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If the Singularity doesn't happen, then humans will probably live for another few millenia. If (and when) the Singularity /does/ happen, humans will be wiped o
by aagha 19y ago
If the Singularity doesn't happen, then humans will probably live for another few millenia.
If (and when) the Singularity /does/ happen, humans will be wiped off the planet within a few centuries.
- rms 19y agoWhat do you think will kill us, in both scenarios?
- anupamkapoor 19y agomaybe 'kill' is too strong a word. how about being rendered 'irrelevant' instead by some extreme-tech instead ?
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- aagha 19y agoIf and when machines reach the point of self sufficiency, given that they'll supposidly be driven by rational and logical thought (though post-Singularity irrationality and illogical thought could be conceivable) they'll see humans as, well, irrational and illogical, and question our need. Once they begin to think of how we've destroyed eachother, the planet, and how we may do the same to them, they'll probably see us as a risk to their survival and do the logical thing: elliminate the risk.
- jey 19y agoYou're making random assumptions about the goals these AIs would have. Remember that the goals are put into the AIs by the thing that builds it -- that means us puny humans! So we should build the AIs to value human life and do what we want.
- ericb 19y agoIf we move into space, I think we'll be ok. We need an offsite backup.
- strey 19y agoWhy does everyone want to move into space? Isn't it much easier and practical to live undersea? The structural constraints I imagine would be similar, its closer, and there is a much richer supply of necessary organic material.
- jey 19y ago"If (and when) the Singularity /does/ happen, humans will be wiped off the planet within a few centuries." a. I disagree. b. Even if I assume that you're right, why do you assume that all possible outcomes in which there are no humans on the planet are negative outcomes? e.g. What if all humans decided to "upload" themselves into computers? (Assuming that such a thing is coherent and feasible and becomes commonplace.)
- RichardPrice 19y agoJey - if we all had kind-of abstract existences on computers, then we wouldn't be able to wonderful things like dancing, sailing, skiing and all that good stuff! We could just imagine ourselves doing that, and wouldn't that be worse? It would be kind of like dreaming a life, instead of living it, and I'd much prefer to live a life!
- abstractbill 19y agoThe kind of technology that would allow us to upload our minds to computers would presumably be powerful enough to simulate a body and an environment so convincing that we wouldn't know the difference.
- anupamkapoor 19y agoindeed. greg-egan's "permutation city" dwells on the nature of reality in such an environment.
- jey 19y agoI don't know and it isn't relevant. It's just an example to illustrate that it's possible for there to be outcomes which are positive and desirable yet have no humans on Earth. Whether or not uploading is feasible and desirable is certainly still an open question. I don't claim to be an expert on this or to have thought about it much, but I think everything should be totally voluntary. Go upload yourself if you want, or go live off the land if you want. Either is fine; do what makes you happy.
- 19y ago