If someone asked you: What’s the most popular day in the world? What would you say?
Independence day? Martin Luther King day? The Birthday of the Queen of England? Or maybe the day of Christmas?
You see, these are all modern concepts - give or take a few centuries - and if we were take history as a parameter, then we’ll probably find out that the most popular day in the world, is the day of Armageddon.
Countless dates have been given by “clairvoyants” all throughout history, and millions upon millions of people believed in those prophecies, some seemed to be superficially plausible, some were extravagantly overblown, and some were outright crazy.
About the only constant that all of these prophecies shared, is their infallible tendency to always remain completely inaccurate.
Well, either that or we are all dead and this is what the afterlife actually looks like. It almost makes you want to watch Lost again, don't you think?
The curious part about this phenomena is that no matter how many times these doomsday calendars been proven wrong their charm still remains intact. In fact, nothing seems to shake the captivating appeal of the apocalypse.
Maybe that’s why so many people like zombie movies, post-apocaliptic series and dystopian books, but I’m digressing.
Now, with witches, zombies, and demons all losing their fear stocks in people’s hearts, it was only a matter of time until a new big bad seized their spot as the ultimate danger that is set to bring forth the end of the world… Again.
Contrary to the aforementioned characters, this brand new threat may very well be real, but it also may very well be harmless and non-apocalypse-causing. But who knows right?
It’s name is A.I and it’s already dividing some of the brilliant people on the planet when it comes if to fearing it or embracing it.
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence it seems to be two major schools of thoughts dominating the discussion.
Those who think that the A.Is due to their superior intelligence and their ever-updating learning process will be the saviors of the earth since they have all the answers “we”’ are “‘looking for’”.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen many people looking for ALL the answers of the universe lately.
I’ve seen people saying that their attention spans are tanking, I’ve seen people claiming they don’t read anymore, I’ve seen people binging an entire season of Game of Thrones (man I love that show!)
But I didn’t see many people searching for all the answers we’re looking for.
Come to think of it, this narrative carries an air of a religious absolutism with it.
Where did here this before?
In the future we’ll get to meet an entity that gives us all the answers of the universe, it will solve all the problems in the world and cure all the diseases we can think of, and give us all the riches we can dream of...
Oh, and the best part is that when all is said and done, then we’re gonna merge with the entity and we will become Gods!
Ok maybe not religious, but definitely Cult-y.
What is it that’s jargon term everyone keeps using? Oh yeah… Ascension.
I don’t know about you but personally, I think it’s kinda scary when your best scientists start sounding like Deepak freakin’ Chopra.
That being said, not all pro-AI arguments are based on infinite health & wealth, in fact there are many reasonable arguments as well.
The main premise is that when the A.Is come along they would soon be able to solve many of the problems that humanity has been struggling with for the last decades.
And from that point forward, breakthrough after breakthroughs will start dominating the fields of science, technology, medicine...Etc.
That part, I kind of I agree with. Breakthroughs tend to start accelerating after a certain point, the curveball effect and all that jazz.
The other side of the spectrum however, has a totally different opinion on Artificial Intelligence.
They, on the other hand claim that they AIs are extremely dangerous and would inevitably be the death of us all. They would take one good look at the human species and they will start the mother of all exterminations.
And that is the subject of our next story, so stay tuned!
… To be Continued
