I refuse to accept the idea that we, humans, could soon build machines similar or, even worse, superior to us - machines that would think, understand, solve problems, have consciousness, experience pleasure and pain, feel emotions… and compete with us. In the domains of physiology, however, twenty-first-century science fiction seems to be much more hard science than bizarre fiction. Many futurologists are quite aggressive in their predictions and a few argue that computers not only will leave us behind us but they will also overpower us. Inventor Ray Kurzweil predicts that humans will be producing self-conscious robots by 2030 and that by 2046 computers we will outdo us. I hope not.
Software and hardware designers have generally programmed
computer systems following standard logic, as created through time by brains that
are identical to those of the designers. In other words, today's computer
systems, however powerful they are, are just imitatators of our reasoning
faculty, one of the top qualities of human beings.
Now some ambitious visionaries, who call themselves 'neuromorphic
engineers', are targeting the design of computers, not to create machines operating
as one of the qualities of the brain (that is, not as followers of the rules of
logic) but as the owners of such quality ( that is, as the brain itself).
Instead of imitating their properties, neuromorphic engineers hope to build
devices that operate as ‘brains’.
According to Karlheinz Meier, a physicist at the
University of Heidelberg and one of the leaders of the new branch of
engineering, to achieve such ambitious goal the revolutionary machines should display
at least three characteristics that our brain does have and current computers do
not: (1) low power consumption, (2) fault tolerance, and (3) self-learning capability.
While our brain consumes just twenty watts, any super -computer spends
megawatts. While a faulty transistor can cripple a microprocessor, neurons
repair themselves and, in selected brain regions, the nervous system may replace
the dying ones. While intelligent computers must be programmed to learn, brains
are self-learners by nature.
There are generous budgets and ambitious projects on
neuromorphic engineering. There is going to be extraordinary progress both in
robotics, in general, and in bioelectronics (the application of electronics in
biological processes), in particular. Astounding developments in specialized equipment
to support specific physiological functions—vision, hearing, mobility,
artificial organs—will keep surprising us.
The list of Dr. Meier, however, is directional but not
complete. It is obvious that our brains’ processing speed and data storage capacity
cannot compete with the super-machines’ power in those areas. Life and
consciousness, however, are well beyond the scope of today's science. I doubt
that, between now and 2046, scientists will be able to create devices that
simulate our sensitivity to pleasure and pain, or the emotions and feelings from
there resulting.
It is good if this does not happen. Feelings encompass
love and hatred, as well as altruism and greed. Those who watched "2001: A
Space Odyssey ", the 1968 movie of film director Stanley Kubrick and
novelist Arthur C. Clarke, might remember HAL, the computer that ‘plays’ in the
movie, has emotions and, at some point, rebels against the ship’s crew and
kills one of the travelers. In the same way as HAL wanted to take command of
the spaceship, some futurists believe that robots will try to dominate the
world, once they overpower us, that is, they will display, with more intensity,
our hatred and greed—faults these that in modern humans seem to shade love and
altruism.
HAL did not materialize in 2001 and I do not believe
the 2046 super-machines will fall in love or jump joyfully when their sport
team scores. (Will they have a favorite team?) Unless they are programmed to
act so, they will never swear or shout if someone hits them hard enough to
break a few of their integrated circuits. Consequently, I am confident that, if
the computers of the future are unable to display such behaviors, much less will
they want to take over the Planet.
Gustavo Estrada
Author of Inner
Harmony through Mindfulness Meditation
Gustrada1@gmail.com
