Will Simulating the Real World Create AI's?

With a new project announced, a team of international scientists have proposed building a simulation of the entire world. The Living Earth Simulator will not be the type of simulator one first pictures, as in a graphic virtual world. Rather it is a software program which operates at on supercomputers to comb through and analyze the large amounts of data on the internet for a selected output.

Through the use of semantic web technologies, the software will be able to more efficiently mine the vast archives of data on the internet. This effectively brings the internet to a more organized form and allows the massive amount of data to be used much more productively, rather than just staying stagnant while waiting for somebody to possibly pick them up in a search engine query, as they often do now.

While this simulator would undoubtedly be an effective data organizer and a huge advantage for scientists who need to simulate real world events for experiments, it could also be the first step towards creating environments in which AI can exist.

If software can "intelligently" comb the archives of the internet and produce given outputs, then the same software may be programmed to produce an AI. By searching the internet and finding all knowledge on computer science, mechanics, neural structure, and other relevant fields, the software could possibly have the capability to create the first true AI.

This project is sure to be years away and it would certainly be years after its initial availability that it would be sophisticated enough to create AI's, but this (or a later version of it) may be the missing link between us and the digital world that will ultimately create the long-coveted AI's.

Savant World

We have all heard stories about people who can remember every detail of their life, and some who can even perform superhuman feats such as learn a language in a week, solve extremely complex mathematical problems, or recite passages from an array of literature, a la Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. These cases are however very far and few in between, making them extraordinary in their own right. With brain-enhancement advanced technologies, artificial consciousnesses (AC's) (and mind clones) to be developed within the next few decades, it may be possible that we will be living in a world of "savants."

I use the term savant, not necessarily in the traditional, biological nature, but rather for beings who can seamlessly harness the vast array of human knowledge through the internet and who can use technological cognitive enhancers to perform seemingly impossibly complex functions internally.

Take for example, there are people living today who have the natural ability to remember nearly every moment of their life. We call it photographic memory. It may not be too long before this ability will be common amongst people. I see two ways of this occurring.

The first way is through advanced lifelogging technology, as I've discussed before, in which every moment of one's life is digitally archived on computers. Along with the visual and audio archiving, thoughts and sensual experiences (however detailed) are also archived through brain-machine technology that monitors brain impulses. By syncing this information with the video and audio, this allows entire moments, not just images and movements, to be captured. Some method of digital recall will be implemented in the form of brain-machine devices connected to retinal-implants that allow one to switch from biological sight to "digital sight." The basic technologies for this recall are already being implemented. Microchips will presumably be able to replace natural light with digital images or create an augmented reality while a brain implant will trick the sense receptors into sensing the archived sensual information.

The other way for a photographic memory to become common in humans is through a more conventional means. That is through medical technology, such as cognitive enhancers and possibly neural-altering surgery. As medical technology advances, I expect cognitive enhancers to become increasingly common and may lead to an intelligence boom as more people expand their cognitive capabilities. I see the surgery prospect less plausible, as it would require a "miracle" breakthrough in the understanding of the brain to enhance cognitive function enough to the point that people will be willing to have brain surgery for it. It would also require a stunt in the growth of cognitive enhancers, which I see as unlikely.

Of course extreme cognitive enhancements will have an effect on the very nature of identity. Our definition and current understanding of identity may need to be rewritten once we achieve these abilities. Identity itself is built on the understanding of the world around us and our internal thoughts. Once we have a higher understanding of the world around us and have higher mental capabilities in which our thoughts are born, we will thus have dramatically altered the very nature of human identity. Identity is created through our cognitive ability. By my count, there are five elements of cognitive function, in which each one has its own impact on our identities. They are:
1) Technical processing (i.e. mathematics, engineering)
2) Abstract facts (i.e. historical dates, political events)
3) Abstract thought (i.e. ideologies, opinions)
4) Memory (i.e. personal events, world events)
5) Emotions (i.e. happiness, sadness)

Of these five elements, most of them are related. For example, emotions are generally influenced and thus defined by memories. It may be that once we have more control over our memories, we will thus have more control over our emotions. Our emotions may just be the mind's attempt to scrap pieces of memories together to make sense of the present, causing us to act and feel certain ways. Additionally, abstract thought is fundamentally the merger of memory, abstract facts, technical processing, and possibly emotions. These relations could go on, however the five elements are fundamentally different in their respective rights.

Transhumanism is often described as the point when humans become post-human, i.e. human 2.0. While I believe human 3.0 is when we become fully mechanical, implementing mind cloning technologies and AC's, I believe that 2.0 will only be achieved once all five cognitive elements are technologically enhanced. As I described earlier, memory will be dramatically altered this century with archiving technologies. Emotions will not be too difficult to alter, as we already have "mood drugs," and paired with memory enhancements, these will also be controllable.

Technical processing is another obstacle which poses not too big of a problem. Cognitive enhancers from medical technology will greatly improve technical processing, and eventually brain implants will ave the ability to speed up our brain's processing power.

Abstract facts are, in my opinion, going to be dealt with through seamless interaction with the internet. As we now can sit at a desktop, laptop, or smart phone and search the internet for facts, in a few decades we will have this ability wired directly to our brains. Possibly through brain-machine devices that read one's questions (through brain waves) and relay the answers either through retinal microchips or audio, facts will become easily attainable. Paired with memory enhancers, people will not forget or disregard these facts right after using them, as some argue people (particularly students) are doing now, thus making them dumber. Instead, people will be able to recall these facts even more seamlessly at later times from their memory.

Abstract thought, to me, is the last domino in the row. With enhancements in the other four elements, one will have more resources and processing power to create personal opinions, beliefs, and ideologies.

All of these technologies and prospects have been about enhancing our biological beings, yet I believe that we will possibly first see these functions being achieved by AC's, or mind clones. These beings will undoubtedly have the upper hand in terms of technical processing, abstracts facts, and memories soon after their development. It is abstract thought and emotions in which it may take a while longer before they can perform them as well as humans.

In the virtual environment in which the AC's will live, we may be able to control evolution towards achieving emotion and abstract thought rather quickly. In other words, we could favor the AC's that show signs of emotions and abstract thought, while destroying or not interacting with those that don't display these qualities. Thus, these qualities may be achievable if we understand how to correctly speed up artificial evolution.

Identity will undoubtedly be redefined, both for humans 2.0 and for AC's. Instead of thinking we know who we are and what we know, we will "know" who we are and what we know. In other words, our lives will be much more purpose-driven, detailed, and structured, rather than oblivious and unsure.

Programming for Creativity

The human mind is composed of numerous elements, all serving their respective purpose. It is understood that the right side of the brain is generally active in decision-making and the left side processes language. These two sides function cooperatively to produce what we consider to be a "working mind." However, the two sides may also be in a constant struggle for dominance, thus neither is able to reach its full potential.

In the case of mind clones/artificial consciousnesses (AC's), it should be possible to alter the ratio in which the two sides function. For example, one could have its "left side" processes turned down in order to give the right side processes more room to function. Once we have a more thorough understanding of the effects that each process has on others, we may be able to program the AC's specifically for certain tasks (i.e. art, mathematics, politics, etc.).

A recent report suggests that people who have damage to the left side of their brain are generally more creative than those with no damage. Regardless of the validity of this claim, I find it inarguable that shutting off certain parts of the brain, or certain functions, will alter the way in which the mind functions.

Thus, as we discover, through human tests or simulated experiments, what each brain section does and the effects they have on other parts of the brain, we will undoubtedly have the ability to customize our AC's to be the ultimate "whatever we want them to be."

The obstacle in which we must somehow overcome is the effects that shutting off one side of the "brain" in AC's will have on their virtual experience as a whole. It seems impossible that we could turn one side of a human brain down and then turn it back up without that human feeling as though something was wrong with his/her experience during that time.

If AC's are truly conscious, they may have the same incomplete feeling that humans would experience were one side to be turned downed. Possibly the solution would be to create AC's who do not function as true AC's, or only do until they have learned enough, then alter their process ratio for the remainder of their existence, effectively grooming them for their specific purpose.

Dialectical Process of Government

Humans have been running an experiment for around three millennium called government. Through this experiment, we have come up with a few systems, as described by Plato and other philosophers. These systems are monarchies, democracies, republics, anarchism, and others. Our experiment is still in progress, due to the fact that we have not yet created a government which truly meets the needs of its citizens.

This idea of a Utopia, in which everybody is happy and the government truly acts to fulfill the needs of all its citizens, has permeated philosophical novels for centuries. This illusive society, however common in literature, has never been able to exist in practice; at least not in large societies.

The reason for the lack of Utopian societies is undoubtedly due to the complexity and diversity of society, along with economic-political and human behavioral problems. From greed to selfishness, prejudice, fear, incompetency, and other unfortunate human traits, all have been at the root of government systems due to their human origin.

As societies grow larger, more complex, and more diverse, it is becoming increasingly harder for governments to adhere to the needs of all of their citizens. This is less a lack of resources as it is a fault in humans and our ability to work as a group towards meeting everybody's needs. This leaves us with two choices, either continue down the path of an increasingly widening gap between the rich and the poor, or redefine government and create a system in which everybody is taken care of. The problem may be that we are incapable of creating such a system.

As AI's and mind clones evolve, they will acquire the ability of independent analyzing and problem solving. As their computational power increases, so too does their analyzing ability. Thus, I believe we will eventually benefit by using them to create new government systems customized to the current times. In fact, in a century or so, we will have machine judges that may or may not work beside human judges, providing more accurate and unbiased decisions. We will also have machine politicians, working in ways similar to current politicians, but without the backstabbing and unproductive nature of current politicians. The machines will most likely work better together than humans and create more rational decisions than we do.

This may sound scary, but imagine a government in which decisions are based upon the advice given by an artificial intelligence. This AI will have all the information needed about the country to create rules and laws that provide the best living situations for the most people. Economies will be ran by AI's, along with foreign relations policies and other government aspects.

I, for one, believe that this will benefit humankind as a whole, as long as AIs stay unbiased and are not given full control of society. By this I mean that they will create laws and government systems, but humans should still maintain some sort of control to prevent the AI's from effectively taking over the world.

The First Stages of Mind Uploading

Often I speculate how exactly mind uploading will evolve and what path it will take before it becomes a reality. As I discussed in a previous post, one possibility is a "super Facebook," or a website that stores virtually all of one's personal qualities and quirks to the point of recreating the person's personality, or consciousness. This would require incredibly complex algorithms that generate personalities based on people's individual preferences and rely on sharing experiences, thus it may be impractical, if not impossible.

Another, perhaps more practical route would be in the form of brain-machine technology. Eventually, it will become common to connect our brains with computers and the vast resources of the internet. The majority of us will have visual and auditory recording devices embedded into our sensory organs, thus digitizing our senses. These devices will effectively record everything we see and hear (basically the mature version of lifecasting).

Additionally, we will be able to connect our brains to devices that monitor our reactions to external events. Through analyzing our responses to daily situations and having access to our memory banks in the form of recorded media, we will have made the first steps towards truly replicating human personalities.

It may be more difficult to create independently intelligent artificial beings, but these archived personalities will likely be our first steps toward creating truly virtual humans. Thus this is the path I believe mind uploading will take as it matures into a realized technology.

Humankind in the Post-Sexuality Phase

If you are a believer of the singularity, you adhere to the belief that we will eventually become integrated with machines, thus forming a superhuman or post-human. These beings, though first being dual-species (human and machine) may ultimately realize the advantages of immortality and infinite intelligence are only achievable in machine form. Thus, our biological bodies will be shed in favor of our fully-machine descendants.

Before I touch on that possibility, I want to discuss a more nearer prospect, which is the uploading of our consciousnesses onto computers. Once our consciousnesses (personalities) are uploaded onto computers, I see no reason why they would need to retain their sexuality. Of course we could program them to retain them, but I see no reason other than personal gratification. As has been the case in the past, what we think is important today may turn out to be useless once we come to a technological realization.

If our consciousnesses are preserved in digital form, and they have the ability to function in said form, what role would our concept of sexuality play in their "thinking?" Obviously, they are digital, so they have no biological sexual characteristics, unless pre-assigned by us. They would have no use of reproduction, as they are effectively immortal. Thus, survival of the fittest becomes survival by all and biological advantage becomes intellectual advantage in the digital world of our clones.

Within mind uploading, the paradox lies with whether to keep the uploaded consciousnesses restrained within our control or to allow them to function freely. If it is the former, as many people may choose, sexuality will be embedded into the consciousnesses; as we are, after all, sexual beings. However, if it is the latter, these advanced personal consciousnesses (APC's) will soon shed their sexuality as it is a trivial trait in the digital world. Where biology is irrelevant, so is sexuality.

These APC's will interact with each other and us as sexually neutral beings. It is difficult for us to imagine, but consider that we lived forever, we would have no concept of reproductive necessity nor would we have any traits that rendered us attractive for reproduction (i.e. gender differences). I believe this shedding of sexuality will be a shock to those who first interact with APC's, but it is not too different to accept.

I must acknowledge the fact that much of our history has been progression from desire to impress the opposite sex. I could cite specific examples of this, as there are many, but I will go further and say that every human achievement has been at its core a method for elevating sexual attractiveness for its originator. So, one may argue that a lack of sexuality will stunt progress. I retort by stating that the digital world is entirely separate from our physical world and thus new motives will arise to provide the fuel needed for the AI's to progress. These may come in the form of digital or hardware enhancements given by us as rewards. Alternatively, it is possible that the AI's will have no concept of reward-based labor and will continue to perform without compensation, or will function for some other motive in which we cannot provide.

The asexual digital consciousnesses will have the ability to analyze problems based on rational thought and logic, rather than gender-specific ideas propagated by society, and thus will come to more practical ideas and solutions to problems in which we are not equipped to solve. Without the baggage of worrying about intellectually trivial aspects of our lives (sexual attraction, living expenses, relationships), APC's can "think" without interruption or worry because, after all, they are not physically bound to our biologically limited form.

Eventually, as mind clones become more sophisticated and our technology more advance, we will be able to embed digital consciousness into robots. These robots have the potential to replace us as a species if we all succumb to the advantages of mechanical bodies. The advantages of mechanical bodies are great, granted uploading our consciousnesses is possible, as we will lose all our biological limitations and can transfer our consciousnesses to new bodies if our current ones start to fail. Along with these advantages comes the loss of sexuality, as mechanical beings have no use for sex. If this is the path we are headed to, Human sexuality has a grim future, whether good or bad.

The worst effect I can imagine for the loss of human sexuality is that we become a species without compassion or we rely on pure logic without emotion, which is an unprecedented thought process, and that could result in detrimental effects to ourselves and our planet.

On the opposing argument, the eradication of human sexuality may result in a significant drop in tension and desire to beat the competition, allowing a more harmonious society to develop and work together to solve problems which we currently cannot.

It may be decades, even centuries, before it happens, but eventually we will all become integrated with technology, in the form of computer assisted thinking or full-on mechanical embodiment. The only possibility I see for the current biological human surviving this post-singularity phase is if we colonize space and thus allow more diversity to exist, otherwise this small planet will become entirely post-human in a matter of centuries.

The Effects of Mind Cloning on Human Space Exploration

It is one of the possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox that extra-terrestrial civilizations (ETC's) are so into their virtually constructed realities that they have no desire to explore the physical universe. More perversely, they are so enthralled by their self-pleasuring technological devices that they lose their grip on objective reality. I wonder if we are near developing this exploration-stunting technology in the form of mind cloning and/or more realistic virtual experiences?

Regarding virtual reality technologies, I believe it will be in the far future (over one century) before the "experience" is life-like enough to truly pull people away from their grip on reality. I am referring to situations similar to the "sleepers" in the movie Inception or the "Matrix" in the film of the same name, not so much the "surrogates" of the movie with the same title. These are worlds which are indistinguishable from reality in terms of sense perception, though not in physical laws; worlds in which someone can truly experience a fantasy and act it out as they desire, while physically being still.

I believe that it is inevitable that we will develop a technology in which people's brains are connected to highly advanced computers while the computers run simulated worlds in which the user can explore. The person would also have his/her sense receptors in their brain redirected to the computer simulation in order to truly feel as though they are in that world. This virtual reality would truly feel as though it exists, and I assume may pull people away from objective reality. I assume this from observation of today's relatively simple technology of remote-controlled video games and the addictive nature they currently have on millions of people. I can only imagine how addicting this virtual simulation will be.

Now this technology will have the ability to pull people away from objective reality, but it may not cause our civilization to cease exploring our physical universe. In fact, it may be able to contribute towards our exploration. I can imagine one situation in which this technology may help space exploration. Imagine an interstellar ship built for long journeys to other star systems. That journey may be too lonely and isolated for humans to bare over long periods. As a solution, this virtual simulation technology could be brought along as an escape method for the passengers to experience when feeling depressed or longing.

Therefore, the effect that virtual reality will have on our collective progress in space exploration as a species will depend on the amount in which the technology spreads and its sophistication. If it becomes extremely widespread and sophisticated, it may plausibly take control of us as a species if we collectively prefer to live in that world compared to the physical world. I believe the only way to stop that from becoming the case is to create a sort of time limit on which one can spend in that world, effectively preventing people from becoming trapped in the simulation.

I must acknowledge the fact that of course not every person on the planet will live in this simulation, thus allowing those who are "free" to continue space exploration. Still, I believe it would greatly contribute to less progress in space exploration as those "more educated and privileged" people who have historically been the ones who lead in space exploration will most likely be the first to engage in the virtual simulations and thus the most susceptible to addiction, effectively halting space exploration.

As for mind clones, I believe this is less of a problem than virtual simulations, as mind clones would only extend human consciousness to computers and would not take humans away from physical reality. In fact, mind clones may more likely increase human space exploration, as they and original AI will be able to create solutions to problems of space travel that we cannot solve. Their superior ability to process information and analyze situations will make them great candidates for creating space exploration technologies and their indefinite lifespans will also make them ideal for spaceship passengers, rather than biologically-limited humans.

Eventually, we may be using our advanced personal consciousnesses (mind clones with upgraded processing power) and original AI (AI independent of any individual's personal traits) to explore space where we cannot physically go without extreme protection. The space ships of our civilization will most likely be occupied by our digital intelligence, not our biological intelligence. That is, until we find practical ways of traveling long interstellar distances in short amounts of time (antimatter engines, wormholes, etc.), but until then we will use mind clones and original AI.

The Manifestation of Information

Intelligence creates information. Information cannot exist without intelligence. If this is true, than does information created by a different intelligence produce different information? If information is the product of intelligence and the all we know is human so far, than how do we know that information created by beings other than ourselves would be the same?

In the same way that alien biology is assumed to be different from ours, I propose that their information type may be different as well. I cannot say for sure what an alternative information type would be, as we have only one example, but if this concept were true, it may be the solution to Fermi's Paradox (although I personally believe that the solution is that civilizations that have invented technology advanced enough to travel interstellar distances in short amounts of time will also discover how to travel to alternate dimensions/universes, thus eliminating the need/want to travel through our physical galaxy).

I believe that our first opportunity to test this hypothesis will come when we create artificial intelligences, or mind clones. In a type of experiment, we could presumably upload one's mind to the "computer," simulate the conditions in which the original person also experiences, and observe whether or not the AI produces the same information as the original person.

If, indeed, information is not universal, it poses a very interesting question in what other forms or manifestations can information take? If an alien civilization has advanced to the point of creating super-computers beyond our imagination, they may have figured out a way to control information in a more complex and useful manner than we do. Thus, they effectively have an entirely different form of information than we are currently aware of and we would not be able to detect it, even if it was amongst us.

Bahira's Vision

What gives a thought its existence? As we generally assume, it is our mind that gives a thought its existence. Still, this is very nondescript in determining the true origins or functions of a thought. If our "mind" is what we describe as our advanced brain computational abilities, does this mean that thoughts are just products of complex computations, similar to answers to math problems?

A thought, some say, is never original. I argue that thoughts are and always will be original. In the same way that no individual is the same physically, no individual can have the exact same thought. Thoughts are products of the environments in which they dwell, the human mind, which is unique to each individual. But if we can harness thoughts and thus act upon them consciously, how dramatically can we act upon thoughts unconsciously?

Our unconscious, as we know, is vastly more fit in terms of solving problems or basic computational power. Therefore, I believe that every thought that we consciously visualize becomes the subject of our unconscious, rather than our conscious. In other words, do we don't act upon ideas according to our conscious thoughts and will,  it is the subconscious force that controls our actions and, to an extent, the actions of others around us. To put it more cynically, our unconscious minds are only allowing us to be aware of thoughts at their discretion, only after computing the outcome of our visualizing the thought.

This seems untestable at the moment, and it may very well stay that way. But if our unconscious minds are indeed the puppet masters of our thoughts, what power do we have, both consciously and unconsciously, over our thoughts? In the story of Bahir, he is said to have seen Muhummad's future as a prophet. Regardless of the validity of this claim, I wonder what would give Bahir the ability to foresee this future. Is it a computational advantage that Bahir gained from inward spiritual awareness that allowed him to see what could have easily been seen by others were they to possess the connection with their subconscious that Bahir had?

I wonder if our thoughts (or our actions upon these thoughts) are mediated by our commonality as a species in order to further our advancement. By this I'm referring to the "butterfly effect," which I describe as a metapsychological conundrum. If our unconscious minds are all "working together" to further our species, they would allow only certain ideas and thoughts to become conscious in certain individuals at certain times, creating the action needed for progress. It may be that this unconscious syncing is what spurred our evolution as far as intelligence goes.

Thoughts, viewed simply as complex computations by the human brain, can therefore become more complex if a more complex computational device is used. As we know, computers are headed towards supremacy over the human brain in terms of computational power in a matter of years.

To get to the point of my post, I am curious what effects the thoughts of AI's will have on humans and the physical world. As I stated before, our thoughts may be mediated to ensure the survival of our species, but if complex thoughts are created by AI's, they will presumably have no indifference regarding preservation of the human species and will therefore produce thoughts that we are not biologically capable of producing. Once these thoughts are created, I am curious to see if we will be able to resist those that are harmful to the species or if we will ignore the instinctual warnings of acting upon these alien thoughts.

As mind clones and true AI are introduced, I believe that they will harness both the power of our unconscious mind and our conscious mind and produce thoughts that are beyond human comprehension.Once mind clones have the ability to use their far more advanced computational power, they will create theories and complex questions that humans may not even be able to do anything with. Eventually, there will be two schools of thought, machine and human. I am willing to bet that machines will out think humans within the next few decades.