Perhaps because I’m a Taurus and as a bull I tend to run, stubbornly, recklessly, toward the ominous red capes I see being flashed in front of me  instead of away from them, as more reasonable people do, but I’ve been drawn lately to the issue of AI, as in: Will artificial intelligence ultimately be the death of us?

(Stock photo from Pixabay)

This new obsession has, thankfully, taken my mind off of the many recent horrors we’ve all been faced with – the results of the U.S. election, the upcoming presidential inauguration, the thought of cruel mass deportations, ever-higher U.S. inflation, and the other ensuing Trump-led devastation (such as, to the Constitution). No, my mind has, mercifully, leap-frogged right over all of that and landed on the very real possibility in the not-too-distant future of human extinction.

Except for those few AI kingpins who’ve prepared for this likely eventuality by building bunkers and such, this extinction will not play favorites. It will affect all of us, regardless of national or political affiliation, language, skin color, education, caste. It’ll be lights-out for all humankind. Think about that.

I’m reading a book along these lines, which I’m finding fascinating and which I highly recommend. Its title says it all: OUR FINAL INVENTION: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era. This book, by James Barrat, was a bestseller when it came out in 2013. My new copy has an introductory chapter that updates the contents to 2023. As Barrat writes in this new intro:

“Here on the brink of the Intelligence Explosion we’ll only remain in control for so long. Then AI will be in control. Blinded by riches and hubris, the tech bro CEOs have set the table for a feast whose main course is us.”

This prospect, as harrowing as it is, tends to put things in perspective for me. Trump? Temporary! There are bigger – much bigger – issues to be faced just up ahead.

So I’ve set a goal for myself to read a stack — four, to be exact — of good books on the subject and treat this intellectual pursuit like a self-designed university course I’m determined to pass. Besides Barrat’s, the other books on my reading list so far are: THE AGE OF AI, by Kissinger, et al; THE UNSEEN DANGERS OF AI’S UNSTOPPABLE RISE, by Diego; and THE COMING WAVE, by Suleyman. At the end of this course I don’t expect to be an expert on AI’s threats, by any means — just a better informed citizen of the world.

That’s the kind of book-lover I am: I run to books with open arms when I need help or guidance. Like the time, a little over ten years ago, when I was considering retiring to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. I ordered five books from Amazon on the subject, read them all in quick succession, and was soon on my way down here. All my life, I confess, I’ve found books to be more solid and dependable guides than people.

I’ve never read a Sci-Fi book, though. And I’ve never once watched a Sci-Fi movie. As a Taurus, I’m a devout Earthling for whom such things as outer space, extraterrestrials, and cyborgs hold no interest. But this possible (probable?) technological takeover no longer feels like out-there fiction to me. It’s more like the fulfilment of a prophesy. 

One evening in the late ‘70s, in a science class at Columbia held in a large, amphitheater-like classroom filled with my fellow Liberal Arts students (this survey course was lovingly dubbed “Science for Poets”), the professor, a well-respected man in his field who, strutting back and forth, appeared to relish his role as showman, told us students, matter-of-factly, that one day, likely within our lifetimes, computers will take over the world. Human beings will at first become computers’ slaves, and then we’ll become extinct.

From that moment on I regarded computers warily and resisted them mightily. But even I, as wary and stubbornly resistant as I’ve been over these forty-plus years, have succumbed to computer technology’s power and encroachment. Where would I be now without my research assistant, Google, and my extensive personal library on Kindle? I, too, have become dependent on computer intelligence. We’ve all become swept up in it. The whole thing feels inevitable to me.

So what?, you ask? What can any of us DO about this eventuality? Good questions. I plan to keep reading and thinking before I venture any answers. I’m way, way too low on the learning curve right now.  

This particular red cape is taunting me, though. Before ASI (Automated Superintelligence), which will be hundreds (thousands?) of times more intelligent than any human being, takes over – which may be just a few (five? ten?) years away — I need to use what little intelligence I have to charge ahead like the bull I am with my eyes wide open.