| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
What Happens When Artificial Intelligence Exceeds Human Intelligence?
Until his retirement in 2010, Hugo de Garis was a professor at Xiamen University, where he led a project to build the People's Republic of China's first artificial brain. de Garis began his career as a theoretical physicist, but soon left this field in favour of computer science. He first became known in academic circles in the 1990s for his work on genetic algorithms.
In recent years, the mainstream press has been full of interviews with individuals associated with the transhumanist movement. These researchers and scientists, including Kevin Warwick, Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, believe we stand on the brink of a new technological paradigm, where computers will exponentially surpass human levels of intelligence. Which along with corresponding advances in emerging fields such as bionanotechnology, may lead to permanent solutions to significant global problems such as poverty, disease and overpopulation.
But Australian scientist Hugo de Garis forsees a 'skynet' scenario, fearing once we build computers smart enough these 'Strong AIs' might simply discard humankind.
His prediction that a major war will be fought in this century between advocates of these so called 'artilects' and their opponents, resulting in billions of deaths, is a stark contrast to the more optimistic visions. Such as those presented by prominent futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil in his 2005 book 'The Singularity Is Near'
