Books: Michio Kaku - Physics of the Future - AI

In the second chapter there are also some very interesting developments. The most astounding part for me is how some of the technologies are already pictured in Science-Fiction series like Star Trek or Stargate.

He describes two main paths that are possible.

The first scenario is the development of robots. Some of them already exist today like ASIMO, KISMET or Deep Blue. But they lack a lot of the abilities of human beings, especially in pattern recognition and intuition. Our best robots can mimic a cockroach at best.

So instead of trying to make a human robot they will exist a lot of specialised robots. I think this would be the best way, because humans are good generalists, so why not use the strength of machines to be good at one task to counterbalance the lack of humans in that field.

I found especially interesting the idea of little intelligent robotic blocks that con connect to different shapes and in that way perform tasks in terrains that are difficult to access. It reminded me so much of the Replicators of Stargate. It is currently researched at the University of Southern California by Wei-min Shen.

The author also deals with the issue whether robots can become evil and overpower us. But I don't think this will happen either, because we can program the robots and will always integrate some switch off. Furthermore the development of very intelligent robots isn't happening from one day to another, but gradually. So we have time to prepare.

I also doubt whether robots actually will become like humans, because for that you would have to create technologically the human brain, i.e. one transistor for each neuron. But if you do that, it's like making a human and this would raise different problems. If it is and acts like a human, can you actually program it our would it be independent and self-learning? Would if have any use? Would it be morally okay to send a human-like robot into dangerous situations in order to save human life?

I think it would be more useful to have special robots for special tasks and so playing to their strength.

The second scenario he describes is the merger with robots or replacing of body parts with robotic elements. In my opinion this is a likely path we will take due to different reasons. Again it is easier to develop specialised robots than generalists. You can replace parts of ears, eyes or hands with robotic elements if they start to decay. The author describes also the more extreme ways possible, until the point where our whole consciousness is transferred into the virtual world. But I agree with him that this is not likely to happen, because apart from the humans taking care of their appearances this would also mean the end of humanity due to lack of reproduction...

But again replacing part of the body with robotic elements reminded me a lot of the Borg from Star Trek... Hopefully we will never take that last step.

This emphasises a lot the idea that everything humans can imagine will eventually come true.