Forty years ago I argued that the idea that we would travel through space in ships (mechanical canisters) to find extra-terrestrial intelligence was one of the dumbest ideas ever, and that it would seem to future humans to have been incredibly culture-bound mechanistic idea. I suggested that the way we would first start to experience aliens was through computers.
Well, dear readers, Elon Musk agrees with me.
The business magnate, who was being interviewed by Mohammad Abdulla Alergawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future for the UAE, told the slightly perplexed crowd: “One of the most troubling questions is artificial intelligence. I don’t mean narrow A.I – deep artificial intelligence, where you can have AI which is much smarter than the smartest human on earth. This is a dangerous situation.”
He also warned world governments: “Pay close attention to the development of artificial intelligence.
“Make sure researchers don’t get carried away – scientists get so engrossed in their work they don’t realise what they are doing.”
When asked if he thought A.I was a good or a bad thing Musk said: “I think it is both.
“One way to think of it is imagine you were very confident we were going to be visited by super intelligent aliens in 10 years or 20 years at the most.
“Digital super intelligence will be like an alien.”
