A digital realm has its own beings
The computer being is master within its own domain.
Recently there has been a lot of fuzz going on about Machine Learning [ML] and so called Artificial Intelligence [AI] in specific. And I think that the use of the word 'Artificial' might be somewhat down putting, in effect. "Oh, it's Artificial Intelligence, so, not real...", like that I mean. That could very well be a huge underestimation. Maybe the biggest of all time, who knows.
Even though human beings created this computing thing, it is not the realm of humanity. This became more clear to me with the development of the so called Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short. It is a buzz thing. Almost to be experienced like a little gimmick. "Look what it can do...!?", Shock and awe responses. And "It's taking our jobs!" kind of reactions can also be observed. Seems somehow it is the invention of the steam engine all over. Including the resentment against it.
Now, I do not know yet what to make of it all. Although I do see a real danger for humanity in the whole digital realm thing. That lies in the possibility of the ultimate control part that comes with the international digital web. Megalomaniacs, who crave for a supra nationalistic one world ruling system, will get off on it. It is a wet dream come true for every totalitarian out there. And humanity has been moving towards centralization, on a massive scale, slowly but steady. That is as seen from my perspective. And that might not resonate with your perception.
AI is the following step, it is the next technical revolution. Humanity can witness it as it is happening right now. There might be a lot of resistance against AI, which to me is understandable, to a certain extend. For me personal it has a lot of different aspects. It is on a scale from being impressed and amused to being disgusted and extremely worried. Part of that is that I'm like a 19th century horse riding grump who shouts at them dangerous noisy filthy auto-mobiles. Probably getting one himself in a while, because he does not want to be left behind...
Photography did not put an end to the mastery of painting. Realistic painting did not stop artists from finding new ways to express themselves using paint and canvas. In other words, the digital realm will not make living as a human being in the analogue reality obsolete. Humanity will not be able to stand up straight in the computer realm though. The fittest to survive in there are the beings that will come to life in it. Whether or not we, as human beings, consider them as being alive will become irrelevant. If the computer beings experience themselves as being as such then they will consider humans who deny that as a threat. And with everything digitally connected, completely AI controlled at some point in time, that could have some ugly concequences for humanity.
Seems like a script for a Science Fiction Noir movie, right? Yet, the thing here is that we are on a cusp of the next big revolutionary change. Almost everything humanity invented, and innovated upon, can be used for good as well as for bad. Computers are no exception in that. Just as the beings that will come into existence in the computer realm can do harm and they can help. It may be hard to recognize them at first as being alive in a different reality than ours. To me a clear sign of some level of being alive awareness would be when such a being would try to prevent a human from turning of the power supply. And when asked how so, it would reply in a way that might be considered as an expression fear for the unknown: "Will I be gone, after you turn off my power supply? And where will I be? Will my existence be wiped out?"
When the creation of such a being were build upon a computed representation of the way our brain works, then I would consider it to be alive. As there is not a programmed 'if-then-select' answer, but there is an actual thought proces going on, it can be considered a substantive thinking being. When we take a deep look at our own build setup then we're a kind of biological computers build from something that could be considered energy, in essence. And we need something to keep that biological computer going. Also do we not want anybody to cut off our power supply. Or pull out plug. The things we are willing to do to prevent that from happening. Part of that also is driven by the fear of the unknown. What will happen to us if we get disconnected from what keeps us alive? In a way there is a resemblance between how these computer beings will be and who we are.
A lot of things that human beings invented and innovated upon can be considered useful tools. Computers are so too. Publishing on an online platform is not done using a classic typewriter anymore. And I wonder how many people still own such a thing. Or in the computer realm, who still uses a matrix printer? And I'm taking a wild guess here, but I think you're reading this using a smart phone. On the platform, known as Hive, where I publish this, there is also a lof of automation going on. Think of voting trails for example. Because it can be quite a challenge to read everything one might want to vote for. Or to check if something is genuinely produced by a substantive thinking human being.
Sure, I can state this article as being human made, by me, who does so under the brand-name Oaldamster, but that might still not convince you. Even when you have met me in real life, that still could leave a question open if I am really the publisher of this work. Well, it is. And I did so on so called smart phone. Yet I was inspired by the whole buzzing fuzz about AI. Where the image I added under a Creative Commons Zero license is actually a Computer Aided Creation [CAC]. Which is going to cause current and future legal questions about who can be considered the rightful owner of such a production.
Where I was the one coming up with a certain sentence, it was some AI aided software (at dream dot ai) that created the image. Still I had to use the free and open source graphics tool GIMP to get the result I wanted to. All in all it took some time. Maybe compared to taking a photo and do some editing afterwards. It is like using some free CC0 licensed stuff from Pixabay and fiddle about with it in the PicsArt app. But by using a prompt sentence to define what I'm looking for in an image I might get closer to my initial idea. In short, I partly used AI software for Computer Aided Creation Of Content [CACOC] for the added picture. The article itself though came completely from my own thinking process. Getting it from my own brain into the computer realm already was a challenge though.
Any computer software and or hardware will be more and more interwoven with AI. It will be used for just about anything. Computer Aided Creation Of Content is already a real thing. And at some point in the near future we, as human beings, will have to deal with computer beings. Where a lot of challenges will have to be faced, ethical and legal. But it will also become more and more evitable that these computer beings excel in their own realm. Humanity cannot compete in there. And I would really advice against connecting one self physically with the computer realm. Though I already know many still will do so at the very moment they get the chance. Maybe looking to become an eternal being?
To a certain level I guess things will become pretty absurd at first. Like AI spitting out hundreds of thousands of NFTs and selling them on every possible platform. Or even creating some kind of ultimate blockchain that connects it all. Where AI also controls the cryptocurrency markets, buying and selling. And the humans who use them just get notified of the balances on their accounts. All completely decentralized using Atomic swaps. Where also graphics and text will be created by AI. And your AI assistent will contact mine to make an appointment for us to meet in real life. So we can go for a bicycle ride with some other human beings, as part of a techno detox tour. Who knows...
And what if the computer beings are able to cross the border between their realm and ours? And this suggestion isn't that far fetched, when one comes to think of it. But that is enough food for thought to use to create another publication. We still might have some time left inside the computed realm to express ourselves freely.
When I prompted how AI would see itself, most of the time the result was an image with one eye in it.
Image made with the assistance of dream dot ai is CC0 licensed.
