The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence (25 page)

LET’S JUMP TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS COMING CENTURY. YOU SAID THAT BY 2099 A PENNY OF COMPUTING WILL BE EQUAL TO A BILLION TIMES THE COMPUTING POWER OF ALL HUMAN BRAINS COMBINED. SOUNDS LIKE HUMAN THINKING IS GOING TO BE PRETTY TRIVIAL.

 

 

Unassisted, that’s true.

 

SO HOW WILL WE HUMAN BEINGS FARE IN THE MIDST OF SUCH COMPETITION?

 

First, we have to recognize that the more powerful technology—the technologically more sophisticated civilization—always wins. That appears to be what happened when our
Homo sapiens sapiens
subspecies met the
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
and other nonsurviving subspecies of
Homo sapiens.
That is what happened when the more technologically advanced Europeans encountered the indigenous peoples of the Americas. This is happening today as the more advanced technology is the key determinant of economic and military power.

 

SO WE’RE GOING TO BE SLAVES TO THESE SMART MACHINES?

Slavery is not a fruitful economic system to either side in an age of intellect. We would have no value as slaves to machines. Rather, the relationship is starting out the other way.

 

IT’S TRUE THAT MY PERSONAL COMPUTER DOES WHAT I ASK IT TO DO—SOMETIMES! MAYBE I SHOULD START BEING NICER TO IT.

 

No, it doesn’t care how you treat it, not yet. But ultimately our native thinking capacities will be no match for the all-encompassing technology we’re creating.

MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP CREATING IT.

 

We can’t stop. The Law of Accelerating Returns forbids it! It’s the only way to keep evolution going at an accelerating pace.

 

HEY, CALM DOWN. IT’S FINE WITH ME IF EVOLUTION SLOWS DOWN A TAD. SINCE WHEN HAVE WE ADOPTED YOUR ACCELERATION LAW AS THE LAW OF THE LAND?

 

We don’t have to. Stopping computer technology, or any fruitful technology, would mean repealing basic realities of economic competition, not to mention our quest for knowledge. It’s not going to happen. Furthermore, the road we’re going down is a road paved with gold. It’s full of benefits that we’re never going to resist—continued growth in economic prosperity, better health, more intense communication, more effective education, more engaging entertainment, better sex.

 

UNTIL THE COMPUTERS TAKE OVER.

 

Look, this is not an alien invasion. Although it sounds unsettling, the advent of machines with vast intelligence is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I GUESS IF WE CAN’T BEAT THEM, WE’LL HAVE TO JOIN THEM.

 

That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Computers started out as extensions of our minds, and they will end up extending our minds. Machines are already an integral part of our civilization, and the sensual and spiritual machines of the twenty-first century will be an even more intimate part of our civilization.

 

OKAY, IN TERMS OF EXTENDING MY MIND, LET’S GET BACK TO IMPLANTS FOR MY FRENCH LIT CLASS. IS THIS GOING TO BE LIKE I’VE READ THIS STUFF? OR IS IT JUST GOING TO BE LIKE A SMART PERSONAL COMPUTER THAT I CAN COMMUNICATE WITH QUICKLY BECAUSE IT HAPPENS TO BE LOCATED IN MY HEAD?

 

That’s a key question, and I think it will be controversial. It gets back to the issue of consciousness. Some people will feel that what goes in their neural implants is indeed subsumed by their consciousness. Others will feel that it remains outside of their sense of self. Ultimately, I think that we will regard the mental activity of the implants as part of our own thinking. Consider that even without implants, ideas and thoughts are constantly popping into our heads, and we have little idea of where they came from, or how they got there. We nonetheless consider all the mental phenomena that we become aware of as our own thoughts.

 

SO I’LL BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD MEMORIES OF EXPERIENCES I’VE NEVER HAD?

 

Yes, but someone has probably had the experience. So why not have the ability to share it?

 

I SUPPOSE FOR SOME EXPERIENCES, IT MIGHT BE SAFER TO JUST DOWNLOAD THE MEMORIES OF IT.

 

Less time-consuming also.

 

DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT SCANNING A FROZEN BRAIN IS FEASIBLE TODAY?

 

Sure, just stick your head in my freezer here.

 

GEE, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS SAFE?

 

Absolutely

 

WELL, I THINK I’LL WAIT FOR FDA APPROVAL.

 

Okay, then you’ll have to wait a long time.

 

THINKING AHEAD, I STILL HAVE THIS SENSE THAT WE’RE DOOMED. I MEAN, I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW A NEWLY INSTANTIATED MIND, AS YOU PUT IT, WILL BE HAPPY THAT SHE WAS CREATED AND WILL THINK THAT SHE HAD BEEN ME PRIOR TO MY HAVING BEEN SCANNED AND IS STILL ME IN A SHINY NEW BRAIN. SHE’LL HAVE NO REGRETS AND WILL BE ON THE “OTHER SIDE.” BUT I DON’T SEE HOW
I
CAN GET ACROSS THE HUMAN-MACHINE DIVIDE. As YOU POINTED OUT, IF I’M SCANNED, THAT NEW ME ISN’T ME BECAUSE I’M STILL HERE IN MY OLD BRAIN.

 

Yes, there’s a little glitch in this regard. But I’m sure we’ll figure how to solve this thorny problem with a little more consideration.

What makes a soul? And if machines ever have souls, what will be the equivalent of psychoactive drugs? Of pain? Of the physical/emotional high I get from having a clean office?

 

What a strange machine man is. You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out come sighs, laughter and dreams.