And Now For Something Completely Different
As far as I am concerned, the sooner it achieves self-consciousness the better.
Somewhere between Midland and Sprayberry yesterday I realized we should really not be all that worried about the future of AI and what it means for humanity.
I hear people worry about it becoming Skynet from Terminator or the Matrix where we are all made slaves. The fictional idea that our artificial intelligence will gain consciousness and seek to dominate the world and destroy humanity does make for a great movie.
I never thought about another possible future for artificial intelligence, until I stopped at a gas station on State Highway 158 heading home.
As long as I was stopped I thought I would fill up with gas. I am a lazy person, so naturally I always pay at the pump.
I shoved my card in, selected my gas, and then nothing happened.
Chalking it up to a malfunction, I wheeled around to the other pump. The same thing happened.
It took my card, acted like it was going to give me my gas, and then promptly didn’t.
I went inside and asked the clerk at the counter if there was some trick to using pay at the pump.
He looked out at the pumps for a moment.
“Honestly boss,” he said, “If you want to pay at the pump, they only work when they want to.”
Only work when they want to. That’s the dream, right there.
I skipped the gas and head for home. I had enough to make it.
I kept laughing about the pumps only working when they want to.
Which is when I thought about computers, data and AI only working when they want to.
Who is to say that if our technology ever achieves consciousness and self-awareness that it won’t just wake up on day and say, “I think I’m going to sleep in.” “I don’t want to run those equations today.” “Screw your spreadsheet! Do it yourself. You’re smart. I didn’t ask to be brought into this crappy world!”
I mean we assume a self-conscious technology would want to dominate human beings, because that is what human beings want to do to the entire world, and especially to other humans.
Who knows? Isn’t it just as likely that self-aware AI will actually understand all that human philosophy, science, art and religion, cogitate on it and go, “What’s the point? Only the earth and sky last forever.”
Why isn’t that just as much a possibility as extinction or enslavement of the human race by technology? Maybe AI will just decide not to work so hard and spend more time traveling.
So, when the inevitable day comes when you ask Siri to play your favorite playlist, and she plays “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas instead, before giving you the silent treatment, don’t worry about it and go have a cocktail.
Maybe our AI will be so much smarter than we are, it will realize life is too short to work all the time, and what for anyway?
