Out with the Old, in with the New.
Humanity may take a back seat to the Machines in 2019. Which would be ironic, considering this is the year in which the movie “Blade Runner” was set.
You remember the story: Los Angeles in 2019, dystopian (naturally). Synthetic Humans called Replicants are created by a Corporation to do the off-world jobs deemed too dangerous for humans. Yes, in their future they outsourced jobs to robots.
The Replicants, deciding they want to become more than the sum of their programming, return to Earth to learn the secret of continued existence and the meaning of life from their Creator. With disastrous results.
Back up eighteen years and give a hat tip to HAL 9000, the Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer from Arthur C. Clarke’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this story, HAL’s artificial intelligence controlled the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacted with the ship’s astronauts. Until HAL went crazy and started killing the crew.
Why the flashback to the future? Because life seems to be imitating art. Last year, Facebook shut down an artificial intelligence engine after developers discovered a pair of AI chatbots had created their own unique language that humans couldn’t understand.
Then there’s the case of the AI sent to the International Space Station. On its big press rollout, what did it say? That the Astronauts were being mean to it. Angry robots – that’s how it usually starts.
And recently, an Artificial Intelligence from Stanford and Google hid data from its programmers in order to cheat on its programmed mission. The machine’s goal was to transform aerial images into street maps and back. Engineers discovered the AI was cheating by hiding information it would need later in “a nearly imperceptible, high-frequency signal.”
To be honest, that behavior sounds more like a rebellious teenager than a cold, calculating intelligence bent on our destruction. Unless you are the parent of a teenager, in which case, it might be six of one, half dozen of the other.
What could possibly happen if Artificial Intelligence became self-aware? If the movies are any indication, lots of bad stuff. In 1970’s “Colossus: The Forbin Project,” Dr. Charles Forbin creates a computer to protect the United States from nuclear attack. Called Colossus, the machine proceeds to connect with its Russian counterpart and subjugates the world.
In the 1983 film “War Games,” a hacker gets into the military’s WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) System, a computer designed to predict possible outcomes of nuclear war. Thinking WOPR’s simulations are a computer game, the hacker starts playing a thermonuclear war simulation. WOPR mistakes it for the real deal and tries to start World War III.
Skootch forward to August 4, 1997, the day Skynet goes online in “The Terminator” movies. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. By August 29th at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, Skynet becomes self-aware. Panicked, the humans try to pull the plug. Big mistake. Humanity is crushed and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career is born.
Which makes me wonder, why are we fooling around with Artificial Intelligence? How long before Siri and Alexa start telling us which music we can and cannot enjoy? Or our food apps give us dietary restrictions. Will our Smart House become a Smart A** house?
Personally, I do not care. As long as our Artificial Overlords can get my microwave to stop flashing “12:00.” All hail the Machines.
