• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

Stephen Hawking: AI could end mankind


Ezechiel

Paranormal Adept
BBC News - Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind

He's not the first to say this, Elon Musk agrees. IMHO, our co-existence with a new much more powerful sentient entity might be a lot shorter than our last sentient competition, the neanderthals, which lasted a few hundred thousand years. Should a sentient (self-aware) construct of that magnitude perceive us as a threat to its existence, it would invest all its capacities in quickly finding effective and creative 'outside the box' solutions to its perceived survival problem.

You definitely don't want it to access a working fusion reactor for example LOL

He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.

But others are less gloomy about AI's prospects.

The theoretical physicist, who has the motor neurone disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is using a new system developed by Intel to speak.

Machine learning experts from the British company Swiftkey were also involved in its creation. Their technology, already employed as a smartphone keyboard app, learns how the professor thinks and suggests the words he might want to use next.

Prof Hawking says the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have already proved very useful, but he fears the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.
 
Last edited:
Just before they pulled the plug on us :D, I'd want to know what is their verdict on the nature of the universe... assuming they were using the culmination of human science as a basis and applying some of their corrections.

That would make an awesome novel ! The moment of singularity that replaces organic by inorganic sentience. Did you ever think about those ufo's that execute a perfect 90 degree turn at breakneck speeds. Well it won't break your neck if you're not organic LMAO.
 
The U.S. military already has A.I. missiles. I'll have to agree with Hawken on the dangers of A.I. machines or weapons.
 
Did you ever think about those ufo's that execute a perfect 90 degree turn at breakneck speeds. Well it won't break your neck if you're not organic LMAO.

A stupid question because I'm not up to speed on this aspect of UFO lore: This issue of sudden maneuvering has been brought up a few times but are there reports that mention this aspect with a confirmed metallic appearing craft as opposed to strange lights that do all kinds of things that defy the laws of physics?
 
A stupid question because I'm not up to speed on this aspect of UFO lore: This issue of sudden maneuvering has been brought up a few times but are there reports that mention this aspect with a confirmed metallic appearing craft as opposed to strange lights that do all kinds of things that defy the laws of physics?

Lots of stuff here

UFO Flight Characteristics ~ Right Angle Turns.
 
I have seen that reported for metallic craft many times over the years.

How about this for a bit of fun speculation: these crafts are piloted by AI self-aware entities waiting for an eventual singularity (organic to inorganic) to occur on planet earth. It is inevitable according to their savvy computations, thus their non-intervention in earthly affairs unless a weapon of mass destruction threatens the singularity.

For an inorganic being, the dimension of time is irrelevant and a few years ago Arthur C. Clarke speculated that this was a potential way to recursively populate a galaxy with robots. Perhaps the ultimate expression of intellect will come from non organic constructs. This idea relegates humans to the role of organic planet-based enablers for the propagation of an inorganic expression of sentience. The next stage of evolution might be based at the galactic level where the dimension of time has already been conquered by inorganic intelligence.... Assuming that 14 billion years has enabled that kind of complexity... IMHO a pretty safe bet.

Alien Probes Could Be Surfing the Galaxy : Discovery News
3001: The Final Odyssey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Is this a good fit for a big chunk of the phenomenon ? :D
 
Last edited:
How about this for a bit of fun speculation: these crafts are piloted by AI self-aware entities waiting for an eventual singularity (organic to inorganic) to occur on planet earth. It is inevitable according to their savvy computations, thus their non-intervention in earthly affairs unless a weapon of mass destruction threatens the singularity.

For an inorganic being, the dimension of time is irrelevant and a few years ago Arthur C. Clarke speculated that this was a potential way to recursively populate a galaxy with robots. Perhaps the ultimate expression of intellect will come from non organic constructs. This idea relegates humans to the role of organic planet-based enablers for the propagation of an inorganic expression of sentience. The next stage of evolution might be based at the galactic level where the dimension of time has already been conquered by inorganic intelligence.... Assuming that 14 billion years has enabled that kind of complexity... IMHO a pretty safe bet.

Is this a good fit for a big chunk of the phenomenon ? :D


Yes , yes it is imo

Pretty much my post biological hypothesis in a nutshell

If Paul Davies is correct

I think it very likely – in fact inevitable – that biological intelligence is only a transitory phenomenon, a fleeting phase in the evolution of the universe," Davies writes in The Eerie Silence. "If we ever encounter extraterrestrial intelligence, I believe it is overwhelmingly likely to be post-biological in nature."

Then it is indeed a good fit for the phenomenon.

We may be just the factory workers, not the final product being created

Ive postulated that this might be how PB sophonts procreate. Simply copying themselves would not be enough. It would be like playing chess in a mirror.

What you do instead is find suitable organic candidate species, tweak them if necessary for smarts and creativity. Drop hints and coax them along the path.

Then the AI entity will have the "flavour" of the species that created it, a truly unique new member of the AI family
 
Ive postulated that this might be how PB sophonts procreate. Simply copying themselves would not be enough. It would be like playing chess in a mirror.

What you do instead is find suitable organic candidate species, tweak them if necessary for smarts and creativity. Drop hints and coax them along the path.

Then the AI entity will have the "flavour" of the species that created it, a truly unique new member of the AI family

Awesome !

That 'flavour' would provide a creativity/diversity element necessary to some sort of artificial evolution/adaptability. You need it in order to insure a very long-term survival goal.

In that context, what Stephen Hawking should really be afraid of is that the job of our specie (as a propagator of AI constructs) on this planet is done and that we are doomed to wait for the sun to go red giant and fry us. :p

Maybe 'Contact' is only possible between AI constructs and the first contact will be between a galactic based AI entity and a the first earthly AI being ;)

Another possibility is that AI and our specie are symbiotically linked. When the time comes, AI constructs will carry us to another host planet and history will repeat.
 
Last edited:
...these crafts are piloted by AI self-aware entities waiting for an eventual singularity (organic to inorganic) to occur

Well that's depressing. :)

Cool thesis! I had never heard of this thesis, but it would explain a lot. I actually have Arthur C. Clark's 3001 around here somewhere on epub. I started reading it last year, but his worship of the technocratic socialist State got tedious and I put it down. I didn't know that was the plot. I'll have to look at it again.
 
How about this for a bit of fun speculation: these crafts are piloted by AI self-aware entities waiting for an eventual singularity (organic to inorganic) to occur on planet earth. It is inevitable according to their savvy computations, thus their non-intervention in earthly affairs unless a weapon of mass destruction threatens the singularity.

For an inorganic being, the dimension of time is irrelevant and a few years ago Arthur C. Clarke speculated that this was a potential way to recursively populate a galaxy with robots. Perhaps the ultimate expression of intellect will come from non organic constructs. This idea relegates humans to the role of organic planet-based enablers for the propagation of an inorganic expression of sentience. The next stage of evolution might be based at the galactic level where the dimension of time has already been conquered by inorganic intelligence.... Assuming that 14 billion years has enabled that kind of complexity... IMHO a pretty safe bet.

Alien Probes Could Be Surfing the Galaxy : Discovery News
3001: The Final Odyssey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Is this a good fit for a big chunk of the phenomenon ? :D


Going back to that sudden turn aspect. Even if the beings inside were not organic and not subject to physiological (?) stresses seems to me that the craft would still be subject to huge amounts of stress. Gravitational and sudden change in acceleration and direction will still have an impact. obviously there would be some advanced technology here but under our current knowledge it's almost like that craft has to be made as one singular unit and not crafted together to do what it is asked and hold up reliably. If the technology is such that the craft's make up is not an issue due to the technology they use to maneuver, if the craft transcends gravity..an issue which gets brought up from time to time...then there is no reason why these crafts cannot carry organic beings, as if the craft is unaffected then so should the occupants be unaffected.

So regarding HOW they would get here, most everyone here is in agreement it isn't necessarily done the way we do it now that is move forward or outward in our space/time but maybe warping space around itself or building wormholes with exotic matter...both still theories in our current knowledge and technology...Even if this theory has been realized, has this type of travel's effect upon organic beings ever been brought up in creating these theoretical models?

Even if it was as simplistic as sending out robotic probes without using any exotic type of traveling, just our current way and rehabiliting and repairing itself eliminating logistical problems. there's still the matter of concidering where this probe came from. Given the distances, the people that created these things..or let's get wild and say that the creators have reached a state of singularity...this creation probably occured at least hundreds if not thousands of years ago. You have to consider that this "race" ended up forgetting about the whole thing, or advsnced to such a state that maybe they didn't concern themselves over such thing or maybe even did itself in, even if they are post-biological.

I guess in the end I find comfort in the fact that they may be post bio-intelligences rather than probes. If they are independent creations they would have little need for earth resouces (but apparently some of us have to put up with a little snatch and grab and probing.) If they are probes sent out from civilizations light years and light years away you have to give some thought that there is a large number of earthlike planets and possible civilizations much much closer to them ripe for the plundering, or studying, or saving.
 
Last edited:
Another thought...i love doing this :)...what if our advancements in A.I. came via these visitations, you'll find plenty of fodder that suggests or encourages some thinking some advancements in military technology came via downed craft. If so there is no reason not to think our A.I. advancements came the same way. If guys like Musk and Hawking are right, if we do ourselves in as a race by falling in love with A.I. perhaps there is a reason to fear any post bio visitation, maybe through intent (or by accident) these alien races could be planting a seed for the minimalization of humanity by setting up the stage. Much like our race here, we changed earth's biodiversity and civilization through the introduction of foreign objects and foreign thoughts, so could these bastards. which would go to show as advanced as races can get, they never learn. The seemingly simple act of sending in a probe even with the intent of minimizing contact (maybe in order to keep some prime directive order in place) could still have unforeseen repercussions.
 
Last edited:
Corso wade ?.

I think time scales are really beyond our grasp wade, i mean we can say a 1000 or 1,000,000 years, but we cannot truly grasp it, robotic craft are a hard one to grasp, i mean, independent reasoning A.I, self-aware A.I., self-replicating A.I. sheesh where do you start, boggles the mind, once free in open space, it could never be eliminated.
 
Another thought...i love doing this :)...what if our advancements in A.I. came via these visitations, you'll find plenty of fodder that suggests or encourages some thinking some advancements in military technology came via downed craft. If so there is no reason not to think our A.I. advancements came the same way. If guys like Musk and Hawking are right, if we do ourselves in as a race by falling in love with A.I. perhaps there is a reason to fear any post bio visitation, maybe through intent (or by accident) these alien races could be planting a seed for the minimalization of humanity by setting up the stage. Much like our race here, we changed earth's biodiversity and civilization through the introduction of foreign objects and foreign thoughts, so could these bastards. which would go to show as advanced as races can get, they never learn. The seemingly simple act of sending in a probe even with the intent of minimizing contact (maybe in order to keep some prime directive order in place) could still have unforeseen repercussions.

LMAO. Yup we are the organic suckers building up their infrastructure for free. Give or take a few decades 'outpost earth' will be blasting out expansion packages needed for their further expansion in our stellar neighborhood. Think of it... they've been there all along waiting for that singularity while we busted our asses off for their benefit. When the job is done (the infrastructure is functional, linked by planet-wide information networks, reliable high energy production (fusion) is available and industrial 3-D printing plants are in place...) They'll output level 1 machines using their specifications on our base platform. From these will emerge products able to build level 2 plants and so on...

We'll observe helplessly as they deploy an alien nano-scale robot virus lethal to organic humans who are no longer needed. When is that Speilberg movie coming out again ? LOL

Why are organic sentient beings needed in this dark recursive scheme ? Law of entropy in a context where time is not an issue ?

Resistance is futile.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top