The Human Takeover: A Call for a Venture into an Existential Opportunity (original) (raw)
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WHO IS AFRAID OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? A Posthumanist Take on the AI Takeover Scenario
HumaniTies and Artificial Intelligence, 2022
In the 21st century, a spectre is haunting humans – the spectre of technology. From algorithmic predestination to internet addiction, from the technosphere to super-intelligent AI: these technologies are here to stay. This realization is not a neutral statement, nor does this entail an uncritical acceptance of the ways these technologies are being actualized. Instead, it is a wake-up call to be aware of where we are at – as individuals, as a society, and as a species. In this article, we will address digital existentialism, biohacking, Big Data economy and awareness, among other topics. We can no longer think of technology in separation from humanity and ecology; its material production has to be taken into consideration as well. In order to understand technology in the era of the Anthropocene and of global crises, we need a radical change in people's worldviews. Anthropocentrism will not save humanity. Humanity can only save themselves by understanding who we are: part of a planet, nets of ecological and technological emergences, expressions of cosmic phenomena. CC BY NC This article is licensed under a Creative Commons license: You are free to read, share and download any of the content. Thanks
The Human Takeover: A call for a venture into existential opportunity
ECCO Working Paper, 2018 (v.2), 2018
We propose a venture into an existential opportunity for establishing a world ‘good enough’ for humans to live in. Defining an existential opportunity as the converse of an existential risk —i.e. a development that promises to dramatically improve the future of humanity— we argue that one such opportunity is available and should be explored now. The opportunity resides in the moment of transition of the Internet — from mediating information to mediating governance. The Internet of tomorrow will mediate the execution of contracts, transactions, public interventions, and all other change-establishing events more reliably and more synergistically than any other technology or institution. It will become a distributed, synthetically intelligent agent in itself. This transition must not be just observed, or exploited instrumentally: it must be ventured into and seized on behalf of entire humanity. We propose that the new coordinating layer of the Internet should be arranged such that it w...
RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND LAW, 2024
Objective: to show the ontological differences between human and artificial intelligence and address structural divergences at the definitional level. Methods: dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena, allowing to analyze them in historical development and functioning in the context of the totality of objective and subjective factors, which predetermined the following research methods: formal-logical and sociological. Results: a cross-cutting analysis was applied to the phenomenon of AI between cyber utopianism and cyber realism. Starting from a quote by Max Tegmark, the theory of artificial intelligence is reconstructed by the theorists who founded the discipline (Turing, Minsky, Bernstein, von Neumann) and it is discussed why-in light of the discoveries and assumptions of neuroscience-it is not possible to define it as intelligence according to human criteria. Three short notes are included in the appendix that complete the discussion: 1. on the consciousness of machines 2. on the theory of utopian cyber employment and remuneration 3. "The hungry judge is more cruel" (discussion on an Israeli study). Scientific novelty: through the examination of multiple types of intelligence (Gardner) and social intelligence (Thorndike, Goleman), a more complex definition of intelligence is proposed than that which can be replicated by artificial neural networks, especially in relation to the interaction between animal and environment. Three short messages highlight the uncertainty and risks that may arise from the rampant use of artificial intelligence as judges. Practical significance: starting from a correct definition of human intelligence, the author comes to the definition of artificial intelligence. Beyond the myth of AI, we discover its limits and the objective limitations we must provide for in order to save the most precious asset we have: mankind.
The Artificial Intelligence Challenge and the End of Humanity
Intelligence and Wisdom, Song Bing (ed.), Springer: 33-47, 2021
The title of this essay has a twofold meaning, as does the word "end." The word "end" means the last part of an extended thing or a period of time. A cessation. "End" also means the purpose and goal of an effort or a course of action. Bearing in mind this double meaning, I will spend this essay arguing that firstly, the emergence and the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence technology means the end of humanity in an important sense. We will irreversibly lose the special status that we have claimed to possess. I will secondly argue that we should develop AI technology to serve our purposes and to that end, we should make advanced AI beings as ethical as possible as we see fit. This essay consists of four sections in response to the four clusters of issues proposed in the Berggruen AI research project. The first section argues that, in an important sense, the AI challenge means that humanity is at the exit door when it comes to its essential distinctiveness. The second section examines the implications of such a change both as a form of progress and alienation. Section three addresses questions about how to make AI beings moral. The last section explores how AI technology may affect Chinese philosophy in important ways.
Manufacturing an Artificial Intelligence Revolution
While the term “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) was coined in the 1950s, in recent years AI has become a focus of attention in mainstream media. Yet the forces behind AI’s revival have been unclear. I argue here that the “AI” label has been rebranded to promote a contested vision of world governance through big data. Major tech companies have played a key role in the rebranding, partly by hiring academics that work on big data (which has been effectively relabeled “AI”) and helping to create the sense that super-human AI is imminent. However, I argue that the latest AI systems are premised on an old behaviorist view of intelligence that’s far from encompassing human thought. In practice, the confusion around AI’s capacities serves as a pretext for imposing more metrics upon human endeavors and advancing traditional neoliberal policies. The revived AI, like its predecessors, seeks intelligence with a “view from nowhere” (disregarding race, gender and class)—which can also be used to mask institutional power in visions of AI-based governance. Ultimately, AI’s rebranding showcases how corporate interests can rapidly reconfigure academic fields. It also brings to light how a nebulous technical term (AI) may be exploited for political gain.
Artificial Intelligence: Power to the People
Ethics & International Affairs, 2019
To adequately estimate the beneficial and harmful effects of artificial intelligence (AI), we must first have a clear understanding of what AI is and what it is not. We need to draw important conceptual and definitional boundaries to ensure we accurately estimate and measure the impacts of AI from both empirical and normative standpoints. This essay argues that we should not conflate AI with automation or autonomy but keep them conceptually separate. Moreover, it suggests that once we have a broad understanding of what constitutes AI, we will see that it can be applied to all sectors of the economy and in warfare. However, it cautions that we must be careful where we apply AI, for in some cases there are serious epistemological concerns about whether we have an appropriate level of knowledge to create such systems. Opening the aperture to include such questions allows us to further see that while AI systems will be deployed in a myriad of forms, with greater or lesser cognitive abil...
Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 2023
The recent appearance of widely available Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT and Bard has fuelled a flurry of popular and academic discussions about the implications of such AI tools for all aspects of contemporary life and culture. After examining some aspects of recent developments, this article goes on to review some salient critiques of the emerging AI debate with the intention of analyzing some of the key themes in the current discourse. The key objective will be to deflate some of the more overblown and alarming perspectives informed by anthropomorphising AI developments. In particular, there is an attempt to steer a middle course between doom-laden pessimism and futuristic optimism. Drawing on a range of philosophical positions, it is concluded that AI applications are best conceptualised as powerful tools which need to be utilised pragmatically and regulated ethically in partnership with humans in the best interests of all of us.