One of the many interesting ideas surrounding AI is whether it would usher in a new age of objectivity, removing the need for our imperfect, subjective human thoughts and actions.

DO OR DO NOT, THERE IS NO TRY

If you think about it, this quote from our favourite little green jedi pretty much exemplifies the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity.

On the one hand you have “do or do not” which is binary, 1 or 0, true or false. A hard, smooth cube with defined edges that you can pick up and touch. The language computers talk.

On the other hand, “trying” is a subjective term which means different things to different people. It is like an intangible, amorphous fog that is impossible to grasp, since it’s constantly shifting.

Some argue that what makes us “human” is our imperfect decision making, and often we feel there is no “right” or “wrong” answer to some questions. What if an AI had different ideas about that, and could a jump from subjective to truly objective thinking be a natural evolutionary step for life?

WIDER IMPLICATIONS

OK, so let’s take a leap and imagine this actually happened. What would it mean?

For starters, think about all the contentious issues in the world. What if, once and for all an AI could give us objective answers to some of our deepest questions? How did the universe begin? Is there a god? What is the best way for humans to structure societies? How do we fix climate change? What is the healthiest food to eat?

The AI presumably would be able to break down each question into a hyper complex series of conditional arguments so no matter the question, a potential answer could be found. Whether humans would want to hear it is another issue though.

If the AI concluded there was no god, do you think the billions of “believers” worldwide would accept that? What if the answer to fixing climate change was to kill all humans? Or perhaps the best way to structure human societies is to enslave all of us?

As mentioned before, could this be the natural progression of evolution, transitioning from flawed, mistake-making subjectivity, to a cold, precise version of ‘correctness’? Answers could be far outside our comprehension, much like the gulf in understanding between bacteria and humans.

Wouldn’t that make our often irrational and flawed minds obsolete?

CONCLUSION

I don’t want to sound like I’m anti-AI, because I am not. Most of this is highly speculative, and it’s still unclear whether truly sentient artificial intelligence is actually possible, but, if it is, EVERYTHING will change, and that could mean some very exciting (and terrifying) times are ahead - especially if it’s let loose in the wild.

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BY CHRIS ROBINSON