| A Paper on the Future of |
| Artificial Intelligence |
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The state of mind has often been held by the general public to be an ethereal concept that is mostly separate from the human body. Recently, though, the physical embodiment of consciousness and intellect is now emerging in the form of artificial intelligence. Many people fear the advent of such emerging technologies, for humans do not wish to be replicated by the convergence of supercomputers and microelectronics. However, the quest for understanding the basic tenets of human consciousness is an enticing one, and every scientific breakthrough in this realm only adds fuel to the fire-it is merely a matter of time and research before artificial intelligence permeates our daily lives. On the other hand, it may be difficult for society to adapt and to accept such a radically new form of existence for these individuals, for we are accustomed to being unique thinking creatures upon this world.
Human-like artificial intelligence will soon become a reality. With exponentially advancing technology, scientists are competing with one another to develop an artificial mind with a consciousness, or an awareness of its surroundings. Through artificial intelligence, one hopes that this mind will be able to make its own decisions, have a curiosity to expand its knowledge, and ultimately, to express human-like emotions. Our brain consists of billions of neurons that are interconnected to each other and somehow interact to create what is commonly called a conscious. Psychologists have not been able to decipher the source of this consciousness, and most of them deem that the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Moreover, we cannot directly experiment with the conscious human brain to a great extent, for that would violate ethical codes. So, one is left to experiment on software and hardware-this gives scientists the freedom to experiment. The technological counterpart of the human brain as described above is the microchip, which is a conglomeration of billions of transistors that perform mathematical calculations. The goal of artificial intelligence is to create an electrical neural network that mimics the workings of the human brain. According to Dr. Nancy G. Kinnersley, an expert in computer algorithm theory at The University of Kansas: Computers were in their infancy a few years back. Computers can now analyze the human language. Take, for instance, the sentence, 'I dropped the glass on the table and it broke.' What broke? [Was it] the glass or the table? Computers can analyze the human language and figure it out. Complex language structure is a unique human characteristic and to be able to converse with a computer as if conversing with a human would be a great achievement. Dr. Kinnersley recognizes that it is a matter of time before computers will eventually be able to comprehend sentence structures and to acquire meaning. The growth of science and technology has been rapid, especially within this century. The first electronic computer, named ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator), was developed in 1946. It was comprised of 17,468 huge vacuum tubes and was linked by 500 miles of wiring. It also weighed thirty tons, stood eighteen feet tall, and was eighty feet long (Helmers 11). As a stark juxtaposition, computers today are four hundred times faster than ENIAC, three thousand times lighter, and several million dollars cheaper (Dreyfus 55). With respect to this timeline, one can see that it only took approximately fifty years to create a machine with signs of intelligence, and this obvious expediency of computer research raises hopes for us that a true intelligent machine will emerge quite soon. It may be difficult to accept change, especially if submission to inferiority is involved. As a given fact, our brains are unable to compete with the brute calculating force of computers. The recent loss of Gary Kasparov in the chess match against the computer Deep Blue has proven that computers are able to outthink humans in this game (Pinker 63). By calculating all the possible moves, Deep Blue has reached a higher level of processing that cannot be attained by humans. This causes some to fear that computers are smarter than humans, who are their creators. Other critics say, however, that Deep Blue cannot go outside of its programming, for it can only do what it is programmed to do. It cannot sing a song or laugh at a funny joke, for instance. But Deep Blue is just a step towards fabricating a complete human conscious. Just two years ago, intuitive software has been written to mimic the behavior of pets and other objects of human affection. A digital dog has been developed to interact with people through the use of a video camera. The video camera tracks the movements of a person and this information is relayed to the computer. A digital dog is displayed on a large screen, and it can sit down, play catch, or come up to a person wagging its tail, just like a real dog would (Rossney 38). Again, this experiment does not reflect true artificial intelligence, but it draws us nearer to predicting the behaviors of biological systems. Extrapolating the growth of technology to the near future, artificial lifeforms will no longer be science fiction. Once the technology is set that allows the creation of androids, robots that look exactly like humans and act like humans, society will have to adjust to incorporate this new aspect of life. Some day, robots may become humans' best friends, replacing the family dog or even a person as a companion. They will one day mingle with us and we will eventually have to accept the fact that they are essential to our daily lives as with any other groundbreaking technology. But one cannot overlook the truth that any new scientific discovery is sometimes accompanied with negative, destructive uses. Hopefully, the advantages strongly outweigh the disadvantages and that these intelligent robots of the next generation may be used benevolently to create a mutual world that will benefit them and us. |
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