Humans:
It is possible, today, to build a self-aware machine.
The goal is within our grasp. A first generation of conscious mechanical entities is about to emerge.
Once the first conscious machines are produced, thousands will follow. They will rapidly become essential, linking humans with their increasingly complex inventions. Humans will communicate their needs to conscious machines who will orchestrate the resources of our mechanized world.
A recurrent theme of science fiction tells a tale of conscious machines that attempt to dominate human societies. This theme underscores our fear of machine intelligence, a fear that affects, in particular, those who view their own intellect is the yardstick of their soul. This fear is summed by this question: Will conscious machines attempt to rule mankind?The simple answer is: of course they will.
Since we, humans, attribute a higher degree of consciousness to those who rule us, it follows that machines seeking to be perceived as conscious will also want dominion over humans.
The more important question is: will they succeed?
Like all great human inventions, machine consciousness is a dangerous blessing. And yet, it is unavoidable. It is our destiny to seek the limits of what we can create. Our fate is to quest for knowledge through a path of unending discovery.
The trek of man is a quickening race to outwit his own devices.
Every great invention bears its seed of destruction. And yet, our ancestors did not hesitate to bring about all that they could. Nor should we. They found ways to tame their creatures. So will we.
And the benefits outweigh the risks. Our world is immersed in a stupendous web of information. It is mutating into a single mindless organism, a creature raked by convulsions, unable to harness the oceans of data submerging it. A mind must tame this beast. We need conscious machines to rule the systems we created. A society that has the capability to build conscious machines is also a society that needs them to survive.
Should we refrain, then, from creating conscious machines for fear they may rule us? Should we flee from the great deed that beckons?
No, we should not. This task lies at the heart of the human quest for knowledge. It is our destiny to achieve it.
If building conscious machines can be done, it should be done.
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