Gemini AI

Artificial intelligence in the news

This seems to be getting a lot of mention. Actually, I don't see the point of it. Artificial intelligence isn't intelligence. People may be making the mistake of thinking that computers can actually think. But what can computers really do? In short, what does the computer bring to the game, and how does that stack up with natural intelligence?

What actually defines intelligence? There is a test called the Turing Test, which claims to determine if a machine can "think". The wikipedia linked above didn't interest me much beyond the first few paragraphs. Perhaps I shouldn't have linked it. But it will give something of a rundown of what the Turing test is. An FYI of sorts. I prefer to know what I'm talking about even when I don't.

Perhaps you can give humans a Turing Test. Maybe the humans really aren't human. ha ha

Seriously, computers can only do what's put into them. A bunch of chess masters can program a computer that can beat the finest chess grandmasters. But does that mean that the machine can think? Here's something to consider. What about novel situations? What would a computer do in a novel situation if its programming wasn't designed to handle a certain kind of input?

If a computer could devise a way to handle novel situations, and do it as well as a person could, I think I would be impressed. But not yet.

In the Terminator movies that made the Governator a blockbuster actor, the computers were said to have gotten "smart". Yet, in a class I took towards the end of my college days, an instructor opined that a computer cannot become self-aware. If a computer cannot become self-aware, then how can it become truly intelligent? The thought seems to have crossed the minds of certain film-makers. At the moment, I tend to agree with the intructor.

To explain a little further, a self-awareness means that the computer knows it's "alive". An insect knows that much. Can any computer even match insect levels of intelligence? In the movie, the computer became self-aware, and then sought to fight back any attempts to shut it down. That could be a sign of self-awareness if a computer recognized a novel situation such as that, and conjured up a plan to respond to it. It would entail some emotion in order to have motives. For example, If you try to pull the plug on it, it will perceive its existence as being threatened, and it may well retaliate. In the movie, the computers launched a nuclear attack that brought about "Judgment Day". Such a move could very well be considered "intelligent". Would a human do that? Maybe. A couple nukes got dropped on Japan.

Should we all be concerned about that?

I'd be more than a bit concerned about an over-reliance upon computers to do your thinking for you. After all, a computer does not think. Not yet, that is.

There is another possibility. Cybernetic activities could be initiated. A cybernetic organism combines human qualities with a machine qualities. The advantage of machines is its computational speed. Attach that to humans, and you may have enhanced human existence. The best of both worlds, so to speak. Or the worst. Name your poison.

Such could be happening now. Seems that I've read about enhanced human existence via machines.

As for Gemini news, I tend to discount that. More than likely, the artificial intelligence features now in existence may well be used to control human populations. The motives for that are in the political sphere. But in order to avoid accountability, the politicans as string-pullers and the controllers will blame the computers. However, computers are not that smart, nor are they likely to ever be. There's somebody pulling the strings behind the curtain. But are people smart enough to perceive that they are being taken for a ride?

Humans don't have Turing tests, but there are other tests. Those tests do not have to be formal. The real test is when or if the Skynet scenario plays out. Then we get to see if the computers win, or we do.