Final Frontiers -- Brave New Worlds -- Giant Leaps of Faith

Rather than my usual rant, let's take a flight of totally wanton whimsy and flagrant speculation regarding the future of artificial intelligence (AI).  Hope you find it entertaining.

A little something about AI

Computer folk like to talk/argue about AI, does it exist, could it ever?  Of course, the witty would immediately quip, "I hope so, that'd be the only way to ever get any intelligence into Washington," or perhaps, "Well,  it is the only hope for truly intelligent life on earth."  But seriously...    Supposedly, the classic test for knowing when we've achieved AI is when a computer can engage in an extended chat with a human and the human can't tell whether it's chatting with man or machine. 

Synthetic Soul anyone?

Be that as it may, the term AI doesn't really describe what most people are curious about anyway:  whether you can create (to borrow a phrase from a now defunct TV show) a synthetic soul.  An entity that is self aware, can experience love and hate, joy and sorrow, has free will, and can make independent choices.  Many will no doubt respond, "Impossible, never ever!"  My opinion is you should never say never.  If for no other reason than that we don't know for sure what a soul is or whether it even exits.  Religious people will say yes it does, it comes from God, and can never be synthesized.  I'm not particularly religious so for me the question will remain open until proven otherwise.

You are Nothing!

I always intended to write an article with the teaser title:   You are Nothing, Man is Nothing, Everybody that ever was is Nothing.  Because...  All the atoms and molecules that make up your body are not you, they're just there to generate and sustain the complex electrical patterns in the brain that are.  We all are simply brain waves without mass or substance.  As far as I know, when a person dies, there is no instantaneous change in corporeal mass.  QED ;-) Could something else (i.e. a synthetic neural network made of silicon chips, graphite, artificial biopolymers, whatever) generate and sustain such waveforms?  Once again, "Never say never!"  That's my motto.

We've come a long way from Peg Legs and Hooks.

Now to start a completely different thread.  Prosthetics is an active area of research.  Prosthetic devices for limbs, joints, organs, etc. that are equal to or even better than the originals are coming, or in some cases, already here.  The first steps in direct brain control of artificial limbs are being taken.  Rudimentary artificial eyes and ears are being developed.  Custom grown organs tailored just for you are envisioned.  Perhaps even better, expect artificial organs (hearts, kidneys, livers, etc.) to be developed that are as small (and mobile) as the originals but have much better performance and are immune to disease.

Admit it, We'd all like to be Superman.

Where will it end -- artificial everything?  Perhaps yes.  If you can develop artificial limbs and organs that are better than the originals, it's not hard to imagine developing a robotic body upon which you stick a human head.  Now, I don't think we'll do that (a fragile human head on an otherwise indestructible body could be very dangerous to the person so afflicted).   Once we have the technology to actually do that, it would make more sense to immediately proceed to the next level:  open the skull, take out the brain, and install it in a complete robot body so that the fragile brain is completely shielded by a super strong artificial skull.  At this point you would be literally superman:   faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive,  and able to leap tall buildings with a single bound.  Wow!

You wouldn't believe the Miss Universe of the Future

Now--many people might say, "Well yeah, but who wants to be stuck in a clunky metallic robot body?  Well--that is so 20th century thinking about robots.  We're talking 21st century androids, which would be anything but clunky.  You could look and sound perfectly human, covered in way tougher than Kevlar artificial skin and hair that would look and feel absolutely real.  Or not.  With a custom made android body you could look and sound however you please.  Sky's the limit. Your android body would be incredibly tactile and exquisitely sensitive, even sensual -- literally a body to die for ;-)  This is no longer science fantasy, but Jules Verne science fiction, we can see it, it's coming, certainly within the next generation or two.

I (Eye?) Robot

Let's describe just one facet of your marvelous new android body in detail:  your robotic eye(s)(one or more, whatever number you choose).  You would have perfect vision, at any distance.  In addition, you would have microscopic vision, capable of seeing the smallest details.  And telescopic vision that would allow you to sit out on a warm summer's night and enjoy every nuance of the shadows on the moon, watch the satellites of Jupiter go round and round, enjoy the rings of Saturn, and gaze at far off galaxies and look back to the dawn of time.

But wait, there's more!  Your human eye can see only a wafer thin slice of the electromagnetic spectrum.  We don't see a whole lot more of it than we do.  Your robotic eye would not suffer such limitations, you'd be able to see everything from gamma rays to power waves.  Either all at once, or what ever segment is appropriate.  Violet to red if you want a normal looking world, infrared for night vision, and, of course, you would have x-ray vision on demand.  Your other senses would be similarly enhanced.  Imagine what it would be like to experience the world in its entirety and truly get the Big Picture. 

A Chain is only as strong as its Weakest Link

But wait, there's still more, and it gets even better!  Let's start tying the threads together.  The weak link of course is still the brain, though well protected, it's still fragile.  The fact that there is no physical you (remember, you are but a pattern of brain waves sashaying hither and thither through an organic support matrix) begs the question -- could some other type of support matrix be developed for you?  An artificial  support matrix just as (if not more) capable of generating and sustaining (and storing) your brain patterns and addition was immune to all earthy diseases and aging.  If your brain could be drained into this new host (virtually indestructible android body with a super tough artificial brain) you'd be damn near immortal!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Would the brain drain be a copy or a move? If it's a copy you could clone yourself on demand.  Interesting, but frightening, and certainly unsettling.  I imagine most people wouldn't want exact copies of themselves floating around ready to pop out of the woodwork.  A move would be philosophically more satisfying.  You're either here or there but not both.  Interesting question.

The Final Frontier

Now if you could drain your brain, at will, it leads to more intriguing possibilities.  If you get tired of the body you're in, trade it in.  Tired of being a man?  Be a woman for a while.  Wonder what it'd be like to run around on all fours and bay at the moon?  Easily arranged.  The possibilities are endless, but here's one more.  The only type of transporter (a la Star Trek) that I see as even remotely feasible, would be one that transmits your brain wave pattern encoded on some type of communications wave to a remote receiver.   Once received, you could then be placed in any convenient unoccupied android.  For example, once we've established colonies on other planets and moons it would make interplanetary travel a breeze.  You could beam to Jupiter and back in an afternoon.  Isn't rampant speculation fun?

Brave New Worlds and Leaps of Faith

So here we are.  Mankind is poised at the brink of immortality.  Somebody's got to be first.  To boldly go where no man has gone before, to take a giant leap of faith into a brave new world -- the 100% android body.

Now back to the beginning, is there/could there be such a thing as AI, and how could/would you tell --  absolutely for sure?  Once your brain is drained, how do we know that you really made it?  How do we know it's really you in there and not some silicon chip AI imposter that, armed with all your knowledge and memories, can do a perfect imitation of you?  If the religious folk are right and there really is a soul, it probably wouldn't drain.  So what would be there:  a wolf in perfect sheep's clothing - a terminator - or perhaps a truly superior being devoid of all human nastiness?  Gives pause for thought.  Remember, you heard it here first!