The Human Singularity: Mind, Matter & ChatBots
Phani Marupaka
Associate Director @ Zeta | AI Product Automation | UIUC | BITS Pilani
Elon musk has made a lot waves lately hinting on his plans for developing a “neural lace,” an implantable mesh circuit that could one day connect our minds directly with computers, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. Musk believes this is our best chance to stand toe-to-toe with machines that will be smarter than us and better at our jobs than we are. This looming “job apocalypse” can only be averted if we become one with the machines that secretly plan to steal our jobs. Human beings are simply too slow - relying on limbs made to climb trees and spoken language to communicate our thoughts; not only with each other but with the machines. But how exactly could this mesh of mind and machine scenario play out? Even with an implantable device that can read our thoughts how would these thoughts be turned into action? That’s where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes in and where the chatbot revolution could play an important role.
The human brain is an amazing computer composed of 86 billion neurons. Yet with all this processing power it has a huge interface problem - it depends on a bio mechanical system to transfer its information to the outside world - our hands, our mouths just don’t cut it. Even the fastest typist in the world “Barbara Blackburn”, who can type at an astonishing 212 words per minute, is no match for a USB3 interface that can transfer a gigabyte of data in just a few seconds. Voice is another way to get data to your computing device, but even with Natural Language Processing and voice recognition - the fastest speaker in the world, Steve Woodmore, can only speak at 637 words per minute. Our eyes, on the other hand, are many orders of magnitude better at transferring data in, but not out.
Yes, Your Brain Could Be Part Of The Internet of Things
Musk calls this input-output problem the “I/O Constraint.” It’s a problem that could be resolved with a Virtual Digital Layer (VDL). Much like the cortex is layered on top of the brain’s limbic system enhancing cognition, the VDL would be the bridge to not only enhance but allow for limitless cognitive potential.
The Neural Lace itself is a mesh composed of tiny electrodes that could potentially be fitted directly through the arteries in your neck and routed into the neural cortex leaving your skull intact - basically a non invasive surgical procedure. The node mesh itself would be able to read neural activity and relay that back to a core processing unit. It would also be able to “write” information to the cortex through neural stimulation. The core processing unit will most likely be your smartphone. The Neural Lace will include an app for initial setup and customization. Once connected it would be able to tap into cloud processing power either from the neural lace makers’ proprietary source or something along the lines of Amazon Web Services (AWS). So now our minds are essentially directly connected to the internet - information can flow in-and-out at lightning speeds. How can the raw data now flowing back and forth be translated into actionable tasks? That's where artificial intelligence steps in and helps to make sense of all the data.
How AI and Chatbots Will Help Human-To-Machine Connectivity
Chatbot bot hype has been swirling in the media for the past year, and with good reason. Chatbots are essentially on-tap artificial intelligence packaged into assistive lightweight software with personas. They are the means by which the masses can harness intelligent computing power to accomplish anything from routine tasks to complex enterprise analysis. All this can be done today but the I/O constraint remains. Chatbots are particularly good at analyzing very large datasets to find meaningful data and execute functionality based on intent. Their speciality matches perfectly with the analytic requirements of the neural lace. Chatbots could serve as curators of human thought quickly sifting through the noise generated by our minds and actuating on our commands.
So imagine we now have an enhanced mind where thoughts and will can be determined by artificial intelligence - a piece of the puzzle remains: application integration. Having a super fast machine enhanced mind is great but without utility it lacks purpose. The majority of consumer and enterprise applications require the use of thumbs and fingers to execute their functionality. How will we then connect our minds to the apps that power human productivity? Fortunately chatbots today already integrate with many consumer and enterprise applications. Companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Kore.ai have championed the frameworks needed to connect bots with apps. Chatbots therefore provide an elegant solution to what could be labeled the “Human Singularity” - when man has equal capability to the thinking machine.
-Thank You
Phani Marupaka
Co-authored by my ex-colleague - Mr. Jose R. Perez Twitter: @trupix
Citations:
https://www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so_special_about_the_human_brain
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-viral-fastest-records-pictures-018-photo.html