Tuesday, March 14, 2017

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - An Intuitive Inquiry

All language possesses an intuitive quality. The choice of a word, no matter how mundane, can convey insight and intuition by its very placement in a sentence or a phrase.   I am forever looking up words that I thought I knew the meanings of to make sure I know their meanings; particularly, when it comes to conveying concept and context.

I have briefly touched upon the subject of Artificial Intelligence in another post (click here) in which I took issue with it being referred to as "artificial" intelligence suggesting that it be described as Augmented Intelligence.  I am not a scientist by any stretch of the imagination and am, for the most part, technologically challenged.  What occurs to me is that use of the term "Artificial" is an interesting choice of word to describe this technology.

Why artificial?

There seems to me to be something intuitive in its choice.  And it is this intuitive property of the word artificial that I feel is somehow connected to its being chosen to describe this field of science.

THE MERGING MIND

It is no longer a question if we humans have the ability to augment our organicity with technology.

We do. 

To say that doing so is the next step in our evolution is, in my opinion, a stretch.

Although intelligence is undoubtedly connected to the organic structure of the brain in its ability to be articulated, stored, and retrieved, our ability to create and be intuitive is perhaps an indication that cognition, itself, is more than a function of brain chemistry; that, at best, cognitive thought is an interactive process of both organic and inorganic properties - that our minds already exist in a state of merger.

There is a gnawing sense that technologically we are getting ahead of ourselves by which I mean science is engaging in a creative process where it is impossible to see or predict, much less weigh, all the possible outcomes.  As such, we seem grossly unprepared for the results of that creative activity; particularly, as it relates to any enhancement of the human mind.

The augmentation of the human brain holds both promise and a potential for disaster.  On the one hand there is great potential for being able to treat, if not cure, a host of mental and physical illnesses, to enhance sensory perception, to increase our knowledge base, and to establish new means for communication and improve computation skills.  On the other hand, as with all human innovations, there is the potential of using augmentation for evil purposes.

We have yet to fully understand our reptilian drives.  The emergence of AI should lead us to ponder the metaphysics of not only what it means to be but also what it means to become.  As humans, what we create is largely limited to what our faculties and senses allow us to make.  While AI will likely enhance such faculties and senses, the question that comes to mind is if such enhancement, especially, if merged with the human organism will inhibit the brain's natural ability to adapt?  Will it eradicate certain abilities such as the intuition?

THE ANTHROPOCENE AGE

The history of human innovation and technological advancement has been mixed.  The Anthropocene Age has resulted in numerous species becoming extinct and a predictable climate change all of which bear a distinct human imprint.  Human evolution is more than biology.   It is also about economy,  psychology, sociology, technology and everything related to these fields.

Curing diseases of every kind is in itself a reason to advance the scientific research and innovation in augmenting the physical ability and chemical biology of the human body.  The creation of intelligent machines that can learn and adapt to environmental changes promise to create new technologies and more efficient production of goods and services.  All of these innovations hold promise, but they also pose challenges. 

We have yet to control our lust for power.  In fact, we seem to be entering a zeitgeist phase in which, culturally, the nation's of the world are reverting to nationalistic form of tribalism, a stage in human social development that is likely to encourage development of AI for military purposes rather than creating sustainable sources of clean energy, water supply, and food production.

There are less obvious challenges that I believe largely fly under the radar of human awareness.  Culturally, while we become increasingly technologically advanced, there is evidence that we become less motivated as individuals.  Concern that young people spend too much time playing virtual reality games belies a deeper concern that the human brain is already showing signs of becoming dependent on AI technology.   Mathematics is a prime example.

Increasingly it is more important for middle school and high school students to know how to use a calculator than it is to calculate on one's own, using one's brain.  There was a time, as when I attended high school, that bringing a then rare and expensive calculator to class would have been considered cheating.  Today, a student can get into trouble for forgetting to bring one to class.  The calculator saves time in solving complex mathematical problems and there is no arguing the need for the young to know how to use them.  The question is if there is price to be paid at the expense of our natural abilities in order to save time.

I am cognizant that while I write this post, I am doing so, at times, on an android tablet that assists me by offering word options in a menu to insert while I write.  The tablet is able to learn limited context while I write; as in, words and even phrases that are used frequently become readily available as I write.  I only have to type one letter in some cases for the word I'm looking for to pop up which is usually followed up with a second and third word I need or am thinking of.  It's helping me think - Appreciated but a bit scary at times.  In fact this paragraph was largely composed of words I selected from my device's word menu.

Texting is another example of how interactive and dependent we are becoming on AI. Texting is resulting in a new way of writing - a new type of shorthand that largely reflects the human mind being trained by our technology to develop new language symbols.  Again - interesting and a bit scary.

The adaptability of the human brain to a new environment is based on its ability to develop new pathways of learning that it can depend on.  This reliance of the human mind on dependable sources is akin to dependence on substances whether internal or external.  Chemical dependency is when an external substance supplants naturally produced substances by interfering or enhancing one's brain chemistry or biochemistry.  While it is debatable whether external  AI interferes with the brain's internal chemistry or in the manner that chemical dependency does, it is known that prolonged emotional stress caused by external environmental factors can alter brain function.  While not considered stressful, could social factors, such as increased reliance on technology, alter brain function as well? Are we, in some sense, already merging with the technology that is being created?

ADDICTION AND ADAPTATION TO THE ARTIFICIAL

Addiction and adaptation are somewhat antithetical terms; in that, addictions are about being controlled by some situation or substance, and adaptation is about adjusting to or gaining control of some situation or substance.  It seems to me that our attraction to and dependence on AI is both an addiction and an adaptation or, perhaps better said, an adaptation that is addicting. 

Addictions create a sense of dependency through a feeling of relief and pleasure or via a numbing of displeasure and pain.  Ease - the ability to do something quickly and with little effort is similar to relief and pleasure and is subtly addicting.   Smart technologies are subtly addicting.   People walk around with the smart phones in hands or earbuds implanted in their ears.  People having what appears to be solo, one-sided conversations would have twenty years ago had us questioning the mental stability of that person is today dismissed as normal.   People sit at tables in coffee shops and cafes with their android tablets or laptop computers engaged with the world wide web while being oblivious to the immediate world around them.  We are very much adapting to a larger sense of the world and a larger sense of self with the aid of smart technologies while risking the loss of immediate, real time connections to the immediate human environment.  

We are less inclined to socialize face to face.  Human contact is quickly becoming virtual contact; texts and the like.  At present, there is not only a sense of artificiality about the technologies being developed but a superficiality about them.  We have yet to adapt to the notion of civility in our virtual contacts.  I find that people tend to say things they wouldn't normally say to someone standing in front of them.  The tweets of President Trump offer a current example of such artificiality and superficiality.

By some estimates, as much as 85% of what we wish to communicate is conveyed through body language.  In the not too distant future smart technologies may change to allow one to sense a person's physical reaction to conversations over the a smartphone beyond emoticons to encounter virtual sensation.  It isn't difficult to imagine a distant time when vocal speech could become a thing of the past, where all communication will be a matter of mental teleportation.

There is much to gain from such smart technologies and perhaps much to lose.  There is no way of stopping AI from progressing nor should we seek to stop it from progressing.  Rather, it is important that we engage in identifying serious considerations and having serious discussion about them along the way; many of which will not be popular from a scientific point of view because they undoubtedly cross into the field of metaphysics, philosophy, and ethics.

As I have suggested earlier in this post and in other posts, AI is already on the verge of changing culture.  Economics, the driving force behind  much of the research and innovation - the meaning of wealth, itself,  must undergo a vast change if there is to be a sense of social equity and global security.  Money as the measure of value may diminish to a vanishing point as the welfare of society becomes dependent on securing the value  and happiness of the individual as essential to social stability.

As such, what it means to be human becomes increasingly important in an age where that meaning involves the reality of augmentation and enhancement, of becoming an enhanced human.  Issues of power need to be resolved along the way.  Hypothetically speaking, the more physically and intellectually enhanced humans can become the more important divesting power will become in order to avoid conflict and unproductive competition in preserving the diversity of life on this planet.

"IT'S ONLY A TOY" - Insights and Intuition of a Five Year Old

As I have mentioned at the beginning of this post, "Artificial" is a term that possesses an intuition about what smart technologies are about.  There is a childish, toy-like, aspect to any technologies that are done merely because they can be done and which serve no real purpose.

My five year old great nephew, Oliver, who I take to preschool and daycare during the week has brought a number of his toys to our house to play with while waiting to go to these destinations.  Oliver likes it when I play along with  his toy dinosaurs or stuffed animals, which he bestows with the human qualities that are as amusing as they are revealing about his young mind's perception of the world and human relationships.

I'm the perfect dinosaur playmate because I have no real interest in playing other than to make Oliver happy.  So I let him set the stage and agenda for the play that ensuse. We adults forget how serious play can be to a child and if the play gets too serious (touches on something too lifelike) for him, he reminds himself by reminding me, "Uncle Noman (sic) they're just toys."  In essence he is addressing their being an artifact - their being artificial which brings him back to the present and allows him to change gears.

My point in telling this story is that my young great nephew, like most humans possess both insight and intuition.  Even though Oliver's toys are very important to him (and they truly are very important to him) they remain toys, artificial artifacts.  They do not replace true human relationships which he cherishes. At this stage in his young life he knows the difference between real and artificial and he ultimately prefers the real to the artificial and does not like the artificial becoming too real. There is something that I feel is very important in his intuitive sense that we can readily dismiss in our more developed intellectual minds -  it is important to know the difference between the real and the artificial.

In a previous post  I posited that intelligence is intelligent regardless of it is manufactured or not, but perhaps I was being too hasty in making that claim.  While artificial intelligence can reason, will it possess natural insight or the more elusive human ability of intuition?  What is artificial insight or artificial intuition?  Will AI recognize something as a toy, as being a toy, something that is an artifact, that is artificial as being different  from something genuine?   Will it care that there is a difference?

Will AI have the capacity to be religious, to form varying relationships based on differing belief systems?  Will it be able to develop a diversity of belief systems or will belief simple be relegated to a knowledge base of ideologies that have no pragmatic purpose beyond being knowledge (click here for more discussion).  Will AI be able to learn without intent?  Will it be able to retain the feeling of emotion; such as, love, fear, or surprise? Will it matter?  Or will such knowledge just become a toy - functional until it gets in the way?

Until next time, stay faithful.

No comments:

Post a Comment