Pushing neural network technology with further inspiration from cognitive neural science. Is copying the human brain really the future of artificial intelligence?
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/532156/googles-secretive-deepmind-start-up-unveils-a-neural-turing-machine/
As AI becomes more prominent in the media as something that is really happening, is easy to miss where it's really being used on a daily basis. But first, we should think what exactly where and what we call artificial intelligence. Back in the 70-80s-ish, the world went crazy for this idea of AI, and governments etc. Threw money at researchers who made grand promises of thinking machines, without really thinking what this would really entail to actually pull off. Needless to say they didn't succeed even remotely on any of those promises. Fast forward 40 years or so, scientists are still tackling some of the problems which were initially considered trivial, and even solved a few - although the solutions are indeed elegant they are far from trivial. Today we can look from the outside in at the world of machine intelligence and see AI still in research but more commonly being referred to in a much more reserved way as machine learning.
So from here let's look to see where machine learning is being used. Social media - every time you log on to post that picture of yourself last night getting "omg I was so drunk last night" a little machine learning algorithm is wittling away to learn your trends to better sell you pepto bismo.
Google translate, you may think that this is some cleverly programmed system which knows lots about the syntax and rules of every language. No, its basically a machine learning system which looks at lots of examples of existing translations throughout "the internet" and gives its best guess as to what that bizare status update by your international friend is really about and what you're missing out on.
But what's the point behind all this, well I put to you, our curent vision of thinking machines, is far from here. And if it does arrive, how will we use it?
Fiction has endlessly mused over this, I grew up with star trek the next generation, where data, the android who wanted to be more human, was continuously fighting for his rights to be seen as - for want of a better word - 'alive'. This is a conversation I've had with many a very intelligent person. At what point do machines become 'alive'. At this point I'm sure the more religious of you are throwing some doctrine at your monitor (iphone screen) screaming heresy. But please for a second have an open mind.
We as the inventor, engineer, scientist have an amazing power to create and destroy. But I mean this biologically. We do, create (potentially) a walking talking machine made of biomass, the thing that separates us from machine is the material we are made of. Many of us swoon and flail at the sight of an animal being abused (myself included). But this beast of flesh pales in comparison of intellect to (some) humans. Arguably they just act purely on instinct, with human traits simply imposed upon them by our own desire to have a relationship with something warm and cute. So we can say they lack intelligence.
OK OK I hear you say, but pigs are pretty smart and dolphins have a brain which is potentially more advanced than our own. But what about chickens? Here the meat eaters amongst us will say they are pretty stupid, so okay let's use them how we want.
So we can probably say, that chickens are "stupid" enough to do what we want with. But still... They are "alive".
How about insects, would we ever argue that the insect is alive? How about if I told you, there is a robot which is smarter than an insect. More cognitively development than an insect. That's not too hard to imagine right? (I will point out that really even today this does not exist).
So I put the robot and the insect together, and I ask you, are they both alive?
At this point I'm expecting you to be shouting no at your screen. Maybe even cursing my name to hell.
I won't blame you for saying that. But how about I give you a hypothetical situation. The reason why we say the insect is alive and the robot is not. Is that the insect is made from hydrocarbons and the robot is made from (probably) silicone and plastic.
Let's pretend for second that we can 3D print with organic matter (not so far fetched BTW), and some very talented scientists make the same robot using organic material. And it has the same if not better intelligence of the insect. Is it alive?
This is a question for philosophers to muse over in a few hundred years time when it will begin to really matter, for now it is merely a point of academtic intrigue.
I for one am on the fence, is consciousness something which is quantifiable and measurable and creatible. Or is it something more than the sum of it's part. And even if it is creatable, should we dare or care to grant this creation the same rights and position is we grand our organic counterparts.
Should we live in fear of this potential creation, or will we truely create the perfect slave?
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