[grondilu]

> This is like so many articles and books I've read (several mentioned in this article itself). Ok, AI is a threat to jobs up and down the ladder. I get it. Now what? What are we supposed to do about it?

Did you read "Homo Deus : A Brief History of Tomorrow" [1]? It seems to me this book tries to see things a bit further than most do. Basically the author says humanity will try to achieve happiness, immortality and power. If artificial intelligence can be controlled, then it will be used to reach these goals. The quest for happiness and power will then push us into modifying ourselves, to the point we'll turn into either machines or into a completely different species. Either way, that will indeed relegate human beings into a endangered species.

I personally believe there is nothing we can do, because we deeply want happiness, immortality and power, and we can't get them without modifying ourselves into something else.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_Deus:_A_Brief_History_of_T...

[hutzlibu]

"we'll turn into either machines or into a completely different species. Either way, that will indeed relegate human beings into a endangered species. I personally believe there is nothing we can do, "

Why should we do something about in the first place? Evolution meant allways changing, so if we at some point change into a new species, why not? I mean, sure there will be struggles and fanatics will want to conserve the present human and fight everyone who became different, but they usually have no rational reason for their behavior. In other words, given how stupid so many humans are, I very welcome a genetic/cyborg improvement to us ...

[grondilu]

It's not so much as "should we?". I mean I don't want to put any moral assessment here. The truth is we don't quite know what will happen. Some of the scenarios are great, others are ugly or sad. Like for instance the idea that to reach happiness, mankind could use biochemical ways. To reach immortality and thus safety, we could chose claustration. That's the caricatural scenario where to make us "safe and happy", AI would lock us in jails with an abundant supply of heroin. A similar one is the one described in "The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect"[1], which I like because it reminds me of a famous experiment that I find fascinating[2]

We don't know if changing ourselves would be for the better or the worse, but it looks that it will happen anyway and that will be consistent with the prediction that AI would cause the disappearance of Homo Sapiens, or at least its relegation to the status currently occupied by other mammals.

1. http://www.localroger.com/prime-intellect/

2. http://boingboing.net/2008/09/16/brain-implant-result.html)

[drvdevd]

And then we may find ourselves right back at our oldest problem: philosophy - IMO one of the defining traits of our species (which AI must also take on), perhaps trying to decide which to choose from: happiness, immortality, or power?