A semi-intelligent look at artificial intelligence
Dr. Geoffrey Hinton is a British-Canadian cognitive psychologist and computer scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics last year “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Between you and me, I got hosed. I should have been a winner.
The Nobel committee obviously overlooked my own entry entitled, “One molecule of glucose bound to one molecule of fructose will make sugar and winning the Nobel Prize sure would be sweet.” I don’t think they know a lot about physics over there in Norway.
Just as I am known as a modest yet much-beloved columnist who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Brad Pitt, Dr. Hinton who looks nothing like Brad Pitt, young or old, is considered the Godfather of Artificial Intelligence. That’s like being Godfather of the Mafia. Only worse.
If somebody in the Mafia got out of hand, you would just shoot them or put them in a tub of concrete and deposit them in the East River. According to Dr. Hinton, artificial intelligence is likely to get rid of anybody left in the Mafia and the rest of us as well, and it won’t need a gun or a sack of concrete to do it.
“It’s not inconceivable,” he has stated, “that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity,” saying that there was a “10 to 20 percent chance” that AI would be the cause of human extinction within the following three decades. In fact, many experts expect AI to advance, probably in the next 20 years, to be “smarter than people.”
Admittedly, I am not the go-to person on the subjects of cognitive psychology and computer science (although knowing how sugar is made is pretty impressive), but I would posit that it is not going to take 20 years for artificial intelligence to get smarter than people. That’s already occurred in some instances. Just look at Congress.
Can you see a computer saying, “Beep! Beep! Hey, I want to suck up to Donald Trump. I think I will propose changing the name of Greenland to Red, White and Blueland and then he will get me elected to the Senate where I can do other dumb stuff. Boop!” There are some things a computer won’t do, even if a member of Congress will.
Dr. Hinton also worries about the impact of AI on religion. He says, “I think religion will be in trouble if we create other beings. Once we start creating beings that can think for themselves and do things for themselves, maybe even have bodies if they’re robots, we may start realizing we’re less special than we thought. And the idea that we’re very special and we were made in the image of God, that idea may go out the window.” An interesting observation.
Theologically speaking, if computers become robots, will there be girl robots and boy robots? If so, will boy robots let girl robots in the pulpit? Or will the boy robots tell other robots that if they think girl robots should be allowed to preach, they will be condemned to spend eternity in an electronic waste disposal bin at Best Buys?
As to whether or not we are made in the image of God, I believe that’s God’s call, not mine. Creation is His thing. I will say that had God asked me, there are a few people He created that I think we could just as soon have done without. I couldn’t find His image in them with a flashlight. Maybe He just put them here to show us He has a sense of humor.
I probably won’t be around to see how all this plays out, but despite the Godfather of AI’s ominous warning, no robot will ever make me feel less special. I’ve got a family that loves me more than I deserve. I have friends that have stood with me through the good times and the bad. I had a rewarding career. I am blessed to live in this special state in this special country.
Most of all, thanks to a benevolent editor willing to overlook misplaced commas and grammatical errors (Is it who or whom?), I have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you each week and to receive your feedback. That may come in the form of a kudo or a rap on the knuckles. I suspect robots won’t give a flying algorithm for you or your opinions. I do. And there is nothing artificial about that.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
