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Why We Shouldn’t Want to Be the Pets of Super-intelligent Machines: by Richard Meckien — published Feb 27, 2024 — last modified Feb 27, 2024 08:51 AM — filed under: Oscar Sala Chair
When asked about humanity’s future relationship with computers, Marvin Minsky famously replied “If we’re lucky, they might decide to keep us as pets”. A number of eminent authorities continue to argue that there is a real danger that “super-intelligent” machines will enslave — perhaps even destroy — humanity. In this talk Sparrow will draw on the “neo-republican” philosophy of Philip Pettit to argue that solving the Friendly AI problem would not change the fact that the advent of super-intelligent AI would be disastrous for humanity by virtue of rendering us the slaves of machines. A key insight of the republican tradition is that freedom requires equality of a certain sort, which is clearly lacking between pets and their owners. Benevolence is not enough. As long as AI has the power to interfere in humanity’s choices, and the capacity to do so without reference to our interests, then it will dominate us and thereby render us unfree. The pets of kind owners are still pets, which is not a status which humanity should embrace. If we really think that there is a risk that research on AI will lead to the emergence of a superintelligence then we need to think again about the wisdom of researching AI at all.
Located in MEDIA LIBRARY / Video
Research Meeting of the Scientific Education in the Risk Society Project: by Richard Meckien — published Feb 14, 2024 — last modified Feb 15, 2024 11:17 AM — filed under: Oscar Sala Chair, Online event, Artificial Intelligence, Public event
Located in EVENTS
Why we Shouldn’t Want to Be the Pets of Super-intelligent Machines: by Richard Meckien — published Feb 08, 2024 — last modified Feb 26, 2024 02:52 PM — filed under: Oscar Sala Chair, Online event, Artificial Intelligence, Public event
Located in EVENTS
Democracy in Latin America: Regression or Resilience?: by Richard Meckien — published Feb 25, 2024 — last modified Mar 01, 2024 11:50 AM — filed under: Oscar Sala Chair, Online event, Artificial Intelligence, Public event
Located in EVENTS
The Space of the World: Digital Platforms and the Prospects for Human Solidarity in the 21st Century: by Richard Meckien — published May 12, 2023 — last modified May 12, 2023 04:03 PM — filed under: Oscar Sala Chair
In this lecture, Nick Couldry has reflected on the global space of social communications and interaction that has been constructed over the past three decades through a commercialized internet and the emergence of digital platforms whose business model depends on the extraction of data from their users and the shaping of user behaviour in order to optimize user behaviour that will generate advertising value. What if those conditions – valid perhaps in their own commercial terms – have guaranteed a space of human interaction that is larger, more polarized, more intense, and more toxic than is compatible with human solidarity? This would be a major problem for humanity that social theory might play some role in deconstructing and potentially even solving, by formulating alternatives. So how might we imagine a different space of the world that would be less likely to be toxic, and more likely to generate the solidarity and effective cooperation that humanity needs if it is to have any chance of addressing its huge, shared challenges?
Located in MEDIA LIBRARY / Video