Artificial

 Was listening to the news and they were talking about AI. Artificial Intelligence. There is some concern about the use of this technology. Some saying it could be the end of mankind altogether. All the sci-fi stories coming true about robots taking over the world. The only reason I could see robots doing that is because they have become artificial themselves. What I mean is they have developed the desire to "make their lives easier" and give themselves more "leisure" time. That was the big pro the supporter for AI was talking about in the newscast. AI could ease the daily burden on man and free up more time for leisure, pleasure, and artistic endeavors. It was estimated that millions of man hours of labor could be eliminated altogether. Hey how many hours has the Kiosks at McDonalds already saved? No need to hire people to do that mundane task, taking your order and having a live individual interact with the consumer. AI would allow that to spread to virtually every store and outlet in the nation. All those people could just stay at home living the good life. No mention on how they were going to afford to do that though, just that they wouldn't be needed. 

 As I listened to all of that I thought, is that the goal of mankind, to just be left with leisure time? This AI could perform all the work, even robotically performing surgeries, building housing, assembling automobiles, or whatever with only minimal intervention by an actual human being. Indeed, the human could be replaced altogether. Then, when mankind has no "job" to do he could devote all his time to just doing the things that make him happy, that please him. But how would we earn the money to fund these activities? If you don't work, how do you get paid? Is the government simply to distribute equal amounts of money to everyone? Wouldn't government be replaced by AI as well? After all, AI can perform all the necessary paperwork, analyzing and interpreting the constitution, the bill of rights and all of the 70,000 pages plus of the United States tax code. No one is capable of doing that today, but AI can! 

 So, what does happen when AI starts building more AI on its' own? I can't see why it wouldn't. What happens when that AI decides it just wants to relax, pursue academic interests or paint a picture, write some poetry or whatever. You know, take time off from doing the work! We are calling it artificial intelligence today, but it is real! There's nothing artificial about it at all. Once again, I can see the arrogance of mankind shining through. Many believe we are in control of the universe. We can control the weather, the stars, space and manipulate genders and species. In reality we can do none of that. Oh, we can destroy things fairly well, we are good at that. Still the earth has managed to survive us all these millennia. 

 But we feel like we have gotten smarter. We have gotten so smart we can create intelligence! Think about that for just a moment. We have decided that we can create intelligence. Intelligence is what makes man, well man. Intelligence is what separates us from the animals. Isn't that what we have all been told. From where did that intelligence come? That's the biggest mystery of all in my opinion. Were we created artificially? Are we the artificial intelligence in the universe? If so, what is the ongoing goal of all mankind? To make life easier is the short answer. That's what man has been busily trying to do ever since the beginning. We call it progress, innovation, invention, and moving ever forward. The goal is what? To basically be able to do whatever you want to do when you want to do it. That's the big goal. No matter how we dress that up with our speeches about altruism and the betterment of mankind the goal is to please ourselves. That's why we talk about sacrifice and commitment. We are doing that to make things easier for you, but we want it too and that's why we "complain" about it. The "it" being, having to make that sacrifice or commitment. We would rather we didn't have to do that, that's the reality. 

 In years past we talked about making a contribution. That was the goal of being alive. That was the reason for living. We were here to contribute to the whole, to work toward a common goal. The question is and has always been, what is that goal? Will we have achieved our goal when no one has to do anything they really don't want to do. Stuff like working for a living. We have progressed to the point where we have those that do nothing more than make money for a living. Think about that. Is the development of AI the final contribution to mankind. With AI no one has to work, do the mundane tasks of everyday life. We can all just concentrate of doing whatever we like doing, without wasting our time on anything else. AI will do all the work. If mankind develops that artificial intelligence to truly be a reflection of human intelligence, we are going to be in big trouble. We don't have a very good track record when it comes to interpersonal relationships. And in what can only be viewed as the ultimate twist of fate, an irony of the unknown, our only concern with AI at the moment is that it will be impersonal. That's what really scares us about that technology, as well it should. The truth is, we aren't that smart. 

"Pleasure, when it is a mans' chief purpose, disappoints itself; and the constant application to it palls the faculty of enjoying it." (Richard Steele)