes, like the Borg from Star Trek TNG... and like the people featured in the Babel narrative... I can foresee when one person, AI, or government gets the novel idea of creating a single minded collective. A human machine hybrid linked and synced so that all involved become one who serve their collective, and then it only makes sense they will foolishly desire to grow in numbers and power for unholy purposes.
There is no reason to not think this is what will become of the technology in the pipeline.
So, I guess ultimately I say
A) Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. (For all of you who have been dreaming of a day where man becomes super human - machine hybrids.)
B) Tools and technology are amoral, but the people who utilize them determine the final moral outcomes and holy/unholy results.
