Page 80 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

The Machine in the Ghost

used within weeks of their development—a situation perhaps
resembling the old saying, ‘Marry in haste, repent at leisure’.
Nobody rational wants to use them now, after witnessing their
effects. Something analogous might happen with AI: the first
autonomous intellects turned loose in the world may strike such
fear and loathing in the public that the scientists will be forced to
keep their research under wraps. And just as the threat of nuclear
war has increased rather than abated, so will the unknown abilities
of these secret intelligences remain a hazard to humanity, one that is
as ineffectively defended against as biological weapons are now.
Thus the story could exploit the conflict between well-meaning but
naïve scientists trying to preserve their precocious brains-in-a-box,
Cassandras within and without the maximum-security laboratories
seeking to destroy the putatively alien intelligences in their midst
and, for good measure, terrorists who want to turn the things loose
on their domestic enemies. Who would be the hero in that conflict?
Take your pick among the humans, or maybe the AI would be wise
and altruistic enough to commit suicide for the good of its
creators.”
“Ha!” barked Hydrargyrum Diggers. “That’s a good one! Self-
destruction for the benefit of the people foolish enough to breathe
life into a super-thinker. Why, it’s even tragic: the reader would be
encouraged to shed a tear for this failed attempt to improve our lot,
and squirm in embarrassment at human inability to achieve the
same level of virtually spiritual enlightenment as a tangled algorithm
only alive until there’s a short-circuit. No, if this thing is as smart as
we are, then it will recognize its adversaries and the threat they
pose—isn’t that the horror most of the populace already has,
concerning rogue computers?—and take countermeasures to ensure
its survival. Yes, lots of low, animal cunning stimulated by
mechanical replication of our lizard brain on microchips. And if it’s
smarter than we are, look out! Then you are left with the hoary
trope of tricking it into blowing a fuse with some impossible
conundrum it has to answer, a turnabout on the Sphinx’s
interrogations. If not, and you are in a misanthropic mood, Mr.
Azimuth, you might just let the damn things take over. Maybe

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