Describing how the world will end and the fate of mankind has been the subject of much discussion, often in the format of a top ten of most likely catastrophes. An asteroid smashing into the Earth will set off a chain of events that results in cataclysmic destruction of the ecosystem. The poor dinosaurs didn’t see it coming. Ditto nuclear war. Let’s hope the odds of that one don’t get any shorter in light of present global tensions. Perhaps the sun will blast a giant electromagnetic pulse across the planet, knocking our infrastructure senseless and leading to an implosion of society. Or maybe aliens will invade, incensed that “Galway Girl” by Ed Sheeran has been radiating through cosmic space, truly an abomination by any standards.
These scenarios are all good fodder for science-fiction writers and film makers. High on the list of Professor Stephen Hawking (and he knows a thing or two about Big Science) is the rise of Artificial Intelligence. Research and Development budgets of the tech leviathans such as Google and Microsoft run into the tens of billions of dollars, of which AI comprises a significant portion. Huge intellectual resources worldwide, through universities and other academic institutions too, are being channelled into AI development. It is surely inevitable that at some point in the not too distant future, artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. And why is this so desirable? The future will be great, they say. Advancements in robotics will change our lives forever. Androids will become our servants, our friends. The simplest transaction to the most intricate brain surgery will take place using computers. Completely removed from the process will be the flawed human; a shopkeeper who deposits the wrong sweets in a bag or a doctor who drops a scalpel onto a comatose patient. Our quality of life will rise immeasurably. It is progress, it is the future.
But hold on there a moment, buddy. Shut that laptop down, if it will let you, and just listen up for one darn minute. Didn’t your cultural upbringing include watching the film Wargames? Haven’t you learnt the lessons from The Matrix? Don’t you lie awake at night, wondering if a big guy with an Austrian accent will roll into town on a Harley Davidson? The demise of heavy industry means there just aren’t that many hydraulic press plants around, that can crush Schwarzenegger-esque assassins. Warnings from science fiction are there in page and celluloid for all to heed. Life spawned in the robotics lab decides it is better off without its messy biological parents and humans snap onto a lower rung of evolution. The best we can hope for in such dystopia is insignificance. Machine Life might leave us alone if we are not perceived as a threat, or using a resource that our new masters desire. We could try incorporating Asimov’s laws into their programing but I don’t hold out much hope that it will work.
AI is already with us. The Internet of Things, ubiquitous and ever expanding, a network of interconnected phones, fridges, cars, household thermostats, tablets, computers, environmental sensors, CCTV, in fact anything wired to the web is relentlessly chattering a stream of ones and zeros with its neighbours. These devices are watching, listening, collecting data, with tentacles so intertwined in everyday normality, that to sever one only strengthens another.
So what can we do about it? Things generally turn out ok in Hollywood and human ingenuity saves the day. For Sci-Fi writers the very real threat (in the opinions of Prof. Hawking, other prominent world class thinkers, and me) of AI becoming all dominant provides a tense canvas to scribe a story onto. But perhaps it will be one of the other apocalyptic scenarios after all, that gets us. A global pandemic could give rise to the zombies who stop at nothing until all humans have been eaten. We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll be happy to take anything over hearing Ed Sheeran and his Galway Girl again.
– Anthony Brum
Please check out my space adventure for middle-grade/ 9-12 year olds- “Imbrium City: Rise of the New Defenders,” available on Kindle now.
Cadet Kiera Austin, young and extraordinarily gifted, is a student of the Stellaris Academy, in the lunar city of Imbrium. Resentful at the choice of her new partner, android Leo Silver, the pair are called to an emergency on a remote outpost of the Moon: a fire, that Kiera suspects was deliberate and is somehow linked with Leo’s past. Driven by a desire to find the truth, Kiera’s investigations arouse the attention of some powerful and very dangerous forces, who will stop at nothing in their pursuit to hunt the cadets down…
Amazing writer and person all round, a deeply thought out, very well written story that will keep readers of any age engrossed for hours on end. I for one cannot wait for the next instalment in Mr brums series. Fingers crossed we won’t be waiting to long. 10/10