On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men : Part Eleven

[ellyssian]

On Artificial Intelligence and Machine Men
By Everett A Warren
March 14, 2004

Presented as part eleven of sixteen

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Part One
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"The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die liberty will never perish..."

Returning briefly to the "Man as God" concept: does Man wish to create life to become great, in other words, are we striving too hard to be a Hero? Or does Man wish to create life because of fear? "...so long as men die..." – that should bring about pause. Not only do the dictators die, and cease their reign of control, but the people themselves die, and often in a quantity wholly out of proportion with the numbers of dictators that pass on. One of the primary reasons so often stated – and simplified – to the "Man as God" concept is that Man wishes to extend his own lifespan, to live beyond his years, and even to be immortal. While some may portray this as a selfless act for the good of Mankind, this is, in and of itself, too often twisted into a selfish desire, a goal of greed. And that brings us right back to wanting to be the Hero: fame, fortune, and glory.

The parallel in the application of AI and robotics would be the ability to map one's consciousness – memory, feelings, et al – into the world of circuitry and gadgetry, essentially allowing us to live on as a construct long after our flesh has perished. Thus far, the realm of science fiction, but with some technologies accelerating beyond previously believable rates, this could be reality before we have adjusted to be able to cope with such a situation. Then again, we may never be able to get our thoughts, morals, and ethics focused and prepared to deal with such immortality – with the ability to live, theoretically, forever.

Such would seem to lend itself well to the stereotypical fictional treatment: certainly, it would be the dictators who would achieve this state prior to the people, as they tend to lack the ability to think through such things, preferring instead the appeasement of their greed and application of brute force, and then, truly, liberty of the remainder would perish.

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~ Questions and discussion welcome! ~

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