This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
It took decades of wrangling, but most of the world's nations finally took the threat of climate change seriously enough to do something about it.
Climate change deniers still abound, but since about the year 2000 most environmental scientists agree that not acting quickly risks a global catastrophe that could threaten life on Earth.
It may not be obvious to many people, but climate change and artificial intelligence (AI) have much in common.
Advertisement
Humanity's greatest advances happened because humans communicated and then worked together.
To help speed up communication, we developed increasingly sophisticated tools, from slates to pens, typewriters to printing machines, computers to smartphones, and satellites to the Internet.
The latest communication technologies exchange information at the speed of light.
Yet, that incredibly fast data transfer is stymied by an obstacle that's been around since prehistory: human beings.
We cannot communicate our thoughts by joining our brains directly to another person's.
Instead, we have to convert those thoughts into language and output them as sounds or images, usually in the form of speech or writing.
Advertisement
Regardless of how quickly that output is transferred to another person, that person must register it with their eyes or ears and then process it. Communicating in this way is very slow, imprecise, and error prone, and means we often communicate the wrong or unintended information.
In addition, our brains are unreliable storage devices, often misinterpreting and sometimes forgetting information. Worse still, when we die, all the data in our brain dies too.
The human brain took millions of years to evolve, while today's computers reached their present state in just about seventy years, and their processing power is doubling every few years.
Because of easy networking and increasing processing power, computers continue to become smarter. In short, unlike humans, computers thrive on joined-up thinking.
Most AI experts believe that machines will attain our level of processing power and acquire self-knowledge, i.e. consciousness, sometime this century.
Advertisement
Once that happens, machine intelligence will surge past ours simply because machines will process data so fast and will rarely lose any of it. It's very unlikely that we'll know what conscious computers are thinking.
Indeed, it's more likely that they will become so smart so quickly that, even if we knew what they were thinking, we wouldn't understand it.
Is it reasonable, then, for us to believe that we will be able to control those machines?
The term "joined-up thinking" is commonly used to mean intelligent reasoning. In a team context it means each person communicating efficiently with the others and everyone acting together to reach an agreed target.
Most experts in AI believe that our wisest (not just smartest) scientists, philosophers, and politicians need to start working together soon to plot the course of AI development in order to avoid a future where super-intelligent machines threaten humanity's existence. They emphasize that this work needs at least as much attention as climate change is now receiving.
Advertisement
Eminent theoretical physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking, acknowledged in 2015 that the development of artificial intelligence would be humanity's greatest achievement. However, he added a sobering warning "...but it may be our last."
Speaking in another era, Robert Oppenheimer, the famous nuclear physicist and father of the atomic bomb, said:
"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it, and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success."
As if to prove him right, today scientists continue to develop increasingly powerful computer systems though they have no clear idea where their work will lead.
It may greatly benefit humanity, or herald its extinction. We probably won't discover which until we've had our "technical success."
Advertisement
At that point, though, it may be too late to do anything about it.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.