“The most important function of nanotechnology in the human body will be the expansion of the brain, which will eventually become non -biological in 99%.” This is written in his last book The main and visionary researcher of artificial intelligence (AI) in Google, Ray Kurzweil. To put a title to the work it does not seem to have resorted to any sophisticated tool. If in 2005 he published that ‘the singularity is close’, now he concludes that ‘the singularity is closer’.
In its almost 500 pages, Ray Kurzweil describes the events and milestones that can approach us to that moment when we almost merge with the machines. But let’s give him a vote of trust. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, says of Kurzweil that “is the best predicting the future of AI.” The also founder of the University of the Singularity of Silicon Valley with Google and NASA forecasts that by 2029 the AI will exceed the levels of the human mind, and that by 2045 it will expand human intelligence “one million times in unimaginable forms by connecting our brains directly to the cloud.”
Clarifies from the beginning that this book addresses the final phase of approach to singularity. Posts to offer a definition of that state, explains that “singularity is the creation of a superior being modified by genetic engineering, fed and sponsored by AI and interconnected with other brains.” Kurzweil acknowledges that he uses the term as a metaphor for “our inability to understand such a radical change with the current level of intelligence of the human species.”
It admits from the beginning of the book that “many technological challenges are still to be resolved before reaching singularity.” But he is confident that nanotechnology will expand the human brain with new layers of virtual neurons in the cloud. “In this way, we will merge with AI and expand our skills with a calculation power that will multiply the capacities that nature gave us for several million.”
“During the next decade, people will interact with an AI that will really seem like a human being, and the simplest brain-ardent interfaces will have a great impact on everyday life, similar to smartphones at the present time.” It also admits that we will all face various dangers for the misuse, accidental or intention, of these new capabilities. But it makes it clear that “if we can face the scientific, ethical, social and political challenges that these advances will raise, in 2045 we will deeply transform life into the earth.”
After listing all the advances achieved in recent years, he acknowledges that we are on the right track to be able to recreate those abilities of the Neocortex one day. It justifies this progress due to the improvement of the price-reflection of the calculation power, which greatly lowers the training of large neuronal networks, as well as the growing availability of broader and more valuable data and improved algorithms.
In his book, Ray Kurzweil uses different images or examples to show where we are going. “It is much more useful and precise to see human intelligence as an abundant set of different cognitive skills. We share some, such as the ability to recognize ourselves before a mirror, with intelligent animals such as elephants or chimpanzees. Others, such as composing music, are exclusive to humans, but they vary greatly between people. When we develop an AI with the necessary knowledge in programming so that it is attributed more capacities in this field positive feedback loop, “he announces.
But will that integration with the machines possible taking into account that a human brain retains the same structure from the stone age? Kurzweil has an answer for everything: “When we can expand the Neocortex, during the 2030s and 2040s, we will not only add more power to the brain to solve abstract problems, but we will also be increasing the depth of our own subjective experience.” And he admits acts that in that incorporation of the AI ”we are also going to rebuild ourselves.”
From what we read in this book, not only the singularity is closer, but “the merger with a superintelligent AI will be a very valuable conquest” that we must understand as the first step towards a more intense evolution: “When the human brain can be stored in a more advanced digital substrate, the power to modify ourselves can materialize at all.”
It also predicts that “when nanotechnology allows engineering at the molecular scale, we will be able to create much more advanced artificial bodies than biology allows us.” We ask ourselves then if that evolution will be available equally for all human beings or if only for those privileged who can pay it for it. “Some people will express their moral reserves for inequality issues. One of the usual criticisms of these predictions is that only the rich can afford the technologies for the radical prolongation of life. My answer is to appeal to the history of the mobile phone. There is no doubt that you had to be very rich to allow you a mobile phone only 30 years ago, and the truth is that those devices did not work too well. Mobile and serve to do many more things than a simple call. information”. It concludes on this point that we will almost never compete against artificial intelligence, just as we do not compete with smartphones.
The changes are perhaps closer than we could think. Kurzweil writes that the 2030s will mark the beginning of the third phase of the extension of life, which will consist of using nanotechnology to overcome the limitations of biological organs. “Medical Nanorobots will be able to examine each cell and determine whether it is carcinogenic or not, and then destroy all the evil ones. When the nanorobots can repair or selectively destroy each concrete cell, we can completely dominate our own biology,” Barrunta Barrunta this visionary.
He explains then that “the most important function of nanotechnology in the human body will be the extension of the brain, which will eventually become biological in 99%.” These nanorobots in brain tissue could be used to repair damage or replace neurons that have stopped working. He also thinks about the possibility that by connecting the brain to computers, he would offer the possibility of controlling a machine with thought.
The visionary of the AI on Google does not forget the possible dangers because just like all those advances “they will improve billions of lives, they will also increase the risks for our species.” He adds that “there are good reasons to believe that our civilization will exceed all the dangers; not because the threats are not real, but because what we are playing is much is.”
Put to cite examples of new threats, speak of nanotechnological weapons that could include tiny drones that provide a poison to their objectives without being detected; Nanorobots that enter the body through water or an aerosol and destroy it from within; or systems that selectively attack certain groups of people with a certain description.
“At present, we are already a man-machine civilization. In the end, the most relevant measure that we can adopt so that AI is safe is to protect and improve human governance and social institutions. The best way to avoid a destructive conflict in the future is to promote the progress of ethical ideals, which have already reduced violence considerably in recent decades and centuries,” he concludes.
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