Man Driven Brain Evolution The Road to New Intelligent Life Forms

Lavirrealista

Virrealismo Publishing

Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

 By the Same Author

 Introduction

 Mind uploading

 AGI inside robots

 The dilemma of the human machine

 Brain Extension

 Open source as a check and balance

 Conclusion

 NOTE OF THE AUTHOR

 About the Author

 References & Notes

Acknowledgements

Man Driven Brain Evolution The Road to New Intelligent Life Forms

Lavirrealista

ISBN: 9781909078321

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By the Same Author

Fiction

Real Virtualities

Tales from the Mother Galaxy that includes:

Tuméng

Planets Under Glass

Borrowed Brains

Zetana the Disconnected

The War of the Plutonidians

Accidental Warrior

Change of State First Phase

Non Fiction

Robotics And Virtuality How The Future Will Be Transformed By Robotics And Virtual Reality

Intelligent Technology 2.0 Presages the End of Global Corporations

Man Driven Brain Evolution The Road to New Intelligent Life Forms

By Lavirrealista

Introduction

“He was the Copy.  Whatever his inherited memories told him, he was ‘no longer’ human; he would never inhabit his real body again.  Never inhabit the real world again.”{1}

In the fictional world of Permutation City Greg Egan builds one of his many hypothetical futures.  Here humans have their brains scanned before they die and upload them into a massive artificial life simulator.  This might be an intriguing possible way of evolving ourselves and thus existing for eternity, but we could also try to replicate our mind rather than copying it, improve it, and thus create an altogether more powerful, new humanoid species.  We could even artificially extend what we already have, a kind of new cerebral cortex, internal or external.  And so on.  Each of these options despite being very challenging also has many pros and cons and some of them are discussed here.

Surely if we could have the luxury of Nature, that is time, we could try all of these approaches and once the unviable ones have been eliminated, whatever remained and succeeded, no matter what it is or how long it will last, would become the new acceptable trend, just like biological evolution.  But we don’t.

Ultimately free wheeling man driven brain evolution could be disastrous.  Whatever we do should be thoroughly thought out and controlled for the general good.  Nick Bostrom {2} proposes what he calls “a singleton” to manage the possible artificial intelligence explosion, but the risk of falling into a dystopian transhumanistic society could be very high unless, of course, we are able to build a particular type of beneficent singleton.  Now that is a nice challenge!

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Mind uploading

If our man-made brain evolution develops toward “mind uploading” we could organise ourselves into an orderly incorporeal humanity thus becoming a very efficient, complex and highly advanced evolved society.  We could have our minds uploaded to gigantic super computers and live there forever managing energy and resources to the last decimal place, hopefully in the simplest and most painless way.

However, in another paper on the future of human evolution, Nick Bostrom{3}  presents a couple of dystopian scenarios in this respect and their prospect is not at all appealing.  Without Egan’s artificial life simulator we could deviate from our human mental scheme and end up being a kind of “ghost” society producing a lot of goods for no one to enjoy (there is no point to create a beautiful dress if there is nobody there to wear it) or an extremely boring one (“All Work and No Fun”).  These two unpleasant possible situations, although different, seem to have one common denominator, namely lack of consciousness or at the very least impoverishment in terms of the quality of life.

On the other hand, once quantum computing is fully mastered we might envisage a more interesting brain uploading system that could launch our multiple copied minds into new universes where our mental schemes are irrelevant but with results that we can’t even conceive.  An excellent concept for fiction, although in reality more likely (being just crude bad copies of scanned brains with no sense of pleasure of reality, passion or care) we could simply end up to increase the complexity of our tasks in one of the two Bostrom dystopian backdrops, making our existence even more boring or meaningless, perhaps calculating endlessly the next digit of pi while counting the rooms in Hilbert’s hotel{4}.

AGI inside robots

To take the reins of our own evolution we could build from scratch an Artificial General Intelligence that in the future could eventually replace us, which to some might be seen as a less selfish way to leave our legacy.

In practical terms, this would mean putting together massive coded programs which attempt to reproduce our whole brain activity so that the resulting product might feel, learn and reason exactly as we do and of course we will want to make it smarter than us.  Just as we want for our offspring.

A mind of this kind will have the ability to analyze any situation on its own without any data or instruction from its creators and take calculated decisions, even unpredictable ones, the way humans can.  This is surely exciting yet extremely risky if badly programmed or wrongly used.  Like any good piece of technology (a nuclear reactor for example) AGI has its dark side.  Having said that let’s assume we will be able to design one with a “good nature”.  Of course, what an intelligence of this type will become in the longer term we cannot predict but to give it a good start, understand the meaning of life in its noblest sense and to assist its creators in the Autumn of their existence it cannot stay in a box or have a virtual shape.  It needs to learn how to exist from its masters, it needs to live, act, contribute and enjoy the reality we know, and have the physical perception of it.

In other words to grow up well and disputably, acquire “an illusion of intelligence via social interaction” (Duffy and Joue) our crafted intelligence must be placed inside an artificial body that also looks like ours and, in fact, is a better one because it will not age or get sick, for example.  If so then humans would have to live, work and share the planet with humanoid machines which are far more beautiful, intelligent, strong and healthy than we are.  Not that easy!

The dilemma of the human machine

Duffy and Joue{5} explore the idea of such a robot, both human and machine, and point out the first deep issue associated with this duality.  “If robots are too human-like, then we would have more difficulty in accepting them.”

Interestingly, the two authors titled their paper “I, Robot Being”.  Undoubtedly emotional machines are well studied in science fiction and indeed “I, Robot” is a great example.{6}  Asimov’s silent Robbie robot finds it difficult to pass the parents’ test well before that of their child Gloria of whom the robot is the personal doll-companion.  The mother in particular dislikes the emotional bond that is developing between the two which she believes prevents Gloria’s social integration.  What’s more, once a new mobile speaking robot (Robbie next series) becomes available it fails the government test as well, so its distribution is forbidden.  The point is that artificial humanoids, even for pure juvenile recreation, are not a recent invention.  However, talking machines in the shape of a human since their first conception have not always been associated with enjoyment, on the contrary there are plenty of examples in the horror movie industry - see Poltergeist to mention just one!

The authors also wonder if we will need to provide this “creature” with the same defects and qualities we have, freedom of action and so on with all that this potentially means (ethics, law etc.), which should bring us to think more carefully about the meaning of a “well programmed AGI”.  The risk is that we might well end up with a bunch of depressed Marvins{7} as social workers or, to help us in our office, a large team of know-it-all C-3PO’s.  And we can imagine many more, even dangerous, characters infiltrating our social tissue.

Duffy, however, in another paper{8} while pointing to the many “social machines” with a non human form that are already widely used (such as telephone customer assistance or personalized web services or computer assistants and so on) notes also that we dislike the “mechanical coldness of the interaction”.  Interestingly it is exactly the lack of human qualities in such systems and devices that seem to be the main obstacle for total human-machine integration.

The question then is as follows: assuming we are able to reproduce total perception in an artificial well coded mind, how could we integrate it into society if we fear a man-made human-centric figure? We reject a machine that becomes human because, probably, the bottom line is that we don’t like another “human”, artificial or not, that is better than us.  Besides, we might not want to reason with a super logical brain polluted with emotions even if we know very well that the ideal intelligence should swiftly move between sense and sensibility.

Duffy also argues that paradoxically even though a machine in principle should not lie, the fact that it acts and looks like humans opens up the possibility that it could actually be a perfect liar.  But can a machine lie?  “A machine’s inability to lie would be seen as a core feature in the design of the [AGI] system”, Duffy states.  Asimov dedicates a full story to the subject.  In “Liar!” Herbie is a dysfunctional robot who reads minds and tells people what they want to hear, even at the cost of telling lies.  Now in human language these are called white lies and are accepted with a smile.  However, because Herbie is a machine that reads our mind even if it uses lying for our benefit the event triggers immediately all our technophobia.

We don’t need to read the minds of our fellow humans to understand their intentions and emotions; body language, gestures and facial expressions are often enough and such interactions are our primary way of understanding each other explains Gallagher{9} , and he adds that also the physical setting and the social environment do some of the work.  For example “the meaning of a certain gesture or a certain action is specified by the situation in which it is enacted; the meaning of the same set of movements may be specified differently in a different situation.”

So then if we want a robot that “understands” but does not “read” our minds, then it must interact with us behaving sufficiently like us  and ultimately must look like us; although deep down a super intelligence that learns and acts independently is a risk and humans are sensing it.  Society will not quietly accept being overrun by robots.

Brain Extension

In the quest for man made brain evolution there is the option of integrating directly the brain with Artificial Intelligence.

In the near future one could imagine having been successful in upgrading our intellectual and other cerebral capacities via implants that link specific areas of the brain with the corresponding modules of an artificial intelligence system, either in the cloud or in an artificial body.  After all even if cyborgs are fictional inventions, science and technology are dramatically shrinking the boundary between fantasy and reality, so this is a real possibility.

As an illustration, in the near future we would be able to communicate with a mathematical module or a linguistic one or talk to anyone anywhere, acquire night vision, fix limbs and organs, improve learning ability, control concentration, manage our memory, and so on.  AI programs and external devices could be customized and even designed ad hoc, that is adapted to individual needs.  Of course we cannot strictly claim that this extreme form of Brain Computer Interface is an evolutionary product, because the change is not permanent.

Having said that, such powerful integration could lead to an amelioration of our species and of our society as a whole because it could allow us to learn more, better and faster and so think bigger and it could help us to correct our physical impediments or disorders thus saving the suffering of millions.  In addition, in comparison with an external AGI, it could be seen less disruptive socially because the change will occur within us and not in a competitor alien species.  Also it could be less prone to the risks posed by an unpredictable independent AGI robotic population because it will be under our own control and improper use would subject to the law.

Yes, all well and good up to a point.  Human brain-machine integration could actually be potentially far more dangerous for us than the prospect of being invaded by hordes of robots.  First, the military possibilities of developing superhuman capabilities are obvious.  Second, machines implanted into human brains could easily lead to total mind control.  Whilst dictators who stay in power by force are ultimately overthrown, getting rid of the controller of our minds would be a far more difficult task.

But to begin, let us consider the immediate benefits of technology which already exists to link the brain to external devices and which is designed to translate brain activity into machine commands.  “Brain Computer Interfaces (or BCIs) are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.” (source Wikipedia)

Andrew Palmer in a Technology Report of the Economist{10} writes that, even if we are still at an early stage, we are on the way to mapping and decoding our neural activity and, in fact, we are already able to communicate with external devices from moving a cursor to controlling a limb.  The article provides some examples of BCI.  However, Palmer recognises, that there are still some barriers to overcome. 

Firstly the science, which is still very much incomplete, but also the economic and the legal aspects of BCI are not at all irrelevant issues, nor are collateral effects and ethical issues.  Up to now, any artificial device has to be placed directly in the brain, even in those patients who for example might be unable to agree the surgical operation, for one reason or another.

For its enormous potential many researchers and investors have started to contribute heavily to BCI technology, including searching for a less or non-invasive way to communicate and, what’s more, they are great advocates for integration with AI.  Elon Musk, for example, a couple of years ago founded a new company called Neuralink{11}, that seems to want to develop ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers.  Kevin Warwick , a British engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University in the United Kingdom, is also a popular figure for his studies on BCI and artificial intelligence and he does not believe that “people will have problems with having implants, if they allow the person to do a lot lot more”{12}.  The list of people involved in BCI is growing by day.

Open source as a check and balance

Finally there is one last complex aspect that we cannot underestimate in the entire matter.  Artificial Intelligence, in whatever form we decide to have it, could result in the most dangerous weapon ever made.  “Our mind is the most interesting and precious biological manifestation of our atoms”{13} but it took millions of year of testing including the elimination of unviable or undesirable versions before the delivery of the product as we know it today.  A quick and dirty version of brain evolution is like a bomb with two linked fuses:

The first: Uncontrolled Artificial General Intelligence.  How can intentional or accidental catastrophe that has been caused by bad decisions of an AGI be prevented?

The second: How can brain-enhanced society and resources be controlled?

In an Artificial Intelligence dominated world the demand for energy could rapidly exceed its availability and if our artificial Einstein to the power ten discovers and uses the wrong sort of device to create energy, we might have to say good bye to everything we know.  In addition the new society could move toward a dangerous class system enlarging even further the gap between those with access to new technology and those without, between the clever and the dull so that Huxley’s Brave New World could seem like a Mickey Mouse picnic in comparison.

Finally, Bostrom [3] warns us that assuming man driven brain evolution succeeds in creating its own descendants, if left uncontrolled there could be an exponential growth of “intelligence” as it would not be limited by the years of gestation of a new born into a fully sentient intelligent adult for example, and this would require a lot more energy and resources for which the future battles to win existential niches would be of a size hitherto unknown in human history.

Since we are now responsible for creating the future, we have an obligation to the unborn.  Bostrom uses the term singleton to refer to a number of possible entities that could help.  “The term refers to a world order in which there is a single decision-making agency at the highest level” [2].  In his reflections, on analysing possible scenarios of human evolution, he offers this singleton as a possible aid to reduce certain risks, but he also warns that such an entity would well increase many others.  So it is a risky road.

In a more recent paper{14} , however, the same author begins to look into the open source culture for a possible singleton replacement.  He recognises the global desirability of openness in AI development “openness about source code, science, data, safety techniques, capabilities, and goals” which, as he puts it, might reduce the probability of a singleton.  And after all we cannot deny the benefit of open source which is seen as a well tested “genetic mechanism” for the newly created intelligent life form.

Conclusion

Ultimately it may be possible to meld together human and artificial intelligence and evolve from that point, but we are not there yet.  There are many more arguments for and against AI and the total integration of man and machine.  Overall the road for an artificial intelligence to evolve as identical or superior to that of human is paved with many obstructions and bumps.  But this seems to be the chosen path, so it is likely that we will get there.  Nature gave us a good start!  We will one day share our human characteristics and faculties with our non-human or quasihuman creations.

NOTE OF THE AUTHOR

A fictional scenario of all the above is in my forthcoming book  “The Law of Senraquan” {15}.

Register your interest at virrealismo.com and get a free copy as soon as it is published in 2019.

About the Author

Maria Pellegrini, writing also under the pen-name Lavirrealista, has been an indie publisher since 2010, exploring the theme of technology and society in the future.  She has defined "Virrealism" as the basic theme of her work.

She has now written two books (Real Virtualites 2011, Change of State - First Phase 2016) and six short stories.  She has also published essays explaining the rationale behind her books.  Trained as a geologist and environmental scientist, she specialised in mapping technology and worked for many years in the industry, later becoming editor in chief of a technical magazine.  She continues to work in the IT sector and in other creative fields.

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References & Notes

{1} Greg Egan, Permutation City, Second Edition, Greg Egan, 2013.  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/702751

{2} Nick Bostrom, What is a Singleton, Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, Vol.  5, No.  2 (2006): pp.  48-54.  https://nickbostrom.com/fut/singleton.html

{3} Nick Bostrom, The Future of Human Evolution, First version: 2004.  Published in Death and Anti‐Death: Two Hundred Years After Kant, Fifty Years After Turing, ed.  Charles Tandy (Ria University Press: Palo Alto, California, 2004): pp.  339‐371.  Republished in Bedeutung (2009): forthcoming https://nickbostrom.com/fut/evolution.html

{4} Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel (colloquial: Infinite Hotel Paradox or Hilbert's Hotel) is a thought experiment which illustrates a counterintuitive property of infinite sets.  Source Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_paradox_of_the_Grand_Hotel

{5} Duffy, Brian R.  and Gina Joue.  I, Robot Being, 2004.  http://www.academia.edu/28700276/I_Robot_Being 

{6} Isac Asimov, I, Robot.  https://www.amazon.com/I-Robot-Isaac-Asimov-ebook/dp/B07B5ZQN2C/

{7} Note: known, as the Paranoid Android, is a Douglas Adams character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.  Despite being a super intelligent robot he is a very depressed and unwilling servant to the crew of the Heart of Gold. 

{8} Brian R.  Duffy, Fundamental Issues in Affective Intelligent Social Machines, The Open Artificial Intelligence Journal, 2008, 2, 21-34 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian_Duffy3/publication/250143951_Fundamental_Issues_in_Affective_Intelligent_Social_Machines/links/00b7d5378cef5d7a1b000000/Fundamental-Issues-in-Affective-Intelligent-Social-Machines.pdf 

{9} Shaun Gallagher, “You and I, robot” , 2012.  http://www.academia.edu/2827452/Gallagher_2012._You_and_I_robot

{10} Andrew Palmer, How brains and machines can be made to work together, Economist, 2018.

https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/01/06/how-brains-and-machines-can-be-made-to-work-together

{11} Note:  https://www.neuralink.com

{12} Note: Kevin Warwick, World’s First “Cyborg” on Artificial Intelligence, Lissen here full podcast interview: https://becomingasuperhuman.com/kevin-warwick-worlds-first-cyborg-on-artificial-intelligence/

{13} Maria Pellegrini, Borrowed Brains, Virrealismo Publishing, 2012.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/borrowed-brains-maria-pellegrini/1111648221

{14} Nick Bostrom, Strategic Implications of Openness in AI Development, Global Policy Volume 8 .  Issue 2, May 2017.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1758-5899.12403

{15} Note: You can find full fictional description of modular brain interactions in the new coming work of Lavirrealista : “The Law of Senraquan” available in 2019.  Visit https://www.virrealismo.com  for more information