by flipflop » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:24 pm
I wanted to vote for the first option:
"Humans will become extinct before building computers powerful enough to run simulations capable of creating entire virtual worlds full of people with virtual intelligence. "
But, just as my tin-foil hat was slipping off my head I hit the 2nd option by mistake. Master Yorick (where is the great man nowadays?) has disabled, quite rightly, the edit function on the TFHC, so fuck it.
As some of you may have guessed already I have a very pessimistic view of the human species in general, we are a nasty bunch of cunts compared to most other species. So, naturally I must go for self-obliteration before we can build technologically advanced computers that are powerful enough to run these simulations. As individuals plenty of people are ok, as groups and tribes we are venal, greedy, despotic, irrational, murderous and not worth bothering about. We will find a way of killing ourselves off, god knows we've tried hard enough up to now.
I still love the scenario in "The Terminator" - where our Frankenstein's monster, Skynet, finally achieves Turing's dream of AI and becomes sentient. But the twist in "The Terminator" is ingenious, and it's certainly not what Turing would have wanted - no cuddly R2-D2 here folks. The fantastic bit about this twist on the AI idea is that Skynet, instead of helping us all out and ushering in Utopia, this artificial equivalent of Genghis Khan realises what a waste of time us slimy pieces of meat really are and sets about dispatching us without feeling, emotion, malice or understanding - it just goes about it's business like a toaster or a food mixer - brilliant.
Other great examples of the genre are HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey", and my personal favourite - Fred Saberhagen's "Berserkers" - man those puppies like them a bit of human ass (and every other form of life in the universe).
Everytime I watch "The Terminator" I root for the red-eyed robot stormtroopers as they crush the human skulls underfoot while drone laser fighters (a later version of today's predator?) roast the ground in front of them. But I've always been odd like that - rooting for the movie bad guys, the Orcs, the shark in Jaws (pure - like a machine), the baddies in Tarzan, The Aliens (pure, like machines)The Empire and Darth Vader in Star Wars - baddies are just cooler and more fun - look at Heath Ledger's Joker - he was an ace guy, better than that wooden twat Batman.
But, I digress, we'll not reach a version of Skynet, we're too stupid and will perish soon - I reckon 400 years hence maximum, then "pop" we're out of here.
Cheers
Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country - Bertrand Russell