Evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr (1904-2005)—who, I’m told, was a very smart person—concluded, late in life, that high intelligence may be a lethal mutation. In this article, we’ll explore some reasons for this startling and paradoxical assessment.
…The downsides of high intelligence are nowhere more apparent than in humanity’s latest techno-obsession—artificial intelligence (AI). Dramatic claims are being made regarding the ability of AI to revolutionize whole industries, to solve climate change, and to make investors rich. However, critics warn of this new technology’s potential to throw millions out of work, unleash innumerable novel genetically modified organisms into the environment with unknown risks, and direct new generations of autonomous weapons.
AI has impressive linguistic abilities. But its intelligence is fully disengaged from the biological processes and natural limits in which real humans are enmeshed. Lacking this context, AI seems poised to greatly amplify the most dangerous aspects of human cognition.
Meanwhile, insiders now warn that AI is an oversold, largely unprofitable scam, and could be the next stock market bubble to pop the economy. Why would that be? Perhaps the smart machine simply mirrors the flaws of its creator, an animal that has used a temporary abundance of fossil energy to blow a population/consumption bubble that is bound to burst, and soon…
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