The next creature
July 21st 2007 08:37
I really think that analysing things as man vs machine is to totally misunderstand the relationship. Nonetheless lots of people look at it in this way. So let's play with it and see what we get.
Well, it is clear then that if it is to be an evolutionary battle of man vs machine (where 'machine' is broadly understood to include computers and others of our artefacts which are not stricly mechanical) then we will lose, and pretty soon. But what's interesting is to think about how this new creature which will beat us for top spot will evolve.
Often we think of it as being the result of humanity, that we will create it and it will be our successor, not our children. But I think there's another way to look at its evolution, it has its own parallel evolution which is really quite independent when you look at broader trends. If we think that we are in control of technological evolution, that we decide its pace, its uses and whether or not it proceeds, then we couldn't be further from the truth.
Technological evolution is its own independent process travelling along at a very reliable rate of acceleration. Sure, humans are responsible for individual instances of the processes and stages in this evolution, but we do so in a weak sense. We do so in the sense that if one person turns around and decides not to do it, another person will just as easily take their place. Even if a whole country or group of countries decide not to proceed with certain technologies, someone somewhere always goes ahead and does it anyway. This was seen quite clearly around the issue of cloning.
So the new creature which some might like to call the machine which is about to assume its place at the head of the evolutionary heirarchy will do so exactly at the point when it becomes responsible for instanciating its own destiny, rather than relying on us. One day we will create an intelligent computer which can improve itself and increase its own intelligence, and then that will be the end of our short careers as technology makers, because it will be better than us at making technologies.
That creature will not be the progeny of the person/peoplee who create it. Rather it shall be the progeny of the research they were conducting, the research esentially is a proto-organism, evolving itself to an independent status.
What do you reckon? Are we just along for the ride, in the same way that sheep, cattle and dogs are just along for the ride with our evolutionary journey? Is technology at the top of the evolutionary ladder? will it ever be?
Well, it is clear then that if it is to be an evolutionary battle of man vs machine (where 'machine' is broadly understood to include computers and others of our artefacts which are not stricly mechanical) then we will lose, and pretty soon. But what's interesting is to think about how this new creature which will beat us for top spot will evolve.
Often we think of it as being the result of humanity, that we will create it and it will be our successor, not our children. But I think there's another way to look at its evolution, it has its own parallel evolution which is really quite independent when you look at broader trends. If we think that we are in control of technological evolution, that we decide its pace, its uses and whether or not it proceeds, then we couldn't be further from the truth.
Technological evolution is its own independent process travelling along at a very reliable rate of acceleration. Sure, humans are responsible for individual instances of the processes and stages in this evolution, but we do so in a weak sense. We do so in the sense that if one person turns around and decides not to do it, another person will just as easily take their place. Even if a whole country or group of countries decide not to proceed with certain technologies, someone somewhere always goes ahead and does it anyway. This was seen quite clearly around the issue of cloning.
So the new creature which some might like to call the machine which is about to assume its place at the head of the evolutionary heirarchy will do so exactly at the point when it becomes responsible for instanciating its own destiny, rather than relying on us. One day we will create an intelligent computer which can improve itself and increase its own intelligence, and then that will be the end of our short careers as technology makers, because it will be better than us at making technologies.
That creature will not be the progeny of the person/peoplee who create it. Rather it shall be the progeny of the research they were conducting, the research esentially is a proto-organism, evolving itself to an independent status.
What do you reckon? Are we just along for the ride, in the same way that sheep, cattle and dogs are just along for the ride with our evolutionary journey? Is technology at the top of the evolutionary ladder? will it ever be?
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