Here on Earth, evolution has produced in humans and other animals a creature that has self-awareness and feels pain and fear. Yet it seems that evolution could have produced a creature without self-awareness and feelings, but which was nevertheless able to evaluate and act on sensory input to avoid threats, to propagate its genetic material, and to communicate for its own benefit and the benefit others of its own kind, the same as we do. For instance, such a creature might cry in pain when injured for the simple reason that it attracts help or warns others of danger, so it seems that consciousness and feelings are entirely superfluous. If we were to encounter some extra-terrestrial species, how would we know which of these kinds of evolved creature it is?
A good implementation of artificial intelligence could work tirelessly, first to create better and more compact versions of AI machines, to discover more effective algorithms and paradigms for problem solving, and ultimately to solve all of Man's problems. A rapid evolution from its advent to a virtually godlike intelligence could be a matter of just a few years. Therefore, it seems silly to suggest that any extra-terrestrial intelligence could have the slightest interest in us, unless it was motivated only by sympathy to alleviate our suffering. It would have solved all of its own problems, and full comprehension of life on Earth would take just a few brief seconds of advanced thought. Though there is always the possibility that it might want to hinder the development of a dangerous competitor to itself at some time in Earth's future, either by Earth's intentionally or accidentally unleashing some rogue artificial intelligence. Thus, monitoring of nearby space might justify a significant allocation of its resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment