The 'Galaxy' Poll: "Biological Intelligence is Only a Transitory Phenomenon"The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, TechFollow the Daily Galaxy « EcoAlert: Greenland Undergoing Extreme Record Ice Melt |Main| SPRAWL! What Our Future Will Look Like When Earth Hits Pop. 10 Billion »
July 25, 2012 The 'Galaxy' Poll: "Biological Intelligence is Only a Transitory Phenomenon"
"I think it very likely -in fact inevitable-that biological intelligence is only a transitory phenomenon, a fleeting phase in the evolution of intelligence in the universe."
Paul Davies -acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University.
What do you think?
Posted at 12:08 AM | Permalink
Comments
biological intelligence is not necessary.
Posted by:Sasuvius |October 26, 2010 at 12:37 AMIt's hard to know how to react to the Professor's statement. Speaking as one of the "transitory" types, his statement appears to attempt to minimize or demean the role of biological intelligence in the evolution of intelligence in the universe. Of course, we only know of the existence of biological intelligence -- us. We assume artificial intelligence is possible, but we have yet to create artificial intelligence or otherwise encounter it. If artificial intelligence is possible, and is the next step on road to evolving intelligence, we must assume that biological intelligence is a mandatory precursor -- a condition precedent -- before artificial intelligence can appear. Moreover, the Professor’s statement seems to skip over any concept of hybrid intelligence -- a combination of biological and artificial intelligence that might exceed the capabilities that either mode of intelligence possesses independently. Looking down the long road ahead -- assuming the survival of humanity in some form -- it is impossible to predict with any degree of confidence how we will evolve or how intelligence beyond humans might develop. My only suggestion to the Professor is not to write us off just yet. If evolution proves anything, it is that we are a resilient species and not one to be lightly regarded.
Posted by:stargazers |October 26, 2010 at 03:57 AMI think I'd like to hear more of what Dr. Davies has to say. On the face of it the remark seems stupid, but he could have something in mind, a context not included in this, that brings more sense than anyone would otherwise suspect.
Posted by:Bob Greenwade |October 26, 2010 at 07:23 AMyeah, i always thought Data was the coolest
Posted by:wendy |October 26, 2010 at 08:10 AMIt's pretty clear what he's saying. He's talking about AI.
Once we create that which can exceed us, we are - in our current form - no longer needed as far as intelligence is concerned.
Hence biological intelligence - humans in their present form - are a transitory phenominon.
Posted by:http://www.ConfessionsOfAManwhore.com |October 26, 2010 at 08:24 AMConfessor: What you say is what Dr. Davies is saying is the most likely, but I'd like to know Dr. Davies' reasoning before I write him off as a crackpot. The way you put it makes it sound sensible and even probable, but there are a number of specifics (like what's to be the fate of humanity and human culture) that I'd like to know in this.
Personally, as I ponder the question, I think we'll end up with a shared organic/machine society of sorts, though I don't even know if I'm on the same line as thought as Dr. Davies let alone the same page.
Posted by:Bob Greenwade |October 26, 2010 at 08:34 AMEvolution from "Unitary Intelligence" (my personal definition: in a social group, the restriction of information gathering and processing to each individual with only visual, tactile or smell communication between them, hence explaining our fascination and focus on digitizing information)is the next boundary to overcome in the evolution of biological "intelligence". The concept of a super-smart human, without mental linking of thought and reasoning is still a primitive notion of evolution of intelligence. Until biological intelligence evolves,or devolves, to extra-sensory, mind-linked communication amongst humans we are still nothing more than advanced, solitary apes. Super-evolved intelligence also would mean we humans should lose our predatory, combative instincts.
Posted by:resonanz |October 26, 2010 at 08:38 AMThe proponents of so-called "intelligent design" like to portray humanity as the apex of evolution, a species so advanced in design and function that it could have only been created by a deity. Yet as most any biologist, bioengineer or medical doctor will tell you, the human body is far from perfect and indeed contains many sub-optimal systems and design flaws. As human knowledge of how our bodies work continues to increase almost exponentially, and the field of bioengineering comes into maturity, it is obvious that there is a LOT that can be improved upon. And this includes the structure & functioning of that most important organ, the brain.
There are many problems that could be overcome by migrating from a biological platform (a "meat body") to a synthetic one. For starters, a synthetic body (& mind) would be pretty much immune to aging, biological diseases, and other failures like strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer's, and plaque build-ups. A synthetic body could run purely on electricity, derivable from any source, thus eliminating the need for food (which consumes large amounts of land and energy in its production), water and air. Make a synthetic body radiation-hardened & temperature resistant, and it could now survive in the vacuum of space, easily opening up most of the universe for colonization without the need for terraforming or life support. A synthetic body could be easily maintained, repaired, and just as importantly, upgraded. An artificial brain (which could be either an AI created from scratch, or an uploaded human brain) could be upgraded to eliminate mental illnesses, have much greater memory, think much more deeply, rationally and creatively, and be sped up to experience subjective time thousands or millions of times faster than a biological brain. (Or slower, for those long interstellar voyages.)
In short, while there are significant initial hurdles to transforming from a biological to post-biological civilization, once you do that the universe is your playground. Biological bodies are frail, resource-hungry and easily prone to aging and breakdown. Synthetic bodies could live indefinitely, and can overcome the great majority of shortcomings that meat-bodies are stuck with.
Once a civilization becomes advanced and intelligent enough to take its biology and evolution into its own hands, it seems like a rather short time (on evolutionary timescales) before it will abandon the biological form altogether for the many, many advantages of an "artificial" existence.
If given enough time to develop with millions of years of adaptation, and with asteriods and global change to clear out life as was previously known for chances of other life, it almost sounds inevitable that something like us in a way, was bound to happen some time or later on a instictual learning basis. Now to me, that doesn't mean that we are here to stay. It just means that we are here now, and have no benefits for survival more then the rest of the animals here on earth. Whether or not we stay alive is up to us and how much we really want to try.
Posted by:Justin |October 26, 2010 at 08:59 AMSure, biological intelligence is a soon-to-be-passed phase, but advancing "beyond" it is not likely to be a “natural” process: we will self-evolve with our own technological assistance.
Posted by:resonanz |October 26, 2010 at 09:10 AMI think biological intelligence is a example of an analog / physical manifestation of the logic inherent in a digital universe. Transitory? of course. Intelligence had to have come from somewhere, and it won´t last in its biological form.
Posted by:Juanito |October 26, 2010 at 10:42 AMHe may likely be referring to AI, and while we're all hoping for that singularity and an inevitable robot-pirate-zombie fallout that will ensue, there is nothing out there that suggests our own evolution won't have a singularity of sorts as well. We expect it to be slow, because that's all we have been able to observe and theorize at this point... but who is to say rapid genetic mutation, adaptation, and multiplication is only for the comic books? I say we start slamming the nanobots...I mean suckin them down left and right. They'll surely screw up, kill millions, but out of it, man will evolve into a biological machine-killing superhuman.
Posted by:David |October 26, 2010 at 04:40 PM@David:
I'm placing my bet that the machines will win!
AI? Is AI consequence of biological intelligence? Or is there life that we can't assume "biological", that can evolve in intelligence? We only know our world.
Posted by:Alvaro Medina |October 26, 2010 at 08:06 PMOpen the pod bay doors HAL.
Posted by:Baldessari |October 26, 2010 at 10:18 PMIntelligence in other words is the cosmic consciousness that is intrinsic and pervades this Universe and other parallel universes. Intelligence, as such, could not have been available at birth and nor do all living things have the same level of intelliegence and the ability to know things and act accordingly. Aurobindo writes about the 'supra mental' mind and in this regard he must be drawing our attention to the super consciousness which is the be all and end all of the universe. It appears that Eastern mystics may have been able to pierce through the fabric of space and time to look at consciousness in a different light than most of us can do it. Mysticism perhaps brings one closer to cosmic consciousness than other forms of humam endeavour. Science seems to also take a path that 'sound' is the promordial source of all creation. If so, the sound "OM !" that is prevalent in some religious thoughts may finally lead humans to the source of the Beginning and possibly the End.
Posted by:PARAMASVARAN Kandiah |October 27, 2010 at 04:10 AMSeems we're smart enough to cause the 6th extinction event.
We may not last long enough to see the great singularity
hell nah. yall can become androids, imma carry on the human race. Remember that there use to be many kinds of humanoids. Its only a matter of time and changes befor cyborgs can no longer be considered an actual human being or homo sapien.
Posted by:man |October 27, 2010 at 07:34 AMAndrew T, beautifully expresses what should be the ideal evolution of humanity; once the BRAIN and the conscience field are understood and fully developed. Great conclusion Andrew.
Posted by:Simon Salosny |October 27, 2010 at 08:34 AMWhat if evolution doesn't like machine intelligence very much. Maybe the movement will be toward intelligent energy states or hybrids of matter of energy.
Posted by:sensate |October 27, 2010 at 12:24 PMYoung races are like new drug addicts. They have confidence that they can handle it. But in the end, most of them can't. Homo sapiens sapiens has yet to prove itself capable of handling its new addictions. Evolution is what we call the million year moving average of the results. Best of luck to you. I suspect you will need it.
-Klaatu (Speaking on behalf of my earthling friend, Steve Bergman)
For billions of years life on the Earth was a slime of bacteria and then evolved into what we are today. If life itself was threatened enough on this Earth by our, "intelligent", actions at destruction, perhaps in order to survive life might just de-evolve back to a mass of seething slime.
Posted by:Kallex Wolf |October 27, 2010 at 06:07 PMSurvival favors reproductive capability above all else, including "intelligence". People think human intelligence ensures humanity's survival. It does not- we're just good at reproducing. The same goes for every other species on this planet. This is what the professor was getting at.
Posted by:Mike |October 27, 2010 at 06:56 PMIf we achieve a stage where we can turn ourselves into intelligent robot, do you really want to ? Perhaps those that chose regretted doing so only a few years later.
And if you can travel to different worlds, will there be a world more beautiful than our own ? More fascinating perhaps, but more endearing ? I don't think so.
This is probably the reason why other intelligent life has never reaches earth.
Leman said:
"""
If we achieve a stage where we can turn ourselves into intelligent robot, do you really want to ?
"""
Well, this has been explored in fiction. Dr. Who has the Cybermen. And in their 2005 series incarnation, they can actually die from the pain of being confronted with the humanity they have lost. Star Trek has the Borg. And "Hugh". And Seven of Nine, if you count Voyager as being Star Trek. Cyborgification doesn't seem to have done a lot for their emotional well being.
Then we have the Steve Austin, Jaime Sommers, and Max (the Dog). Steve and Jaime both had problems at first, but got used to it pretty quickly. (Max just liked running fast, and his improved mouth-grip.)
Then we have the Asimov take on robots. Andrew Martin, Stephen Byerly, R. Daneel, and R. Giskard are a nice assortment, with differing takes. Varying from wanting to be human, in a sort of "Commander Data" way, to simply wanting to assert their rights, as sentient beings, in a human world. Sometimes finding it necessary to go under cover, posing as real human beings.
But all these characters were created by... their storries told by... human beings.
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of Cyborg-authored literature from which to examine other perspectives.
So I guess we'll just have to wait for the first robotic Gertrude Stein, and see what she has to say.
-Steve
Posted by:Steve Bergman |October 28, 2010 at 09:05 AMPost a comment
Name:
Email Address: (Not displayed with comment.)
URL:
Remember personal info?
Comments:« EcoAlert: Greenland Undergoing Extreme Record Ice Melt |Main| SPRAWL! What Our Future Will Look Like When Earth Hits Pop. 10 Billion »
var ACE_AR = {Site: '774230', Size: '120600'};
var ACE_AR = {Site: '770549', Size: '300250'};
Our Partners
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js'%3E%3C/script%3E"));COMSCORE.beacon({ c1: 2, c2: "6035669", c3: "", c4: "http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/the-daily-poll-what-do-you-think-biological-intelligence-is-only-a-transitory-phenomenon.html", c5: "", c6: "", c15: ""});
View the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق