Tech Should Serve Humanity, but for How Long?
Earlier this month in an interview with the MIT Technology Review's Nanette Byrnes, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook made the statement that technology “should serve humanity, not the other way around.”
While he calls AI “profound” and increasingly capable of doing unbelievable things, on matters that require judgment he’s not comfortable with automating the human entirely out of the equation. “When technological advancement can go up so exponentially I do think there’s a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.”
While he calls AI “profound” and increasingly capable of doing unbelievable things, on matters that require judgment he’s not comfortable with automating the human entirely out of the equation. “When technological advancement can go up so exponentially I do think there’s a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.”
While I do agree with Tim that, in general, tech exists to serve humanity. There’s a long-term issue much larger than Apple which needs to be discussed. Something about Tim’s statement has been bothering me for weeks now. I can’t shake the notion that if we are on the road to creating sentient intelligence that we are headed towards failing a test of some sort.
Everyone who becomes a parent inevitably makes the statement that having children has helped them to understand and empathize with their own parents. Becoming a parent helps you to understand how your own mother or father sacrificed and dealt with problems the way that they did. As mankind’s ability to create artificial intelligence grows, we face the same dilemma as our own creator. How to deal with the free will of created objects?
Christians believe that God created the first “artificial intelligence” when he placed mankind on the earth. God created all forms of life but he gave mankind a special gift. We were created separate and apart from all other life in that we were made “in his image”. Not that we look like God, but we are self-aware, intelligent, and it is in our nature to reason and to create.
But God didn’t allow his new intelligent life to run rampant in his own world. There are dimensions which exist that we don’t have access too. He sandboxed us off where he could observe how his newly created intelligent life grew and evolved without wreaking havoc in the larger universe.
I still think it’s likely that mankind could never create any form of sentient artificial intelligence. There may be a supernatural origin to the spark of life which we don’t have access to replicate. But I’m not dogmatic about that. I’m open to the possibility that given enough time, perhaps it could be achieved. I’m also open to the possibility that perhaps our creator intends for us to accomplish this feat. We were created in his image and we were given the same desire to create.
But why would God want mankind to create a true artificial intelligence? I can only guess it would be a form of his defense for judgement day. You can’t talk to atheists for very long about why they reject the creator before they start hurling out accusations. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Why are evil people allowed to do what they do? And on and on the accusations go.
It’s logical to think that perhaps God wants mankind to be in his shoes so to speak. To create life so that we can better understand him and the choices that he made. It would also allow him to respond to mankind’s accusations with examples of how we ourselves handled the situation. Will we create robotic slaves? Will we be capricious with who lives or dies?
If mankind ever creates a real form of artificial intelligence, that puts God in a sort of grandparent position. He gets to watch and record how his own children deal with all the issues that arise from bringing forth life. For the portion of humanity that is drawn to God, this will forge a closer bond as we come to understand him more fully. For the part of humanity that rejects God, this will convict them as they are held guilty against the standard which they’ve used to condemn God.
Now available on iBooks ---> The Tesla Bubble
Everyone who becomes a parent inevitably makes the statement that having children has helped them to understand and empathize with their own parents. Becoming a parent helps you to understand how your own mother or father sacrificed and dealt with problems the way that they did. As mankind’s ability to create artificial intelligence grows, we face the same dilemma as our own creator. How to deal with the free will of created objects?
Christians believe that God created the first “artificial intelligence” when he placed mankind on the earth. God created all forms of life but he gave mankind a special gift. We were created separate and apart from all other life in that we were made “in his image”. Not that we look like God, but we are self-aware, intelligent, and it is in our nature to reason and to create.
But God didn’t allow his new intelligent life to run rampant in his own world. There are dimensions which exist that we don’t have access too. He sandboxed us off where he could observe how his newly created intelligent life grew and evolved without wreaking havoc in the larger universe.
I still think it’s likely that mankind could never create any form of sentient artificial intelligence. There may be a supernatural origin to the spark of life which we don’t have access to replicate. But I’m not dogmatic about that. I’m open to the possibility that given enough time, perhaps it could be achieved. I’m also open to the possibility that perhaps our creator intends for us to accomplish this feat. We were created in his image and we were given the same desire to create.
But why would God want mankind to create a true artificial intelligence? I can only guess it would be a form of his defense for judgement day. You can’t talk to atheists for very long about why they reject the creator before they start hurling out accusations. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Why are evil people allowed to do what they do? And on and on the accusations go.
It’s logical to think that perhaps God wants mankind to be in his shoes so to speak. To create life so that we can better understand him and the choices that he made. It would also allow him to respond to mankind’s accusations with examples of how we ourselves handled the situation. Will we create robotic slaves? Will we be capricious with who lives or dies?
If mankind ever creates a real form of artificial intelligence, that puts God in a sort of grandparent position. He gets to watch and record how his own children deal with all the issues that arise from bringing forth life. For the portion of humanity that is drawn to God, this will forge a closer bond as we come to understand him more fully. For the part of humanity that rejects God, this will convict them as they are held guilty against the standard which they’ve used to condemn God.
Now available on iBooks ---> The Tesla Bubble
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