Digitocracies to thwart the rise of machines

Stitching together a few sunny days at a local beach this past summer, I managed to read a book under very pleasant coastal conditions. Yuval Harari’s “A brief history of humankind” is a thoroughly engaging dissertation that compels the reader to critically ponder the trajectory of Sapiens.

Beside Mr Harari’s impressive command of a wide array of disciplines, which he interconnects with great adeptness, the “common myth” is a fundamental premise, Yuval proposes, to describe how Sapiens historically mobilized to reach uncontested success yet, in so doing, paradoxically threaten their posterity. It seems, one of my favourite adages “Be careful what you wish for” also rings true at the ecological level…

It all starts very plausibly with the “cognitive revolution”.

Cognitive Revolution

There was a time, may tens of thousands of years ago, where a handful of human species co-existed on earth. The Neanderthals were relatively strong and well established in Euroasia while the Sapiens were considerably weaker and more localized to Africa (the other Human species are considered to be pegged somewhere on that spectrum of characteristics).

Unlike other genera, say Panthera (large cats), which consists of several species that currently roam the earth: lion; tigers; leopards etc. the Genus Homo is represented by one species and one species only: Sapiens. That fact, gives me considerable pause. It could very well be that Sapiens did not actually evolve from Neanderthals but rather were just not prone to just live and let live.

The reason, Yuval suggests, and I trust I’m doing his thinking justice, is because our species is inclined to believe conjured truths that become universally accepted over time. This inclination comes as a byproduct of our ability to contemplate. Sapiens’ propensity to gaze at their environment and imagine the possibilities makes them more likely to believe in notions that may be in some way desirable. Common desires lead to common beliefs and common beliefs mobilize concerted efforts.

Sapiens’ ability to act in concert is perhaps their greatest talent. We tend to form complex organizational structures to tackle challenges, be it political, social, communal or commercial. We support and indeed reward conforming behaviours (being anti-conformist might explain some of the challenges I’ve faced – perhaps I’ve got a little Neanderthal in me). Pit one thousand Sapiens against one thousand of any other species, of any genera, and Sapiens will emerge victorious - though the Periplaneta (cockroaches) might give us a run for our money…

Dr Harari, then goes on to describe the other major phases in our species’ history: Agricultural Revolution; Trade/Financial Revolution (I call it); Scientific Revolution and, finally, Yuval describes what seems to be the Digital Revolution. In each phase, Dr. Harari describes with enthralling detail the successes and growth Sapiens enjoyed in those periods and he also presents, with a dash of entertaining cynicism, some powerful unintended consequences that ironically worsen our quality of life.

Digital Revolution

We are indeed in the digital revolution and humanity is enjoying unprecedented improvements in all aspects of life – including health, education and prosperity. Sapiens are richer than ever before as well as more learned and healthier than ever before.

So what’s the worry?

Everyone is talking about it so, I promise you I will give you break from what feels like the three-most used terms in 2023, at least among the technocrati (1.9b, 1.2b, 370m hits on Google for gen AI; chatGPT and openAI respectively ).

The main worry of course is that Homo Sapiens are about to undergo the most ironic Armageddon in the history of the world. Ironic because it is self-inflicted and the byproduct of purportedly greedy and vain pursuits.

The most pervasive common myth is that Homo Sapiens are the smartest entities on Earth. Disconcertingly, we are now presented with the very real possibility of having created an entity that will soon be smarter than our collective cognitive capacity. I see two main juxtaposed outcomes resulting from this creation: Digitocracies and Machinocracies.

Both come about from the exponential rise in intelligence capabilities but one is capitalized by humans and the other by machines.

Autonomous artificial intelligence – Machinis Sentientis

These sentient machines are designed to have a distributed architecture so they can most effectively exploit learning algorithms. They are capable of superlative processing prowess but they are vulnerable because their infrastructure depends on Homo Sapiens for inputs and management. In turn, Homo Sapiens depend on Machinis Sentientis for just about every aspect of their daily lives.

Robotic Organization - Machinocracy

If Machinis Sentientis find a way to manage their two main inputs – energy and information – along with their technology stack – Hardware; Firmware; Software –they could then form robotic organizations that would run our world. We would then become beholden to inorganic hosts and we would live out our existence under the control of a Machinocracy whose intractable logic would lead it to fulfill its self-aware aim of maximizing its viability by sustaining Earth’s bounty as it explores the solar system for means to further extend its longevity.

So humanity will finally adopt sustainable methods and it will indeed explore the solar system in earnestness however it will not do so as masters of the universe but rather as participants in the grand plans of superior beings.

That’s the autonomous artificial intelligence scenario but is there an alternative to this dystopic outcome? There is, provided we manage machine learning toward a human augmentation goal, rather than a process automation goal.

Administered artificial intelligence – forming the digitocracy

The more we automate activities in our daily lives, the more we relinquish control to some other entity. Starting with the division of labour, then moving on to outsourcing and progressive automation, Homo Sapiens have consistently sought to achieving more whilst offloading tasks. And, at the macro scale, the plan has worked. Our species is more productive than ever before and has more free time than ever before. So much so, that the concept of the leisure generation is burgeoning.

Modern day aristocrats will create growth by capitalizing on digital assets. Digitocrats trade goods and services by owning, deploying and maintaining robots. Maximizing performance would require refining and networking the function of their robots.

Satisfying sentience

With robots becoming self-aware, digitocrats will need to introduce values and missions into their organizations coherent with robot logic. Having answers about questions of purposes built into the organization in which they operate will keep robots focused on objectives set by the digitocrats.

Homo Sapiens who can master the technology stack required to run organization consisting of super smart machines will raise their standing in society and join the digitocracy.

Homo Digitalis

Home Sapiens who are unable to join the digitocracy will be relegated to second class citizenry unless they can augment their individual performance by finding ways to reliably access this plethora of available capabilities.

Homo Sapiens who succeed in doing that will transform themselves into cyborgs – Homo Digitalis - and will compete directly with Machinis Sentientis for earthly resources and control. The escalating conflict that ensues will be destructive. Machinis Sentientis, being more intrinsically adept at utilizing and inter-linking these capabilities, would emerge victorious.

Maintaining Supremacy

The only way for Homo Sapiens to avoid annihilation is to form digitocracies. Digitocrats are administrators of autonomous organizations, consisting of some number of human cyborgs or self-aware robots, that can provide the means of production as well as satisfy the logic of Machinis Sentientis such that Homo Sapiens can maintain their earthly supremacy.

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