In the July 2024 issue of Harper’s Magazine there’s an article titled, “The Gods of Logic” by Benjamin Labatut describing the potential threat to humanity posed by AI. The article begins and ends with references to Frank Herbert’s “Dune” saga, in which mankind is described as having fought and won a desperate war against machine intelligence in the far distant past. “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free”, wrote Herbert. “But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” That is why in the world of “Dune” there are no robots and no computers, for humans had long since learned the dangers of delegating their thinking to machines.
I don’t know enough about AI to decide whether it is a genuine threat to humanity or not, though I don’t think we will ever be able to design a computer that has self-consciousness. No matter how complex or sophisticated, an assemblage of wires and circuits will never be anything more than an assemblage of wires and circuits—though I may well be advertising my own ignorance by making such a statement.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to ignore the experts in the field who speculate that the rapidly developing field of AI may pose risks that we are only now beginning to become aware of. The article presents one authority who speculates that the digital intelligence we are designing may one day decide it can dispense with the humans who created it. “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind” is the most important commandment of the world of “Dune”, one we should pay heed to before it is too late.
i'm going to have to check out the Labatut article! I find the prospect of AI a little alarming. Or rather, I do not trust the people who are leading the AI moment to make decisions that will behoove the world. But I must admit, I'm not well versed in the world of AI and there's a lot I dont know
In the July 2024 issue of Harper’s Magazine there’s an article titled, “The Gods of Logic” by Benjamin Labatut describing the potential threat to humanity posed by AI. The article begins and ends with references to Frank Herbert’s “Dune” saga, in which mankind is described as having fought and won a desperate war against machine intelligence in the far distant past. “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free”, wrote Herbert. “But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” That is why in the world of “Dune” there are no robots and no computers, for humans had long since learned the dangers of delegating their thinking to machines.
I don’t know enough about AI to decide whether it is a genuine threat to humanity or not, though I don’t think we will ever be able to design a computer that has self-consciousness. No matter how complex or sophisticated, an assemblage of wires and circuits will never be anything more than an assemblage of wires and circuits—though I may well be advertising my own ignorance by making such a statement.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to ignore the experts in the field who speculate that the rapidly developing field of AI may pose risks that we are only now beginning to become aware of. The article presents one authority who speculates that the digital intelligence we are designing may one day decide it can dispense with the humans who created it. “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind” is the most important commandment of the world of “Dune”, one we should pay heed to before it is too late.
i'm going to have to check out the Labatut article! I find the prospect of AI a little alarming. Or rather, I do not trust the people who are leading the AI moment to make decisions that will behoove the world. But I must admit, I'm not well versed in the world of AI and there's a lot I dont know