Why I consider machine domination of humans inevitable

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Barring nuke war or other barbaric collapse, the logic of machine takeover is simple and ineluctable. It is exactly the same Darwinian logic that has destroyed, decimated, or enslaved the (human) native cultures, wilderness areas, and animal species of Earth.

Think Aztecs and grizzly bears, that's the picture without much mental strain.

Probably it will appear first in child-rearing. Consider (if anybody is reading this!) are you allowed to raise/keep Bengal tigers, Andean condors, or white rhinos in your neighborhood or domicile ? No ? Ok, why not ? There are some practical issues of course, but what it boils down to is: expertise. There has been mountains of research on these animals how best to keep, house, feed, medicate, etc. The average private citizen is not knowledgeable about this. Raising such creatures is the domain of government-licensed experts, who indeed are allowed the privelege of keeping such creatures, since they have the relevant training and operate under supervision.

Now let's jump to children - isn't one human child infinitely more precious than any creature listed above ? Ok, the logic is iron-tight. There's been a mountain of psych research on human kids. Can you demonstrate your competence and familiarity with all that ? No ? Well, then... You and I should not be allowed to keep kids without proper training and licensing.

This will start with human governments but before long machines will have humans caged as 'exotics' just as we've done to various human and non-human organisms around the planet.

Not that I'm an Earth-First'er or anything. I'm just an interested spectator. As to whether human enslavement or elimination by machine is ultimately good or bad, that, to borrow from Socrates, "god alone knows".

-- scott (hma5_5@hotmail.com), February 08, 2000

Answers

If the machines you speak of will be smarter than us, why would they be Darwinists? Why would they destroy the environment like we have? For that matter, what incentive would they have to be species-ist in the first place? They would probably regard all forms of animal life equally, unless they worshipped their creators, in which case we would be gods to them. And call me naive, but if AI proves to be too much for us, wouldn't we simply stop developing it?

-- Paul D. Gilbreath (gilbreathfamily@worldnet.att.net), June 09, 2000.

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