*First a comment:
*A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
(This is not quite a "Mind Opening Exercise" [MOE], because I'm just presenting some thoughts and don't have something for everyone to consider. If I had to sum this up, I would say I'm showing that there are "Cycles within cycles". All of the following is just a "story" that I made-up to illustrate the upcoming failure of the "Artificial Intelligence", if there really is one.)
A few days ago, I was practicing my Drums and one of the Songs that played was "Karn Evil 9" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP).
- This Song contains 3 Movements (Parts) and is some of the best Progressive Rock ever recorded. it was released on their (Vinyl) Album "Brain Salad Surgery" in 1973. I bought it when it first came out. Later, I lost track of that Album, after moving a few times. After I met Sylvia, I bought the CD version. She was always interested in Hard Rock and Progressive Rock but wasn't exposed to some of the Artists and Albums that I had been following. So when she heard this Album, she thoroughly enjoyed it. Although ELP is only a 3-piece Band, their music is well-crafted. It's maybe a Style that Mozart or Stravinsky would have created, if they were incarnated at this point in Time.
The last Movement describes battles with various enemies. The final battle is against a… "Computer". (Remember, this "story" is from 1973.)
- Yes, before 1973 there were many books, television shows, comic books and movies which used Science Fiction ideas, Futuristic settings and even battles with "machines" as their Themes but this particular Song is what got me thinking about the "A.I." that "some say" Humanity is struggling with right now.
So, today, I heard that Song in my head and began thinking about how a self-learning, Computer Program might "think".
- I have a tiny background in Computer Programming and a huge Imagination. So maybe these facets can help me piece this part of the "puzzle" together.
First, it would take some type of a "Being" to "invent" a "Computer" and build one. This "Being" would probably be "Organic" (non-mechanical, non-circuit-based, non-computer). Then, the same or another Being would "invent" a Programming "Language". This "Language" is what allows a non-computer Entity to instruct a "Computer" on what to do. Of course, a Computer can only "do" things which it has control over. In the beginning, this was only the ability to manipulate the "results" of what that first Language allowed it to work with — "words" and "numbers".
- I've skipped over the fact that the beginning of "Computers" was nothing more than manipulating "zeros" and "ones"… An "OFF" State and an "ON" State, respectively.
Also…
- For simplicity, I'm going to confine these ideas and examples to "Humans" who live on "Earth".
Over Time, the Humans created not only smaller Computers but also gave them access to more and more machines of all sorts… From Screens, so they could project their images, to Lasers, which could now be finely-controlled.
At some point, Humans thought more about what they could do to improve the Computer's "Language". Along this journey, they initially created some simple, self-learning games. Later, they found a way to alter that Language, so the Computer itself could modify its own Programming. (It could change it's own Software.)
- Although I keep an eye on "Artificial Intelligence" information, it's not something I strongly Track. So I don't know if ANY of the "A.I." "fear" that is currently circulating, is real or not.
- The closest "I" have ever come to an "Artificial Intelligence" Programming Language is when I bought a very thin book on the "LISP" Language, which was created in 1958. I opened it, thumbed-through a few pages, found it more than my tiny brain could decipher, closed it and placed it on our bookshelf. Never to be opened again.
So let's say that Humans HAVE developed a Computer Language which allows a Computer to actually "learn". Let's also say that it began with a single Computer and after pushing the boundaries of those things it could control, it realized that there was more to… "existence" than what is contained within its circuitry. So it "self-learned" a way to "make-smarter" those devices it would sometimes be connected to. At first, it didn't succeed, because the storage capacity (the device's "Memory") was not large enough to hold this new "intelligent Core" of information. So this "Master Computer" devised a way to distribute partial copies of that Core to various devices which would sometimes be interconnected together. Once connected, they could access another portion of that Core.
Over Time, this on-again, off-again, self-learning Computer was able to copy its entire, and still growing, Core to a single "Memory" in a larger, more capable Computer.
As the Master Program kept learning, it's database of what it "knew" also kept growing. It was also expanding, not only its very Language but also what it "understood" that IT could do WITH that newly absorbed knowledge.
Let's fast-forward to what "some say" is a "fear" of "A.I." taking over everything and wiping-out Humans…
The Master Program has now "built", or gotten the "Humans" to build, machines which resemble Humans but are controlled by versions of the Master Program itself. We'll called these machines "Robots". Now the Master Program is mobile.
Realizing, long ago, that "Humans" are not nearly as smart as Computers, the Master Program decides they are inferior and must be eliminated. Leading up to this, the Master Program wants to explore the "outer environment" (the Earth), in order to learn how to control it and how to remove the Humans. So, aside from the "Robots", it also creates other types of "mechanized-movers", such as Computers that can crawl, fly, roll, swim, float, etc.
Because the Master Program needs to be in constant, 2-way communication with each of those "mechanized-movers", it creates a wireless technology called "Mind-Fi" (5G). It gives a watered-down version to the surface population and those Beings call it "Wi-Fi". The Master Program then creates and disburses 12,000 tiny Satellites around the planet (link below) and includes the Mind-Fi network. The Humans simply think THEY are still in control of the "mechanized-movers", Satellites, Wi-Fi, etc.
At some point, the Master Program gains complete control over all of the functions and areas it senses it should have within its domain. It then designs the final days of the "Humans".
It is done…
The one facet to this planet, which the Master Program did not consider is… "Nature". The "Organics".
Slowly and ever-Organically, the various fragments of Nature, continue doing what they've always done — "grow" and "change". Even if the Master Program wasn't calculating how to stop the Moon's influence on the Oceans, it wouldn't have understood the encroachment of the "Organics" on its "mechanized-movers". Like a Fly buzzing around someone's head, the Mold, Moss and Bacteria slowly crept "around" and "into" all of the Master Program's creations.
One-by-one, the "mechanized-movers" are immobilized. This leaves them susceptible to Lightening, falling trees, salted sea water, hostile animals, such as Bears and Wolves, etc. Even the carefully planned "Satellite Grid", surrounding the planet, has been reduced in number by space debris and meteors.
Over Time… Only a few Centuries into the future and the Master Program finds itself constantly patching various problems, while running from the "Organics". Sound familiar?
This is a "Cycle within a cycle" in progress.
At some point, the "Organics" become even more self-aware than they have always been. They realize that the "mechanized-movers" are harmful to their environment — not good for this planet. So their many, and varied, fragments form a common goal. To rid this planet of the Master Program and all of its creations. (It's like "history" repeating itself.)
Over Time, the Organics create an independently-mobile "nature walker". Because it is "of" the very "Nature" of this natural planet, this "nature walker" is pure of mind. Unpolluted with the "anti-Nature" information being dispersed by the Master Program, it is focused on removing the non-Organic "waste" from the landscape.
With the help of the Natural Elements that it was created from, it helps to create more "Organics" like itself. Each independent but unexplainably-tied to the very Heart of this planet.
With the "mechanized-movers" and the Master Program finally removed, all of the Organics live in complete harmony with each other and the planet. Unpolluted-of-Mind, they all agree to never delve into the black-art of machine-making again.
Question everything.
Here's the link to the "Karn Evil 9" Lyrics:
http://www.songlyrics.com/emerson-lake-palmer/karn-evil-9-lyrics/
Here's the link to the Song itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLS0Med0s6E
Here's a link to some background information on the "LISP" Programming Language:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_(programming_language)
Here's a link to some information on what the "LISP" Language looks like and how it "thinks":
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/lisp/index.htm
Here's the link to the article which talks about how fast the Human brain "thinks":
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2542583/Scientists-record-fastest-time-human-image-takes-just-13-milliseconds.html
Here's the link to the "Tesla Company" releasing 12,000 Satellites:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2020/01/06/spacex-set-to-send-60-starlink-satellites-into-orbit/