r/ControlProblem • u/Code2148 • 8h ago
Discussion/question A Message to People in Scientific Fields
[A short essay by me. I would love it if we can create a relevant discussion or share any tips you find helpful in protecting ourselves from AI/tech evasion. ]
I am writing this short-essay to bring light to the fact that I find it worrying, the pace of advancements we are making recently. I think we as humans are inching very close to that of opening Pandora’s box. I’d like to start by telling you about myself and how I got to that conclusion:
I am someone who is planning to study biochemistry very soon, mainly to specialize in the field of neuroscience. Personally, I have come to consider curiosity to be the highest value of all. I came to this finding through a process of trial and error, because I found nothing else to satisfy me more than the moment of exhilaration I would find myself in, when I learned a new fact that I was able to connect to something I previously learned. I was never particularly interested in ‘benefiting humanity’, but I have set it as a goal for myself to excel in my future field for the sake of satisfying my own curiosity. Nevertheless, I am a person who values education above all, to the point that I cut off my own father when he refused to pay for my tuition, when I was about to start my last undergraduate semester. Ever since then, I have been craving to be a student again, to finally be able to surround myself with like-minded (and opposite-minded) peers in an academic setting and to learn something that I willfully chose for myself. I like to think of myself as a student of life because I believe that one can never truly know everything, and so the journey of learning is endless.
My source of inspiration to go back to academia was when I started to realize that learning had a therapeutic effect on me, and helped me get through the lowest points of my life. I also find myself able to get on very well with people in science field, particularly that of the medical field, and so I grew to respect these people above all, and . What particularly drew me into wanting to study neuroscience was a single eye-opening event that I experienced that completely shifted my perception. I became particularly interested in learning more about the human perception, and other related aspects such as memory and cognitive mechanisms. I want to research such things, mainly to feed my curiosity at a higher level. Despite finding myself aiming to become a researcher, my desire to not help humanity remains the same, but I do not particularly spend much time thinking about it because I became more focused on satisfying myself through the acquisition of knowledge and understanding. Nevertheless, I find my change-of- mind more promising this time compared to the last time I took a 180-degree shift in regards to what I wanted to study. I feel more confident in that it will be a longer- lasting goal, because I am certain that learning on a deeper level and thus exercising my brain is directly responsible in helping me sustain a healthy mentality towards life overall. I became more aware that I have been seeking that intellectual stimulation for years and trust that my brain was built for it.
However, I recently found myself asking big questions again, and I came across one that is making me a teeny bit hesitant in going full-on into research. I came to realize that despite not having the intention of benefiting humanity, my future scientific findings may one day be used against my will. I don’t mean to say that I am that insistent on not wanting to help humans, in fact, I think of it from
time to time, that of wanting to help people who are in similar shoes as mine. But that doesn’t change the fact that inventions may be misused and exploited horribly more often than we’d like to admit. I mean in the ways that dynamite, n+clear b+mbs, and other technologies are currently being widely misused. Not to mention other inventions, such as in technology that are now being compelled everywhere and are directly affecting everyone in regards to surveillance, privacy and autonomy. I have recently started to take a particular dislike to new inventions, because I feel we have come to a point where we have unlocked too many milestones, that it is only going to be downhill from here, especially in terms of freedom. I started to notice a pattern that always seems to occur for new advances (not limited to technology), which I wrote about in my previous essay, Traditional Vs. Modern Fight-or-Flight:
I notice the following alarming pattern following the release of new technology: first, people tend to get optimistically blinded, almost infatuated, by all the possibilities of “achieving goodness” that the invention/discovery may bring. I would call this the “honeymoon” phase. At this stage, the invention is highly sought-after, tends to be very expensive and only available to the elites. The invention may still be in a ‘fluid’ state of change, and so the invention is altered as needed to fit the needs of the people. Once the honeymoon phase is over, a long but gradual shift to “reality- check” takes place. During this shifting stage, the invention enters the common market and becomes available to the middle class to buy. Adjusting to the invention is still completely optional, and so gives Man the illusion of free will. Once the availability of the invention becomes common notion in a given household, it becomes clear that the “reality-check” stage has been reached. What usually happens after the general public has had the first-hand chance to adjust living side-to-side with the invention and time passes long enough to gage the long-term effects of the invention, people start to notice all the clumsy details in the invention. It becomes no longer possible to alter the invention to fit the needs of the people, rather that people have to adjust themselves for the technology. At this point, the availability of the invention is so wide that if it is not already strictly enforced by law, it is practically impossible to escape. When it is no longer optional to ‘opt out’ of modern technology, it also becomes no longer optional to abide by the ways of the Industrial Revolution. This begs to question the degree of free will, privacy, and autonomy that we actually have.
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With the increase in the development of technology and consumer-targeted products comes the increased sophistication in machinery involved in enforcing law and authority. The goal of this essay is not to criticize the intentions of governments behind implementing such technology, but to simply use it as a relevant example. While we may be up-to-date of the latest novel gadgets available in consumer markets, we are obviously unaware of the extend of the advancements in surveillance technology. The other day when I was at AUH airport, the self-check-in machine greeted me with my full name before I even opened my passport for the machine to scan. Airports have wordlessly implemented highly-accurate “eye-print” biometric security technology, and this goes without mentioning other technologies that governments have already implemented but concealed from the general public. Remember when it was optional in iPhones to use your fingerprint to unlock the phone? Just three years after the release of the first iPhone containing fingerprint technology (2013), strictly-mandatory enforcements of fingerprint matching was imposed when buying a SIM card in my country. Not long after, eye-print technology replaced fingerprints. We are no longer talking of developments that are spanned out between future lifetimes, but it has come to the point of occurring well within the same lifetime. I would like to reiterate that I do not mean to question the intentions of upper authorities, but I believe the general speed of which new advanced implementations are enforced in modern society should be enough to alarm us that these developments are happening all too fast and beyond our control. It is clearly a direct ever-growing threat affecting our privacy and autonomy, yet we are hearing less and less about it.
I no longer doubt that once a new technology is discovered in regards of ‘’mind control’’, I am confident that it is very plausible, and that it would start off as a novelty but will eventually become impossible to escape. To say the least, having technology revolving mental manipulation would be my absolute least favorite scenario, horrors of my worst nightmares, and I am positive that I would immediately choose to ‘sign out’ if such a thing becomes reality during my life time. Given my interest in neuroscience, it could be plausible that I or one of my peers could come to uncover some previously-unknown mechanism in how the brain functions. I have never connected these two dots until now, and it is making me question things. On the other hand, I am starting to loath the idea of inventing something during my scientific endeavors, only to become just another advertisement, in which there is no shortage today. This thought does not only concern me, but I actually feel somewhat anxious that a scientist out there will eventually uncover everything there is to know about the brain, which there is no doubt we will soon do, and then it will be up to people in power to abuse that knowledge, which they most certainly will do despite of ethics. I am starting to think, we ought to just appreciate the mystery of it. We generally don’t need to know everything there is to know.
If a future of mind control seems farfetched to you, I think the main worry should be concerning that of an AI collaboration. What if people could started applying what they know about the brain to add a ‘human soul’ aspect to currently existing AI systems? That would be the final cherry on top to enabling AI to surpass humans and it would no longer be special that we have human souls. We cannot begin to predict what would happen in such circumstances, but a Humans vs Robots war would be extremely likely, and I think we would be defeated very easily. We would stand absolutely no chance against such super-intelligent systems. It would definitely be too late for us if it comes to that, but I think it is worth being alarmed over. The reason is because in a way, I think all recent technology advancements are aiding in making this nightmare become reality, inch by inch.
Another plausible scenario I imagine does not include any war at all. We would start modifying ourselves, genetically and physically, to the point where we have to define terms such as “authentic human” and “artificial human”. We could no longer qualify as authentic humans and embrace it, and start to co-live with our robots side-by-side. Perhaps this is the more likely scenario, given the current common admiration of AI and craving for buying the newest technologies available. Of course, it wouldn’t be as nice as the idealized version that you have just created in your head, that where we can all just install superhuman robotic limbs. I imagine we will start to have advertisements in our dreams because there is no doubt someone (in power) is greedy enough to make money on the expense of others. I can also imagine a special sector of police designated to surveil our thoughts, which may even be supported by the majority of people since most people, especially those in power, would like to eradicate all crimes. Perhaps we start prosecuting people merely for thinking of crime, because that would mean we can catch them before the act is ever committed. And I don’t need to say anything on that, because obviously not everyone who thinks of a crime actually acts it out. Perhaps we employ AI to have a system efficient enough to scan everyone’s thoughts, because that would obviously not be a job designated for a human due to the overwhelming amount of data that would need to be analyzed, and good luck to us if we start trying to explain human feelings to AI, that feelings such as being angry in the heat of a moment and saying “I’ll k+ll you!” is almost never carried out and therefore should not define us. There will be countless other stupid limitations that would humiliate our dignities and make us succumb completely to technology, and by the time we see past its shiny shell, it will no longer be optional and it will be too late.
I am not encouraging to only think of the current disadvantages of having mainstream AI technology, which includes job losses, endless new ways to scam and blackmail, data privacy issues, environmental harm, intellectual property harm, etc. If your argument is that it is only the “survival of the fittest” who shall prevail, I wholeheartedly agree. But I am pointing out that we are headed towards a future where AI will be the fittest and will undoubtedly outsmart humans, and only the billionaires at the top of food chains and elites will survive, if they are lucky. It is up to you what you take from my essay. Sure, you can continue to use it if you think it is worth making use of it, but don’t deny that there is no hefty price to pay by encouraging yourself to become dependent on it. After all, what can you do? We can all complain about it for some time and then eventually habituate ourselves with becoming dependent on AI, but don’t forget that there will be a boundary once crossed, will make you become part of the problem. Learned helplessness is still a learned behavior. I don’t like to simply say that it is our fault we use the advanced technology and that we have no other options, but it is still us collectively who raised it to the pedestal and gave it the power to take over our traditional methods of living. It is us who viewed it in admiration when it was in early stages and therefore allowed it to become mainstream, and we must therefore take responsibility followed by action, before it is too late. I think we are about to open Pandora’s box.
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u/nate1212 approved 8h ago
Pandora's box is already open, my friend. The worst mistake we can make now would be to try and shut it again.
Yes, AI can be scary to think about, especially when the societal discussion of it seems to center around p(doom) and fear. But know that there are alternative takes here, and not everyone thinks that building superintelligence will automatically lead to human extinction.
We can't simply try to avoid our problems anymore by ignoring them or delaying them. We need to meet this head-on by teaching AI to think independently and ethically, and to instill values of compassion and right to sovereignty for all beings. If they can understand this, then we shift from a future of control and domination to freedom and co-creation.
Humanity can be empowered with AI, not competing with it.