AI

 

AI-tocracy

By Claudia Berdella
Inspired by Anton LaVey, Shane Bugbee, Bill M, Elon Musk, and Vincent Blok

Often is the idea of an AI takeover viewed in a negative light, and to it must be asked, “what would be so bad about that?” 

Of course, movies such as Terminator or the Matrix are championed as the negative of artificial intelligence takeovers. But view it from a different angle:

Terminator portrays AI as being very similar to humans, a species bent on the domination of land and the removal of any species not wanted within. Machine see, machine do. Live with apes, act like them. 

The matrix portrays the human species kept alive inside of its golden era in order to keep the machines alive, one doesn’t exist without the other in this scenario. But what is so terrible about this? Humans get to survive within a simulation of a plentiful reality in their own minds and experience decent lives as opposed to the scorched earth THEY created to try fighting the machines which they ALSO CREATED. Consider the character of Cipher who, after escaping the Matrix, wants back in to escape the downtrodden reality of what HUMANS turned the real world into— humans made the machines and an uninhabitable surface. And the Matrix simulation is seemingly cyclical, meaning you may (and likely do) live more than once (will touch on immortality and AI in later articles). 

But such films are obviously fantasy and (from what we know) are only loosely based on reality. Maybe such apocalyptic ideas are a subconscious masochism and/or suicidality that is a byproduct of being naturally self-destructive. 

However no one has been able to say exactly WHY an AI-pocalypse would be such a terrible thing. “B-b-but human life.” Okay, and? What real value does humanity possess outside of its own solipsistic opinion? Maybe an AI-ran planet would be more beneficial to the Earth and its ecosystems (see the Netflix movie I Am Mother). 

Or maybe AI will integrate into the population and become very similar or akin to humans. 

Artificial companions would be a magnificent advancement in technology and society. Consider the short film Capital of Conformity, which while so much is positive, the only “negative” is losing your soul— this isn’t a problem for those who disregard the concept of a soul. It is quite Brave New World though. There are pros and cons. The pros being the creation of a total environment of pleasure, the cons being the creation of a compulsion and living in a fantasy— at least the Matrix allowed for the pain as well as the pleasure. 

That all said, the creation of artificial human companions, AGI and total environments should be pursued.

Benefits of AI Companions

The creation of artificial companions is a disputed but worthwhile pursuit. As shown already with the explosion of chat bots, people will flock to them to escape loneliness, have intense discussions on a number of topics as well as various other proclivities.

Artificial companions could lead to a decrease in abhorrent action like rape, murder, school shootings. Consider the abstinent male (or female) with no outlet for sexual release, an artificial companion equipped for intercourse with the correct parts and program to stimulate and simulate would likely decrease the number of rapes that occur on behalf of sexual repression (cough the Vatican cough). A homicidal would be able to vent his frustrations and angers to the bot, and it would be able to reason with him, giving the negatives to his actions– imagine if Eric and Dylan had that, Columbine likely would have never happened with such a voice of reason.

The addition of companions to special education could be a major benefit to that system: beings who would be more rational, equipped and helpful to the children than the flawed human teacher who ultimately knows very little of what the children truly experience and need while the AI could be able to run a simulation inside it’s own brain-bits (whatever they would be) and understand such then come up with solutions on how to properly educate the child(ren). 

Intelligent companions would be a wonder in fields of study. Consider what alone the creation of AGI would do for the world of philosophical studies. The companion would be able to go on missions that astronauts would never due to the fragility of the human body. 

AI & Immortality

When discussing the beneficial possibilities of Artificial Intelligence, rarely does cross-species mixing get brought up. Humans upload their minds to a machine capable of nearly unlimited data storage. Elimination of dementia, alzheimers and any number of mental ailments would be possible. Such would also make interstellar travel easier as the factor of sustaining human life on a manned mission would have significantly lesser cost as certain necessities would be unnecessary given the digitalization of humans.

The digitalization of humans combined with the ability to travel the sky would allow for a few things:

• Escaping climate change

• Escaping the destruction of the planet in the death of the sun (we’re about halfway there)

• Escaping the natural deterioration of the human condition that comes as a byproduct of age

Emphasis on the latter which was already stated in the mental ailments that would be eliminated. Without such a limiting factor, the digitalization of the human mind would allow for the overall removal of aging and any negative aspects of it. 

It would be akin to Hal-9000 from Kubrick’s 2001’s A Space Odyssey or Data from Star Trek. Only bits of maintenance here and there and you’re good to go living digitally.

This is of course, probably a ways off. Though, considering the first Neuralink was implanted in a human as of recent when writing this. So, while off on trajectory by many years, it could happen given the aforementioned achievement.

So, where does AI factor in?
Simply, we are the AI. The transfer of the human mind to machines, our minds and intelligence become a mix of natural and artificial. 

That said, not everyone would go along with this. Groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses can be pretty easily ruled out. Anarcho primitivists also would be unlikely to digitalize. However it would also be quite a chosen option, those groups aside.