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Natural Intelligence • The Life of Meaning • Homosexuality & Christianity • Humanist Behaviour • The Apparently Undying Nietzsche • Risks and Trade-Offs

Natural Intelligence

Dear Editor: I feel that there is a fundamental oversight in Dr Leben’s presentation of his argument in Issue 139 pertaining to whether or not Artificial Intelligence should continue to be developed. His entire argument overlooks the philosophical inquiry – Why? Thus, the question is not whether the scientific community should or should not continue research of AI, but why do they feel driven to do so? Why do we need artificial intelligence? What is it about the human species which causes us to create something outside of ourselves for our salvation? Why do we seek to make another entity other than ourselves to fix our world? To show us how to do things better? To think for us?

What happens to humanity when we do this? Well, what happens to a being with our extraordinary capacity to create who no longer has purpose to even think? So now we seek to invent an AI – a new god. If we’re so intelligent that we can build a supercomputer that could solve the world’s problems, doesn’t it beg the question – why don’t we just solve our problems ourselves?

Humans need purpose to survive. So, will AI be our destruction? Absolutely! Not necessarily because it will annihilate us (although it may), but because the paradox of AI will be the breakdown of human productivity and imagination. In short, purpose, and so, life.

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