Page 93 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

3.5.1 Identity, Morality and Ethics

The mind-boggling innovations triggered by the fourth industrial revolution,
from biotechnology to AI, are redefining what it means to be human. They

are pushing the current thresholds of lifespan, health, cognition and
capabilities in ways that were previously the preserve of science fiction. As
knowledge and discoveries in these fields progress, our focus and
commitment to having ongoing moral and ethical discussions is critical. As

human beings and as social animals, we will have to think individually and
collectively about how we respond to issues such as life extension, designer
babies, memory extraction and many more.

At the same time, we must also realize that these incredible discoveries
could also be manipulated to serve special interests – and not necessarily

those of the public at large. As theoretical physicist and author Stephen
Hawking and fellow scientists Stuart Russell, Max Tegmark and Frank
Wilczek wrote in the newspaper The Independent when considering the
implications of artificial intelligence: “Whereas the short-term impact of AI

depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can
be controlled at all…All of us should ask ourselves what we can do now to
improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks”. 60

One interesting development in this area is OpenAI, a non-profit AI
research company announced in December 2015 with the goal to “advance

digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a
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whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return”. The initiative
– chaired by Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, and Elon Musk, CEO
of Tesla Motors - has secured $1 billion in committed funding. This

initiative underscores a key point made earlier – namely, that one of the
biggest impacts of the fourth industrial revolution is the empowering
potential catalyzed by a fusion of new technologies. Here, as Sam Altman
stated, “the best way AI can develop is if it’s about individual

empowerment and making humans better, and made freely available to
everyone.” 62

The human impact of some particular technologies such as the internet or
smart phones is relatively well understood and widely debated among
experts and academics. Other impacts are so much harder to grasp. Such is

the case with AI or synthetic biology. We may see designer babies in the
near future, along with a whole series of other edits to our humanity – from

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