To AI or not to AI? This is not the question!

Having a Brave New World type debate is not going to help us deal with the future. 

Introduction of new technologies are pivotal moments (or in some cases periods) in human history. The hand axe, the wheel, bronze, iron, the steam and later internal-combustion engine, nuclear fission and of course the Digital age, each one brought riches and distraction. Each one propelled us to the next level while creating havoc and destroying social and political structures.

When new technologies come to prominence, we naturally think about them as solutions to old problems. 

When we witness something profoundly new, using old terms and understandings, we get scared. Rember the story about the first people to watch the "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" by The Lumière Brothers in 1895?

The spectators knew it is a projected image. They knew they are going to witness something new.I hazard to guess they came to watch it because of they were "early adopters." But they still (according to historical accounts) got so scared "they run to the back of the room in a panic." 

To illustrate the level of panic we might be feeling about AI; I want to share with you a very short story I read when I was about ten years old. The story is called "Answer?", and since it is only about twenty lines, I added it at the bottom of this post.

I suggest that we ask two different questions about AI:

1.  A world with smart machines is going to be a very different world, just like the world before and after trains and cars was very different. What are the profound changes AI is going to bring? 

2. The Hubble Space Telescope and Nuclear Accelerators are not just giving us the ability to answer age-old questions about space and matter. We can ask new questions we couldn't ask before. In a world where data is in abundance, and AI machines can process, learn and act upon their understandings, what are the new questions can we ask?  

Asking such questions now can help us deal with the future in a positive way and more importantly, be active participants in shaping it. 

Answer? by Fredric Brown

A big thank you to Ilay Unger that helpt me reconnect with this great story

Dwar Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the sub-ether bore through the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.

He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe—ninety-six billion planets—into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.

Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment's silence he said, "Now, Dwar Ev."

Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.

Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. "The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn."

"Thank you," said Dwar Reyn. "It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer."

He turned to face the machine. "Is there a God?"

The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.

"Yes, now there is a God."

Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.

A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.