Home » questions » Do movies like 2001, Terminator, The Matrix, i-Robot, and AI teach us lessons?

Do movies like 2001, Terminator, The Matrix, i-Robot, and AI teach us lessons?

5
2006-08-01 10:36:08, Category: Programming & Design
Do books and movies effectively warn scientist and developers about the possible dangers of Artificial Intelligence? Water is the source of all biological life on earth but technology, because of how vast networks and hardware are out there could spark a new existence beyond our control. Could it really become the life force for a worldwide intelligence that if created without limitation can easily decide to expand and evolve? I know it sounds Sci-Fi and I'm basing this on Sci-Fi films and books but, is the threat really there? If so, how close are we to accomplishing this and who do we start worrying about? Government, hackers, Bill Gates (LOL)? Really stop and think about it. I'm sure this question will get all of your gears turning... no pun intended =)

Answers

  1. FoxM

    On 2006-08-01 17:06:03


    Motives for artificial intelligence are not the problem. If we think that a machine is not capable of taking decisions, we're looking in the wrong direction. At the end it's just a decision tree that the computer can generate and review to find the shortest path to the goal. And if this goal it's to survive, a machine can easily (and faster than us, humans) process more information and preview possibilities and situations for each small decision node in the tree. In my opinion, the difficulty of the matter is, as someone said before, the conciousness of the surroundings of the machine. This concept gives the machine the ability of understanding and interpretation of a universe. Take, for example, Deep Blue, the now old and aging machine who brought Kasparov to a near desperate point in some chess game. The motive: To create a Checkmate in the oponent. (Defining, of course, a checkmate, which in programming terms is not difficult). The path: a relatively simple Decision tree. The "conciousness": A square divided in 8x8 smaller squares, called board, 32 moving objects and a set of rules. As you can see, this is a REALLY minimal universe but it gives the first relative approximation to what a machine can do given the proper universe and a set of rules to interpret them. If we include the rule that can change the rules to your own advantage (that gives me some Bush-like view of the world), the machine can easily reinterpret everything to find the shortest path to the goal. It is not an unachivable thing for a human to generate software that creates those rules. The problem lies, again, in how difficult the universe is, so it can be sensed and analyzed by the machine.

  2. Gekko

    On 2006-08-01 10:45:23


    To have any sort of malicious intent would first require consciousness. This is a subject that has baffled scientists and still does, no one quite understands the state of consciousness. Until we completely understand consciousness I think it would be difficult for computers or any sort of artificial intelligence to expand and evolve since they would not have a motive. I do like those movies though and if something like that started happening it would be crazy! I hope Arnold is still around if it does happen!

  3. Anirudh H

    On 2006-08-01 10:45:25


    WEll yeah, movies very greatly affect the way people behave. example:; One day after seeing a movie in India called Rang De Basanti which is a very strong freestyly story of people fighting for their country, the next week i see 5 boys holding hand on each others shoulders like drunk people and crossing in the middle of a junction full of millions of trucks and busses. But about sci-fi movies, they are actuallly a vey near future for us. But don't worry i am really scared about uncontrollable robots. althogh it won't hapen to soon atleast.

  4. Mrinal B

    On 2006-08-01 10:42:54


    no it may not be as they are all imaginations. how can one pose a threat even if these things happen in reality because artificial intelligence will ultimately depend on human beings

  5. itsdashiznit88

    On 2006-08-01 10:43:23


    I would think that scientists are at least smart enough to make artificial intelligence not get as carried away as the movies take it. Of course the machine can only be as smart as the programmer so maybe we could just make George Bush program our robots and we should be pretty safe...then again he was smart enough to slip into office. Smash your computer now! Its smarter than it looks!