Page 85 - IBT December 2020
P. 85

Frozen in Time:                            Artificial                                                                                                        Enter the Matrix:
                                          Cryonics                                   Assistance:                                                                                                      Artificial General
                                          If you are an American                     Humanoid                                                                                                         Intelligence
                                          Talent Show fan, you may                   Robots                                                                                                           Artificial General
                                          have heard about how                                                                                                                                        Intelligence is an AI, who
                                          cryonics is a reality today.               Robots giving service to                                               Immersive                                 like humans, can learn
                                          The famous TV judge, Simon                 humans are no more just a                                              Reality                                   anything. Its not limited to
                                          Cowell is well known for his               feast for the eyes as                                                                                            just simply one specific
                             intention to freeze himself when he dies, and           portrayed in I, Robot. But                                             The concept of Immersive   task like current AIs. When AGI will be
                             companies like ‘Alcor’ can presently freeze   many of them are being targeted to assist                                        Reality (IR) infers        created it will improve itself and strive to
                             (vitrify) you when that happens. This     human beings and maybe replace many jobs                                             immersing an individual    become more intelligent. AI’s writing articles
                             Frankensteinian process would allow the   as well which they can do with more                                                  into another reality by    about human beings and communicating
                             individual to be reincarnated when        efficiency. However, there are two very                                              injecting that reality in   with themselves in their own language is
                             technology and medicine will be advanced   worrying issues. Firstly, with this                                                 your brain. Total Recall   already a frightening scenario today. We have
                             enough. If we all remember the movie Vanilla   advancement many employment                                       anyone? On one hand it may serve to train in   to question if AGI goals will be aligned to
                             Sky, a similar procedure was chosen by the   opportunities may be replaced from human to                         safer conditions and reduce transportation   ours or like every apocalyptic movie they end
                             protagonist played by Tom Cruise. However,   robots. Secondly, the scary part would be if                        costs. Nevertheless, there is a chance that   up turning against us.
                             we do not know how the mind will react in   they did commit something that was harmful                           individuals may forego real-life for a virtual   As mankind gains knowledge and more
                             these circumstances. Moreover, this path to   to a human being. Would you be able to keep                        one and can cause a major obstacle in the   mastery over machines, we continue to reap
                             immortality may come with its own strings   them legally liable and get justice?                                 future.                                  benefits. There is a lot more potential in what
                             attached. Can today's individual be ready to                                                                                                              we can achieve. Nevertheless, as science
                             handle the future where the world has                   The Artistic AI                                                        Controlling the            fiction evolves into reality let us pause for a
                             changed and his close ones have passed?                 and Creative                                                           Mind:                      moment to ponder the fate of mankind. In
                                                                                     Cognizance                                                             Brain-Computer             that vital instant let us ask ourselves that
                                          Mind Control:                              In 2018, a painting was                                                Interfaces                 though we have the ability to cross the next
                                          Personal Decision                          sold at an auction for                                                 With Brain-Computer        frontier, should we?
                                          Makers                                     $432,500. The artist was                                               Interfaces, an individual
                                          Black Mirror, Westworld and                artificially intelligent                                               can suppress their fears,
                                          a host of other shows have                 program, a Generated                                                   change personality,
                                          given us unique insights as   Adversarial Network (GAN), a type of                                  communicate telepathically with other
                                          to how AI will eventually    “Creative AI”. These GANs have been used to                            people, control robots and more. This has the
                                          dictate all our decisions.   create music, write fake news, and generate                            potential to cure psychological disorders and
                             Data garnered from social media and other   fake people. Nowadays GANs can be used to                            also assist operating prosthetics in the field
                             interactions may guide the tech to choose   replicate and create videos of dead (and                             of healthcare. Nevertheless, if misused a
                             what you should eat, look for your ideal job   alive) people from a single image. This raises                    human being can become a puppet to those
                             and even find your ideal match. We already   huge privacy concerns, especially in a world                        controlling the system.
                             are influenced by these recommender       where facial recognition is a frequently used
                             systems for decision making. We don’t decide   biometric security solution.                                                    Living beyond:
                             which videos to watch but Youtube, Netflix or                                                                                  Mind Upload
                             Amazon algorithms do. Our music choices                 Super Humans:                                                          The idea of an Upload is
                             are influenced by our usage on Spotify or               Designer Babies                                                        that people can choose to
                             Apple music. As technology upgrades and we              Amazon’s The Boys made                                                 upload their minds into a
                             look for a simpler life by handing over our             popular the potential                                                  virtual afterlife instead of
                             data to AI of corporations, there is a chance           impact of genetically                                                  dying. Contrary to the
                             of becoming ‘technological’ zombies where               engineered superhumans                                                 cryonic process, the
                             the ‘created intelligence’ controls the creator.        on a corporate level. A                                  physical body and brain of the subject may
                                                                                     designer is a similar baby                               die, but the information from the brain can
                                                                                     who has been artificially                                be exported and stored on a digital device
             Modern sci-fi novels, TV-Shows, movies                     created by genetic code manipulation. The                              such as hard disk, in a USB disk or in the
                                                                       reason for designer babies is to create
             and comics have all added more fuel to                    genetically strong humans, without diseases                            cloud. An idea such as this was explored in
                                                                                                                                              the namesake series Upload. While the
             possibilities and potential repercussions of              and with the desired features. It evokes the                           digital afterlife may sound evergreen with
             mankind testing the technological frontier.               same essence as the ideas held by Nazis.                               you getting to choose your eternal bliss,
                                                                       While it has the potential to cure many
             Even tech depicted in media of only a few                 diseases, parents may choose to                                        corporations will discriminate on who gets
                                                                                                                                              the ‘better life’ based on price and not deeds.
             decades ago (the Star Trek series for one) is             discriminately change features, including                              More importantly, many may object to this on
             found in the smartphones of today.                        behavioral characteristics.                                            crossing religious grounds.


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