Artificial Intelligence | Implications for Our Future
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for Our Future
Vicar Sayeedi
October 18, 2022
Introduction
What is Artificial Intelligence and why is it so important that we understand its potential?
In the coming years and decades, AI can be expected to impact virtually every aspect of our lives. From the economy to the labor market and workplace, to government and international relations, to world affairs and military conflict, it seems no area of human endeavor will be spared. So, given this reality perhaps it’s best we have at least a working understanding of AI and how it might shape our future.
AI is the most profound change to human intelligence since the Cognitive Revolution. About 70,000 years ago, a genetic mutation or something along these lines took place in our species, Homo Sapiens. This episode is known as the Cognitive Revolution. Humankind went quite suddenly from somewhere in the middle of the food chain straight to the very top. Thereafter, wherever humans arrived, the archaeological evidence unequivocally reveals a dramatic reduction and in countless cases, extinction of terrestrial megafauna. Terrestrial megafauna are the large land animals over 100 lbs. Despite our much smaller size and slower speed relative to the animals we were hunting, we had learned to cooperate as a species in a very flexible manner and at considerable scale.
Then, a few hundred years ago during the first Industrial Revolution, for the first time, humankind overcame its systemic limitations on physical strength through the invention of the steam engine and mechanization which brought us internal combustion engines and transportation. The 2nd Industrial Revolution brought us electricity, light and communications by way of the telegraph and telephone. The 3rd Industrial Revolution brought advanced, high-speed computing to the desktop of every individual and the 4th Industrial Revolution is now bringing us Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Computing [Quantum and Supercomputing], Data Science, Gene Editing and Genomics.
The confluence of these 4th Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies – with AI at the helm – presents tremendously exciting but also sobering new realities that we must now learn to control and manage. Because without any doubt, AI and its related disruptive technologies have emerged as an existential threat to humankind. We may no longer need to depend exclusively on evolution and its extraordinarily slow pace for improvement in our species. Rather, we are entering a world of intelligent design wherein some of us here may well be the designers. This is a profound realization and it’s enabled by the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Now the term Artificial Intelligence means different things to different people. To most, AI is simply the ability to simulate human intelligence in a machine. Implicitly, this refers to the quantitative dimension of human intelligence, the ability some people possess that enables them to think and manage complex ideas and problems that may have a substantial computational dimension. But scholars of human intelligence believe that quantitative intelligence is just one form or dimension of human intelligence. There are a number of other discrete dimensions, and this raises important questions. Most of the Narrow or Specialized AI Agents we’ve developed today are highly quantitative or pattern matching in their ability. But humans have perhaps eight or even more different dimensions of intelligence. So, what happens if we develop AI Agents that simulate only this one dimension of human intelligence, the quantitative dimension?
Historically, society has considered people to be intelligent if they innately possess skills or demonstrate an ability to acquire intelligences or skills that can readily be monetized. As society evolves, the intelligences and talents they value evolve, as well. People who do not possess the intelligences or skills that are easily monetized in the age in which they live are viewed in a dim light and are often considered as inferior members of society. Such stratification of society can leave these people in a very disadvantaged position.
But these people often possess other intelligences and skills, skills that while not as easily monetized, do provide great value to society. These intelligences often enable them to build hand-made furniture or musical instruments, to write literature, musical compositions or poetry, to paint frescoes, portraits or landscapes, to chisel stone or wood to form beautiful sculpture, to develop and perform various levels and methods of pedagogy, to coach young people and so many other activities that enrich human culture and life.
Furthermore, some amongst us are strongly left-brained, others strongly right-brained while some humans are blessed with strong aspects of both. Some amongst us are highly rational and have little room for impulse or emotion whilst others have a high degree of emotional intelligence. In some circumstances, the highly rational person is the one needed to lead an organization or society, but in other circumstances, leadership underpinned by emotional intelligence will result in the most desirable outcome.
Human intelligence then is highly complex and nuanced. So, when we speak of Artificial Intelligence, we now realize we need to be very clear what we are really talking about. When we reference AI, are we speaking purely of the quantitative and pattern recognition dimension of human intelligence that AI companies are working to replicate or are we speaking more broadly about the richly complex and nuanced tapestry of human intelligence?
What does it mean to be working towards Artificial General Intelligence or Artificial Super Intelligence if we are focused only on the quantitative dimension given that even the Narrow or Specialized AI Agents available today are wreaking havoc on society through their deployment and presence in e-Commerce, Finance, Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and Social Media?
We must also wonder whether the General AI or Super AI Agents of the future might develop a form of consciousness specific to their own reality and whether this variant of machine sentience will conflict with human sentience. What might this mean with regards to their ability to coexist alongside humankind given that they will be exponentially more intelligent than Homo Sapiens? This is increasingly worrisome since most AI Thought Leaders believe we will achieve Artificial General Intelligence within a few decades and because there are no principles of biology or chemistry nor any laws of mathematics or physics that preclude the development of consciousness in AI.
Conversely, AI can attain super intelligence whilst remaining a-sentient and therefore agnostic to human ethics and morality. This raises the specter of many challenging problems. In summary, we need to spend more energy and effort within the Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and related interdisciplinary community researching and addressing the issue of sentience alongside our work in the understanding and development of synthetic intelligence. We are going to need to give much more proactive attention to these fascinating yet powerful and dangerous sciences and technologies within our government bureaucracy.
As a science, Artificial Intelligence endeavors to understand the organic human mind and its ability for intelligence or problem solving with an end goal of simulating this intelligence in silicon and machine. We are making tremendous progress in this area, particularly in the last ten years or so. For the first time humankind can now overcome the limitations resulting from our own intellectual capacity to solve problems. We have amassed an impressive ability to aggregate enormous volumes of digital data along with our capacity to design and build faster and faster computer processors that can process this data. We have also dramatically enhanced our understanding of neuroscience as it relates to Deep Learning Neural Networks, and we have translated this understanding into very high performance and effective machine learning strategies. But at the same time, it’s important to point out that our collective understanding of consciousness or sentience remains opaque at best.
The evolution of sentience – how, why, and the purpose of human consciousness – persists as one of the greatest unanswered questions in neuroscience. The scientific community believes consciousness has arisen through biological evolution and has been enhanced further through cultural evolution. But that understanding of our consciousness, that understanding of ourselves and of our physical and social environment, and our understanding of the future, remains mysterious. This ability to dream, to imagine, to plan and strategize seem largely unique to our species, particularly our foresight.
There have been more than 20,000 papers written on consciousness from diverse perspectives including Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology and Theology. However, despite so much study and reflection on this issue, we are still unable to offer a suitable and universally acceptable definition of consciousness or an understanding of how the brain works in this regard. Although we cannot provide an understanding of consciousness or sentience, there is universal acceptance that consciousness resides in the brain. An empirically sound theory of consciousness unfortunately does not yet exist, but neuroscientists believe we’re getting closer. This understanding will be crucial if we are to safely coexist with Artificial General Intelligence and then later with Artificial Super Intelligence.
Protein Folding
Over the past five years, rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence have been applied to solve many interesting, real-world problems. From applications in education and healthcare, to radiology and social media, to natural language processing and speech synthesis, to lethal autonomous weapons systems, weather prediction and robotic surgery, and so much more, AI is accelerating progress across countless disciplines to a very impressive degree. But there is a consensus coalescing within the AI Thought Leader Community that recent advances in the application of AI in the complex and esoteric field of Structural Biology, specifically in the area of Protein Folding, may be AI’s greatest achievement to date. Protein Folding refers to the three-dimensional shape assumed by a protein before it begins life as a nanomachine in the human body. We’ll come back to this in just a minute.
DeepMind, a London firm acquired by Google in 2014, is perhaps the world’s preeminent AI company. On November 30, 2020, the firm published an article in the journal, ‘Nature’ confirming that they’d solved the previously insurmountable 50-year-old Protein Folding problem using a proprietary Deep Learning AI Agent known as AlphaFold. It was a shocking development that upended the world of Structural Biology and far beyond. The implications of the publication were unprecedented, and they continue to reverberate across many disciplines today.
For the past fifty years, scientists have endlessly toiled over the Protein Folding problem in a never-ending struggle to understand the three-dimensional structure of protein nanomachines. It has been the grand challenge in Biology. In order to understand the final structure of proteins, scientists needed to make the protein production factory in our bodies, the ribosome, express a sufficient quantity of a particular protein and then harness them before cajoling them to crystalize. This proved to be extremely challenging. If they succeeded in crystalizing a sufficient volume of these folded proteins, they could then use Xray Crystallography to better see and understand the folded structure. But it was common for this process to take years and sometimes even longer. In fact, many scientists have spent their entire careers and lives attempting to find the folded structures of various proteins. It would be far better if we could simply predict the three-dimensional Protein Folding structure by simply examining the string of amino acids involved.
At this point, most guests will undoubtedly be wondering why the three-dimensional shapes of these proteins are so important. Before we answer this question, let’s spend just a minute to shape our understanding of what proteins are, how they’re made and what they do inside our bodies. Ribosomes are factories within our cells where twenty distinct amino acids are produced. Strings of these amino acids are linked together in unique ways to form proteins and then within a few milliseconds, physics intervenes to direct the final three-dimensional shape of the newly formed protein. There are twenty thousand distinct proteins in our bodies and each one folds into a distinct shape and thus has a different function. [Thus far, in nature we have identified approximately 100 million proteins.] These proteins can fold into 10 to the power 300 distinct three-dimensional structures [for reference, there are ten to the power eighty atoms in the known universe] and so, for all intents and purposes, this represents an infinite number of potential folded structures. Once folded, these proteins perform mechanical and chemical functions within cells throughout our bodies. Common proteins include hemoglobin which transports oxygen within red blood cells and insulin which metabolizes glucose.
In pharmacology, the three-dimensional folding pattern of a protein is crucial information. Once pharmaceutical scientists understand the folding pattern of a protein, they can design a chemical compound that can optimally bind itself to the protein in question in a very specific manner. This process, in effect, alters the protein’s function or disables it, thus preventing or intervening in potential pathology. So, we can see that rapidly understanding the pattern of Protein Folding is crucial in developing new prophylaxes and therapies. This is a revolutionary advancement that is expected to dramatically reduce the time required for the development of new drugs.
AlphaFold’s ability to accurately and rapidly predict Protein Folding structures is now improving our understanding of how to break down the plastics polluting our oceans, as well. These plastics are currently being deposited in our oceans at the rate of 10 million metric tons per year and with time they break into ever smaller parts due to sun and water erosion. They eventually turn into microplastics that are then ingested by marine life. Through this process, microplastics enter the food chain and so they are eventually consumed by humans. This of course can have impacts on human health that are not yet understood. AlphaFold’s ability to understand the three-dimensional shape of enzymes that are effective in breaking down plastics into their basic chemical components promises to have a great impact before these plastics can do further damage to marine ecosystems and eventually human life.
Antibiotics
Another fascinating application of Artificial Intelligence in recent years has been in the research and development of antibiotics. In February of 2020, just as news of the Coronavirus Pandemic began spreading across the globe, MIT researchers identified a powerful new antibiotic compound. In laboratory tests, the new drug killed many of the world’s most concerning disease-inducing bacteria, including some strains of pathogens that are resistant to all known antibiotics. MIT’s AI-based computer model can screen more than a hundred million chemical compounds in just a few days. It’s been designed to pick out potential antibiotics that kill bacteria using mechanisms than are different from those of existing antibiotics.
Using this new AI-enabled platform, MIT scientists discovered a molecule called Halicin [a reference to the book, 2001 A Space Odyssey] which is very likely one of the more powerful antibiotics ever discovered. During the study, researchers also identified several additional hopeful antibiotic candidates, and these are now being studied and tested, as well. The MIT team seems convinced that their AI model may also be used to design new drugs, based on what it has learned about chemical structures that enable drugs to kill various pathogens.
As some of you may be aware, over the past few decades, very few new antibiotics have been developed, and most of those newly approved antibiotics are just slightly different variants of existing drugs. Additionally, current methods for screening new antibiotics are often far too costly – they require a large investment in capital and time and are usually limited to a narrow spectrum of chemical diversity. The Medical Community and patients are facing a steadily escalating crisis vis a vis antibiotic resistance in the patient population, and this situation is being further aggravated by both an increasing number of pathogens becoming resistant to existing antibiotics, and a diminishing pipeline in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries for new antibiotics.
The potential for new and faster antibiotics and general drug discovery is very exciting but at the same time it’s also quite concerning – in the hands of nefarious actors, such powerful science and technology could also be repurposed to rapidly develop highly contagious and deadly pathogens with no known disruptors. These pathogens could then be surreptitiously introduced into large unsuspecting populations. Such bioterrorism is a dangerous and unfortunate byproduct of an otherwise critically valuable 4th Industrial Revolution capability that can improve the quality of life for people everywhere.
Nuclear Fusion & Climate Change
Now let’s turn our attention to Climate Change. Just one year ago in November 2021, as the COP26 Climate Change conference in Glasgow drew to a close, there was a tremendous sense of foreboding in the air. Despite the efforts of some to portray a positive image of the outcomes from the conference, there was an unmistakable feeling of disappointment. Considering the volume of mounting and unassailable evidence confirming that Climate Scientists had correctly predicted that the planet was heating at an unsustainable rate, the delegates from the world’s major fossil fuel producing and consuming nations were still unable to deliver on the commitments necessary to prevent further calamitous damage. Significant progress had been made – of this there can be no doubt – but given the irrefutable existential nature of the challenge, the conference outcomes were nothing short of alarming.
In fact, global carbon emissions in 2021 reached record levels with coal consumption increasing by more than 9% versus 2020. New coal powered plants are also being brought online in China and India at an alarming rate. But unfortunately, if we are to achieve the agreed temperature targets of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming by 2050, emissions would need to decline by 7.6% every year until 2030. In the past, humankind has faced other existential threats and has been able to rise to the occasion – we have been able to find a way to work together to successfully contain serious threats. But in the case of Climate Change and the COP26 conference, the outcome was a dramatic disappointment which brought Alok Sharma, the conference host to tears.
As the threat of Climate Change increases with each passing day, scientists have proposed a multitude of potential solutions for clean energy production including solar and wind technologies. These technologies are available today and are gradually improving and maturing but they are not yet at a point where they can come close to fulfilling global energy demands or cost effectiveness currently being met by coal, gas and oil. New, clean technologies for manufacturing, agriculture and transportation – the other three key areas other than energy that are contributing to the warming of the planet – are rapidly becoming available, as well, but despite these efforts, humankind is falling considerably short.
From a long-term perspective, we are not aware of any energy solution that is more hopeful than that of thermonuclear fusion – it remains the ultimate source of energy for humankind’s seemingly inexhaustible needs. Although the idea of replicating thermonuclear fusion on Earth in a manner that can be commercialized has been studied for decades, success has remained elusive. Although the science is widely accepted, the technical challenges have presented a formidable barrier for half a century.
Nuclear fusion does occur in nature – the Sun and other stars in our universe are the most prominent examples. Our Sun, which is composed of ~75% Hydrogen gas and ~25% Helium gas, utilizes the intense heat of ~12 million degrees at its core to render Hydrogen gas into plasma. Once in this superheated and compressed form, electrons are unable to remain in the Hydrogen atom’s orbit and so Hydrogen atoms are then able to fuse together to form Helium atoms. The mass remaining from the transition of Hydrogen into Helium is converted into energy vis a vis Einstein’s equation of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc2. This process of fusion produces immense clean energy with no dangerous byproduct.
Today, we replicate this process of fusion on Earth by heating Hydrogen isotopes to a temperature of 200 million to 250 million degrees Centigrade – about twenty times hotter than the core of the Sun – turning Deuterium [heavy Hydrogen] and Tritium [very heavy Hydrogen] into a plasma. Throughout the process, physicists use a technology known as Tokamak to contain the fusion reaction. As a result of the intense temperature of the Hydrogen plasma, it must be contained without coming into contact with its surroundings. The Tokamak, a donut shaped device produces a circular magnetic field and surrounds the plasma thus keeping it suspended in the air. If there is contact, the fusion reaction will cease but there will be no danger or undesirable byproducts.
But in this compressed and superheated state, Hydrogen plasma continuously changes shape into unpredictable forms. In small fusion reactions scientists have found ways to manage the morphing of ionized plasma, but once we start building industrial scale fusion reactors that can produce the volume and consistent supply of fusion energy required by the commercial and residential needs of modern society, we need to ensure that Tokamaks are secure in order to remain operational. So, we will need to find some way to predict the virtually infinite number of shapes that the plasma can take. Then we can shift the Tokamak’s plasma encompassing magnetic field before the plasma renders its new shape. In this way, we can prevent the plasma from interacting with any matter since that interaction would result in an immediate termination of the fusion cycle.
Amongst the foremost companies in the Artificial Intelligence industry today, Google’s DeepMind has developed an Artificial Intelligence Agent that can use Deep Learning to predict with a high degree of accuracy the morphing and likely movements of the plasma and adjust the series of coils in the Tokamak that produce the magnetic field which is used to contain it. This will ensure that the fusion reaction continues much like the workings of our Sun and other stars.
It may still take time – perhaps several decades – before we have the capability to use Hydrogen fusion contained within the magnetic fields of a Tokamak and managed with Artificial Intelligence to produce the quantities of energy that can meet the world’s needs, but the proof of concept has been achieved. In the end, we are left with the difficult question that emerged in November 2021 following the closing of the Glasgow Climate Conference – will we be too late to prevent the worst outcomes of Climate Change that now seems to be the path we are on, or will we come to our senses and manage with interim solutions until thermonuclear energy is available and thus contain the worst effects of this most existential of crises? Time will tell.
Risks
So now we have some understanding of just how impactful and powerful Artificial Intelligence is and its potential to benefit humankind. We come to realize that AI is in fact a superior proxy for human intelligence. But given its power, there are also significant risks. When it comes to any technology, particularly one as powerful as AI, there are of course, a number of significant concerns we need to be aware of. These include AI’s implications for governance and transparency vis a vis Digital Authoritarianism or Datocracy.
Science and technology, once integrated into governance, offer free societies the potential to dramatically improve the quality of that governance. For example, surveillance systems and technology enabled by Artificial Intelligence can monitor the actions and behavior of officials across the public and private sector. Then, all the men and women seated in positions of authority, influence and power and thus charged with the public trust and administration of public finances can be kept in check. This offers society unprecedented transparency – the misdeeds of officials can quickly be exposed, and they can be held accountable based upon irrefutable evidence.
Unfortunately, the very same suite of advanced 4th Industrial Revolution capabilities can further strengthen the hands of Authoritarian regimes. Digital Authoritarianism – or Datocracy – the comprehensive surveillance of a society enabled by gathering their digital and physical data – will, for the very first time in history, facilitate an environment of domestic totalitarianism as well as hegemony over other external polities, both near and far. Just imagine how much control and influence an Authoritarian regime enabled by Datocracy can have over people in power throughout the world just by threatening to expose their adolescent improprieties and indiscretions or other more egregious misbehavior from their more recent personal and professional lives.
But the risks to liberal democracies from these very same technologies are growing at an alarming rate as the sociopolitical and socioeconomic implications of AI continue to proliferate in the public and private sectors. Two years ago, labor economists in Germany forecast that by the end of this decade, 800M jobs around the world would be adversely affected by Artificial Intelligence and many of the impacted workers are residents of the Developed World.
These liberal democracies comprise a constellation of nations situated at the apex of civilization – they are advanced, peaceful and prosperous. They have the world’s best academic, medical, scientific and technological institutions and industrial organizations. They also have the best civil societies and non-governmental organizations, arts & humanities, literary and sporting societies and so much more. Above all, these nations are characterized by their observance of the rule of law for ordinary citizens as well as for their leaders and finally, they’re known for their world-class economies, a commercial culture and environment that have provided the highest standard of living anywhere in the world since the end of World War II.
But as embodied Artificial Intelligence relentlessly permeates highly automated factories with state-of-the-art robotics thus eliminating the jobs these workers have always known, jobs that gave them dignity, ordinary people increasingly find themselves with few options other than to scrape out a living toiling in Amazon distribution warehouses where their bathroom breaks are humiliatingly timed, or other insecure and poorly paid positions in the hospitality sector. The implications for those working in jobs in accounting, finance, healthcare or even software engineering are also facing implacable competition from disembodied AI-enabled software systems that can process data and perform tasks one million times faster than the brightest of our species. This impending future strips too many ordinary people of their honor and dignity and it substantially squelches their motivation to actively participate in the democratic process. Eventually, their belief in the superiority of liberal democracies vis a vis Authoritarianism will wane. In their own experience, the empirical evidence for the superiority of democracy is no longer compelling. And of course, we know all too well that this will dangerously undermine the future of a liberal democratic order everywhere.
As a consequence, many ordinary citizens are likely to fall victim to misinformation, or worse, disinformation and other corrosive, irresponsible rhetoric as it insidiously and unavoidably spreads across social media. These are ideas and notions that have no basis in fact but are nevertheless curated by AI-enabled social media with a goal of maximally stimulating the human Limbic system and the emotions and impulses that reside therein. Consider for example, Cambridge Analytica. This is how social media companies optimize engagement – they shoulder little responsibility for the integrity or veracity of the content they unrelentingly present.
This persistent attack on our Mammalian brain makes us angry, frustrated and in some cases, primes us for retribution against one or more demonized minorities and other fictitious enemies. It is a very dangerous environment that provides a fertile and optimal domain for the genesis and cultivation of demagogues.
Secretary of State George Schultz was fond of wearing a tie imprinted with the phrase, ‘democracy is not a spectator sport.’ Historically, workers in the Developed World have been accustomed to living comfortable, hopeful lives and this gave them a strong reason to believe in the superiority of liberal democracy vis a vis other forms of government. The empirical evidence supporting their belief was overwhelming and palpable and so they filled churches and community halls to hear the encouraging rhetoric of candidates and elected officials and to present themselves, when summoned, at the polling booth.
So now, if we are to overcome the aforementioned negative trends and protect democracy for the future of our children and grandchildren, a continuous institutional process resulting in a holistic analysis of the numerous complex and nuanced factors impacting democracy must be debated and the various solutions evaluated. We need to approach the impact of AI in an interdisciplinary and near constant manner since there are too many today who seek to undermine democracy, not because they have superior ideas, ideals or methods of governance but rather because they seek wealth and power for themselves and their nascent and oppressive dynasties.
In closing, the unipolar world order of the past several decades has been beneficial for many but also damaging for some. If we seek to resurrect and sustain that order and repair its deficiencies and to protect it from the abuse of AI and other 4th Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies, we will need to act with the highest possible sense of urgency. Perhaps most importantly, this endeavor will require participation and sacrifice from all quarters.
There is no doubt that our system of liberal democracy is worth improving and protecting – no other ideology in the past 12,000 years since the birth of civilization has ever come close from the perspective of positive outcomes. But sustaining this extraordinary system of governance in an age of staggering scientific and technical challenges will have a price that we must collectively summon the will to pay.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Bell Labs Alumnus, a Lecturer and a Consultant. He is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar has lectured widely about Artificial Intelligence. He has recently lectured in New York at the National Hemophilia Foundation about AI & the Life Sciences. He has also lectured in London in the Royal Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, in Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley, the National Library of Singapore as well as in Düsseldorf [with invitations extended to Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Rome, Stockholm & Vienna] on AI and its implications for individuals and societies. Vicar has lectured at leading companies, as well.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. For geopolitical technologists, the symbiosis at this intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Episode 37 - https://youtu.be/UBenYYHbYqM
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
Episode 38 - https://youtu.be/JewJnPywnOU
Will AI Eventually Replace All Other Forms of Government?
Episode 39 - https://youtu.be/ibuJ8vozyqg
Will AI Perpetuate Bias in Employment, Health Systems, Law and Society?
Episode 40 - https://youtu.be/IJYbPfGC-08
AI | Will it be the Bain of Cyber Criminals?
Episode 41 - https://youtu.be/ozrO5_XTYKQ
AI | What Will it Mean for the Future of Work?
Episode 42 - https://youtu.be/kDKapDK-Vb0
AI | A Harbinger for the End of Democracy?
Episode 43 - https://youtu.be/7XeNyE8CA9I
AI & the Life Sciences | Developments in Connectomics & Radiology
Episode 44 - https://youtu.be/mWaPW_UolVo
AI & Geopolitics | Critical Strategic Planning in the Age of China
Episode 45 - https://youtu.be/qOSOc3vJRBk
AI & Humankind | What Might the Future Hold?
Episode 46 - https://youtu.be/atMSV1WAFkg
AI Enabled Surveillance | An Important Tool to Contain Dangerous Personality Traits?
Episode 47 - https://youtu.be/kz7-EDmlGXc
Will AI Favor Authoritarianism or Democracy?
Episode 48 - https://youtu.be/uTvKWQgdOaI
AI | A Key Enabler of Universal Basic Income?
Episode 49 - https://youtu.be/sy48Xqo-3qM
AI & The Future of Government, Industry, Markets &Trade
Episode 50 - https://youtu.be/JU1oGzb5TS0
AI & Surveillance | America’s New Strategy in the Middle East
Episode 51 - https://youtu.be/nOCQjUxLWJY
AI-Enabled Global Government | An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Episode 52 - https://youtu.be/g1VJqiI3HyE
AI & Healthcare | What Will the Future Look Like? Will it be More Equitable?
Episode 53 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Surveillance | The Ethical Dilemma of Facial Recognition Software
Episode 54 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Regulation | Europe is Leading the Way
Episode 55 - https://youtu.be/l-gcYTZMsm8
AI & Consciousness | Will Machines Soon be Sentient?
Episode 56 - https://youtu.be/-8BaouCn9cs
AI & Regulation | Europe Announces New Rules
Episode 57 - https://youtu.be/243zm7aHImQ
AI & Human Emotion Recognition | Is it Inherently Flawed?
Episode 58 - https://youtu.be/rdXllGj8rbo
AI & Autonomous Vehicles | Where are We Now?
Episode 59 - https://youtu.be/EMbqpN5mbqw
AI & the 4 Little Trees | More on Emotion Recognition
Episode 60 - https://youtu.be/K5wtkj-VTrk
AI & the Colonial Pipeline Attack | Cyber Threats are Growing Rapidly
Episode 61 - https://youtu.be/03KysO3VJgI
AI & the Coronavirus | A Postmortem
Episode 62 - https://youtu.be/7wmSIWgbuQI
AI on the Battlefield | The Conflict in Gaza
Episode 63 - https://youtu.be/a_1AmLJD3lo
AI and Xenophobia | Will We Finally Break the Cycle?
Episode 64 - https://youtu.be/9s-Go1TYK9c
AI, Cyber Attacks & the Future of War | Where are We Headed?
Episode 65 - https://youtu.be/1nKbTMzfpqM
Artificial Intelligence | Humankind’s Final and Greatest Invention
Episode 66 - https://youtu.be/cplR62KTa88
America & the 4th Industrial Revolution | Where do We Go from Here?
Episode 67 - https://youtu.be/RMrqreI-PRw
Artificial Intelligence | [Digital] Life After Death
Episode 68 - https://youtu.be/KzR8NkVdT0Q
Artificial Intelligence | The Fear Factor
Episode 69 - https://youtu.be/BI0HqACc4Ek
Artificial Intelligence | The Trust Factor
Episode 70 - https://youtu.be/nKhqVtQC_NI
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for the Future of Democracy
Episode 71 - https://youtu.be/GKD5hXmnpTU
Artificial Intelligence | Deep Fakes & Pornography
Episode 72 - https://youtu.be/KJdoBm5Kmw8
Artificial Intelligence | Working in the 21st Century
Episode 73 - https://youtu.be/lLY6gF_eeas
AI & Disinformation | Implications for Democracy & Geopolitics
Episode 74 - https://youtu.be/URsauWURj5A
AI, Climate Change & Pandemics | A Case for Global Governance?
Episode 75 - https://youtu.be/cu7xOHpNiO4
Artificial Intelligence | New Year’s Resolutions & Societal Reformation
Episode 76 - https://youtu.be/1-orEsKg5fM
Artificial Intelligence | Meritocracy and the Gathering Storm
Episode 77 - https://youtu.be/jYzyrxhxCJk
AI, Authoritarianism & Democracy | What Does the Future Hold?
Episode 78 – https://youtu.be/G5dlaB8TZJQ
AI & Speciation | Symbiosis and the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 79 – https://youtu.be/8pq2ZAxRdcY
AI and Disinformation | Echo Chambers in an Age of Division
Episode 80 – https://youtu.be/bewLnveVpDI
AI & Human Conflict | Objectivism, Tribalism & the Dunning-Kruger Effect
Episode 81 – https://youtu.be/Z5ZvMYuNhLQ
AI, Climate Change & Migration | Sowing the Seeds of Intraplanetary Discord
Episode 82 – https://youtu.be/mP-r_0pS3P8
Artificial Intelligence in 2022 | Where are We Now and What Does the Future Hold?
Episode 83 – https://youtu.be/vYSW-pceOQE
Artificial Intelligence in 2022 | Is Protein Folding Our Most Important Achievement?
Episode 84 – https://youtu.be/IBgF_oyCvpE
Artificial Intelligence & 21st Century Military Doctrine | Tora! Tora! Tora!
Episode 85 – https://youtu.be/sxGeIZSlYYo
Artificial Intelligence & Healthcare | A Revolution in the Making
Episode 86 – https://youtu.be/gARgH5rlCG8
AI & Thermonuclear Fusion | The Ultimate Solution for Climate Change
Episode 87 – https://youtu.be/baWRuYBKgu4
Putin’s Russia | A State of Humiliation
Episode 88 – https://youtu.be/6TP5AFtg-6g
AI & Genomics | Accelerating Gene Therapies
Episode 89 – https://youtu.be/_vgLJEoQFY4
Unipolar, Bipolar & Multipolar Worlds | Implications for Humankind
Episode 90 – https://youtu.be/8S7SDcqKNZ0
AI & Neocolonialism | Datocracy & the Surveillance State
Episode 91 – https://youtu.be/RfEIbPNAALo
AI & the Truman Doctrine | The Merits of Preserving the New World Order
Episode 92 – https://youtu.be/q1ybdNC5MiI
The Apollo Moon Landing | Lessons for Civilization in the Age of AI
Episode 93 – https://youtu.be/r1oc9uU8Ct4
Artificial Intelligence & Sapiens 3.0 | Are We Ready?
Episode 94 – https://youtu.be/OqUfXNwqtDU
Artificial Intelligence & Authoritarianism | What’s the Attraction?
Episode 95 – https://youtu.be/-HfFs-XVnKo
Irrationality and Intolerance | Humankind’s Two Greatest Liabilities in the Age of AI
Episode 96 – https://youtu.be/-ITqhjIe4yU
Sustaining Democracy in the Age of AI
Episode 97 –
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for Our Future
Vicar Sayeedi
October 18, 2022
Introduction
What is Artificial Intelligence and why is it so important that we understand its potential?
In the coming years and decades, AI can be expected to impact virtually every aspect of our lives. From the economy to the labor market and workplace, to government and international relations, to world affairs and military conflict, it seems no area of human endeavor will be spared. So, given this reality perhaps it’s best we have at least a working understanding of AI and how it might shape our future.
AI is the most profound change to human intelligence since the Cognitive Revolution. About 70,000 years ago, a genetic mutation or something along these lines took place in our species, Homo Sapiens. This episode is known as the Cognitive Revolution. Humankind went quite suddenly from somewhere in the middle of the food chain straight to the very top. Thereafter, wherever humans arrived, the archaeological evidence unequivocally reveals a dramatic reduction and in countless cases, extinction of terrestrial megafauna. Terrestrial megafauna are the large land animals over 100 lbs. Despite our much smaller size and slower speed relative to the animals we were hunting, we had learned to cooperate as a species in a very flexible manner and at considerable scale.
Then, a few hundred years ago during the first Industrial Revolution, for the first time, humankind overcame its systemic limitations on physical strength through the invention of the steam engine and mechanization which brought us internal combustion engines and transportation. The 2nd Industrial Revolution brought us electricity, light and communications by way of the telegraph and telephone. The 3rd Industrial Revolution brought advanced, high-speed computing to the desktop of every individual and the 4th Industrial Revolution is now bringing us Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Computing [Quantum and Supercomputing], Data Science, Gene Editing and Genomics.
The confluence of these 4th Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies – with AI at the helm – presents tremendously exciting but also sobering new realities that we must now learn to control and manage. Because without any doubt, AI and its related disruptive technologies have emerged as an existential threat to humankind. We may no longer need to depend exclusively on evolution and its extraordinarily slow pace for improvement in our species. Rather, we are entering a world of intelligent design wherein some of us here may well be the designers. This is a profound realization and it’s enabled by the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Now the term Artificial Intelligence means different things to different people. To most, AI is simply the ability to simulate human intelligence in a machine. Implicitly, this refers to the quantitative dimension of human intelligence, the ability some people possess that enables them to think and manage complex ideas and problems that may have a substantial computational dimension. But scholars of human intelligence believe that quantitative intelligence is just one form or dimension of human intelligence. There are a number of other discrete dimensions, and this raises important questions. Most of the Narrow or Specialized AI Agents we’ve developed today are highly quantitative or pattern matching in their ability. But humans have perhaps eight or even more different dimensions of intelligence. So, what happens if we develop AI Agents that simulate only this one dimension of human intelligence, the quantitative dimension?
Historically, society has considered people to be intelligent if they innately possess skills or demonstrate an ability to acquire intelligences or skills that can readily be monetized. As society evolves, the intelligences and talents they value evolve, as well. People who do not possess the intelligences or skills that are easily monetized in the age in which they live are viewed in a dim light and are often considered as inferior members of society. Such stratification of society can leave these people in a very disadvantaged position.
But these people often possess other intelligences and skills, skills that while not as easily monetized, do provide great value to society. These intelligences often enable them to build hand-made furniture or musical instruments, to write literature, musical compositions or poetry, to paint frescoes, portraits or landscapes, to chisel stone or wood to form beautiful sculpture, to develop and perform various levels and methods of pedagogy, to coach young people and so many other activities that enrich human culture and life.
Furthermore, some amongst us are strongly left-brained, others strongly right-brained while some humans are blessed with strong aspects of both. Some amongst us are highly rational and have little room for impulse or emotion whilst others have a high degree of emotional intelligence. In some circumstances, the highly rational person is the one needed to lead an organization or society, but in other circumstances, leadership underpinned by emotional intelligence will result in the most desirable outcome.
Human intelligence then is highly complex and nuanced. So, when we speak of Artificial Intelligence, we now realize we need to be very clear what we are really talking about. When we reference AI, are we speaking purely of the quantitative and pattern recognition dimension of human intelligence that AI companies are working to replicate or are we speaking more broadly about the richly complex and nuanced tapestry of human intelligence?
What does it mean to be working towards Artificial General Intelligence or Artificial Super Intelligence if we are focused only on the quantitative dimension given that even the Narrow or Specialized AI Agents available today are wreaking havoc on society through their deployment and presence in e-Commerce, Finance, Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and Social Media?
We must also wonder whether the General AI or Super AI Agents of the future might develop a form of consciousness specific to their own reality and whether this variant of machine sentience will conflict with human sentience. What might this mean with regards to their ability to coexist alongside humankind given that they will be exponentially more intelligent than Homo Sapiens? This is increasingly worrisome since most AI Thought Leaders believe we will achieve Artificial General Intelligence within a few decades and because there are no principles of biology or chemistry nor any laws of mathematics or physics that preclude the development of consciousness in AI.
Conversely, AI can attain super intelligence whilst remaining a-sentient and therefore agnostic to human ethics and morality. This raises the specter of many challenging problems. In summary, we need to spend more energy and effort within the Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and related interdisciplinary community researching and addressing the issue of sentience alongside our work in the understanding and development of synthetic intelligence. We are going to need to give much more proactive attention to these fascinating yet powerful and dangerous sciences and technologies within our government bureaucracy.
As a science, Artificial Intelligence endeavors to understand the organic human mind and its ability for intelligence or problem solving with an end goal of simulating this intelligence in silicon and machine. We are making tremendous progress in this area, particularly in the last ten years or so. For the first time humankind can now overcome the limitations resulting from our own intellectual capacity to solve problems. We have amassed an impressive ability to aggregate enormous volumes of digital data along with our capacity to design and build faster and faster computer processors that can process this data. We have also dramatically enhanced our understanding of neuroscience as it relates to Deep Learning Neural Networks, and we have translated this understanding into very high performance and effective machine learning strategies. But at the same time, it’s important to point out that our collective understanding of consciousness or sentience remains opaque at best.
The evolution of sentience – how, why, and the purpose of human consciousness – persists as one of the greatest unanswered questions in neuroscience. The scientific community believes consciousness has arisen through biological evolution and has been enhanced further through cultural evolution. But that understanding of our consciousness, that understanding of ourselves and of our physical and social environment, and our understanding of the future, remains mysterious. This ability to dream, to imagine, to plan and strategize seem largely unique to our species, particularly our foresight.
There have been more than 20,000 papers written on consciousness from diverse perspectives including Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology and Theology. However, despite so much study and reflection on this issue, we are still unable to offer a suitable and universally acceptable definition of consciousness or an understanding of how the brain works in this regard. Although we cannot provide an understanding of consciousness or sentience, there is universal acceptance that consciousness resides in the brain. An empirically sound theory of consciousness unfortunately does not yet exist, but neuroscientists believe we’re getting closer. This understanding will be crucial if we are to safely coexist with Artificial General Intelligence and then later with Artificial Super Intelligence.
Protein Folding
Over the past five years, rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence have been applied to solve many interesting, real-world problems. From applications in education and healthcare, to radiology and social media, to natural language processing and speech synthesis, to lethal autonomous weapons systems, weather prediction and robotic surgery, and so much more, AI is accelerating progress across countless disciplines to a very impressive degree. But there is a consensus coalescing within the AI Thought Leader Community that recent advances in the application of AI in the complex and esoteric field of Structural Biology, specifically in the area of Protein Folding, may be AI’s greatest achievement to date. Protein Folding refers to the three-dimensional shape assumed by a protein before it begins life as a nanomachine in the human body. We’ll come back to this in just a minute.
DeepMind, a London firm acquired by Google in 2014, is perhaps the world’s preeminent AI company. On November 30, 2020, the firm published an article in the journal, ‘Nature’ confirming that they’d solved the previously insurmountable 50-year-old Protein Folding problem using a proprietary Deep Learning AI Agent known as AlphaFold. It was a shocking development that upended the world of Structural Biology and far beyond. The implications of the publication were unprecedented, and they continue to reverberate across many disciplines today.
For the past fifty years, scientists have endlessly toiled over the Protein Folding problem in a never-ending struggle to understand the three-dimensional structure of protein nanomachines. It has been the grand challenge in Biology. In order to understand the final structure of proteins, scientists needed to make the protein production factory in our bodies, the ribosome, express a sufficient quantity of a particular protein and then harness them before cajoling them to crystalize. This proved to be extremely challenging. If they succeeded in crystalizing a sufficient volume of these folded proteins, they could then use Xray Crystallography to better see and understand the folded structure. But it was common for this process to take years and sometimes even longer. In fact, many scientists have spent their entire careers and lives attempting to find the folded structures of various proteins. It would be far better if we could simply predict the three-dimensional Protein Folding structure by simply examining the string of amino acids involved.
At this point, most guests will undoubtedly be wondering why the three-dimensional shapes of these proteins are so important. Before we answer this question, let’s spend just a minute to shape our understanding of what proteins are, how they’re made and what they do inside our bodies. Ribosomes are factories within our cells where twenty distinct amino acids are produced. Strings of these amino acids are linked together in unique ways to form proteins and then within a few milliseconds, physics intervenes to direct the final three-dimensional shape of the newly formed protein. There are twenty thousand distinct proteins in our bodies and each one folds into a distinct shape and thus has a different function. [Thus far, in nature we have identified approximately 100 million proteins.] These proteins can fold into 10 to the power 300 distinct three-dimensional structures [for reference, there are ten to the power eighty atoms in the known universe] and so, for all intents and purposes, this represents an infinite number of potential folded structures. Once folded, these proteins perform mechanical and chemical functions within cells throughout our bodies. Common proteins include hemoglobin which transports oxygen within red blood cells and insulin which metabolizes glucose.
In pharmacology, the three-dimensional folding pattern of a protein is crucial information. Once pharmaceutical scientists understand the folding pattern of a protein, they can design a chemical compound that can optimally bind itself to the protein in question in a very specific manner. This process, in effect, alters the protein’s function or disables it, thus preventing or intervening in potential pathology. So, we can see that rapidly understanding the pattern of Protein Folding is crucial in developing new prophylaxes and therapies. This is a revolutionary advancement that is expected to dramatically reduce the time required for the development of new drugs.
AlphaFold’s ability to accurately and rapidly predict Protein Folding structures is now improving our understanding of how to break down the plastics polluting our oceans, as well. These plastics are currently being deposited in our oceans at the rate of 10 million metric tons per year and with time they break into ever smaller parts due to sun and water erosion. They eventually turn into microplastics that are then ingested by marine life. Through this process, microplastics enter the food chain and so they are eventually consumed by humans. This of course can have impacts on human health that are not yet understood. AlphaFold’s ability to understand the three-dimensional shape of enzymes that are effective in breaking down plastics into their basic chemical components promises to have a great impact before these plastics can do further damage to marine ecosystems and eventually human life.
Antibiotics
Another fascinating application of Artificial Intelligence in recent years has been in the research and development of antibiotics. In February of 2020, just as news of the Coronavirus Pandemic began spreading across the globe, MIT researchers identified a powerful new antibiotic compound. In laboratory tests, the new drug killed many of the world’s most concerning disease-inducing bacteria, including some strains of pathogens that are resistant to all known antibiotics. MIT’s AI-based computer model can screen more than a hundred million chemical compounds in just a few days. It’s been designed to pick out potential antibiotics that kill bacteria using mechanisms than are different from those of existing antibiotics.
Using this new AI-enabled platform, MIT scientists discovered a molecule called Halicin [a reference to the book, 2001 A Space Odyssey] which is very likely one of the more powerful antibiotics ever discovered. During the study, researchers also identified several additional hopeful antibiotic candidates, and these are now being studied and tested, as well. The MIT team seems convinced that their AI model may also be used to design new drugs, based on what it has learned about chemical structures that enable drugs to kill various pathogens.
As some of you may be aware, over the past few decades, very few new antibiotics have been developed, and most of those newly approved antibiotics are just slightly different variants of existing drugs. Additionally, current methods for screening new antibiotics are often far too costly – they require a large investment in capital and time and are usually limited to a narrow spectrum of chemical diversity. The Medical Community and patients are facing a steadily escalating crisis vis a vis antibiotic resistance in the patient population, and this situation is being further aggravated by both an increasing number of pathogens becoming resistant to existing antibiotics, and a diminishing pipeline in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries for new antibiotics.
The potential for new and faster antibiotics and general drug discovery is very exciting but at the same time it’s also quite concerning – in the hands of nefarious actors, such powerful science and technology could also be repurposed to rapidly develop highly contagious and deadly pathogens with no known disruptors. These pathogens could then be surreptitiously introduced into large unsuspecting populations. Such bioterrorism is a dangerous and unfortunate byproduct of an otherwise critically valuable 4th Industrial Revolution capability that can improve the quality of life for people everywhere.
Nuclear Fusion & Climate Change
Now let’s turn our attention to Climate Change. Just one year ago in November 2021, as the COP26 Climate Change conference in Glasgow drew to a close, there was a tremendous sense of foreboding in the air. Despite the efforts of some to portray a positive image of the outcomes from the conference, there was an unmistakable feeling of disappointment. Considering the volume of mounting and unassailable evidence confirming that Climate Scientists had correctly predicted that the planet was heating at an unsustainable rate, the delegates from the world’s major fossil fuel producing and consuming nations were still unable to deliver on the commitments necessary to prevent further calamitous damage. Significant progress had been made – of this there can be no doubt – but given the irrefutable existential nature of the challenge, the conference outcomes were nothing short of alarming.
In fact, global carbon emissions in 2021 reached record levels with coal consumption increasing by more than 9% versus 2020. New coal powered plants are also being brought online in China and India at an alarming rate. But unfortunately, if we are to achieve the agreed temperature targets of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming by 2050, emissions would need to decline by 7.6% every year until 2030. In the past, humankind has faced other existential threats and has been able to rise to the occasion – we have been able to find a way to work together to successfully contain serious threats. But in the case of Climate Change and the COP26 conference, the outcome was a dramatic disappointment which brought Alok Sharma, the conference host to tears.
As the threat of Climate Change increases with each passing day, scientists have proposed a multitude of potential solutions for clean energy production including solar and wind technologies. These technologies are available today and are gradually improving and maturing but they are not yet at a point where they can come close to fulfilling global energy demands or cost effectiveness currently being met by coal, gas and oil. New, clean technologies for manufacturing, agriculture and transportation – the other three key areas other than energy that are contributing to the warming of the planet – are rapidly becoming available, as well, but despite these efforts, humankind is falling considerably short.
From a long-term perspective, we are not aware of any energy solution that is more hopeful than that of thermonuclear fusion – it remains the ultimate source of energy for humankind’s seemingly inexhaustible needs. Although the idea of replicating thermonuclear fusion on Earth in a manner that can be commercialized has been studied for decades, success has remained elusive. Although the science is widely accepted, the technical challenges have presented a formidable barrier for half a century.
Nuclear fusion does occur in nature – the Sun and other stars in our universe are the most prominent examples. Our Sun, which is composed of ~75% Hydrogen gas and ~25% Helium gas, utilizes the intense heat of ~12 million degrees at its core to render Hydrogen gas into plasma. Once in this superheated and compressed form, electrons are unable to remain in the Hydrogen atom’s orbit and so Hydrogen atoms are then able to fuse together to form Helium atoms. The mass remaining from the transition of Hydrogen into Helium is converted into energy vis a vis Einstein’s equation of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc2. This process of fusion produces immense clean energy with no dangerous byproduct.
Today, we replicate this process of fusion on Earth by heating Hydrogen isotopes to a temperature of 200 million to 250 million degrees Centigrade – about twenty times hotter than the core of the Sun – turning Deuterium [heavy Hydrogen] and Tritium [very heavy Hydrogen] into a plasma. Throughout the process, physicists use a technology known as Tokamak to contain the fusion reaction. As a result of the intense temperature of the Hydrogen plasma, it must be contained without coming into contact with its surroundings. The Tokamak, a donut shaped device produces a circular magnetic field and surrounds the plasma thus keeping it suspended in the air. If there is contact, the fusion reaction will cease but there will be no danger or undesirable byproducts.
But in this compressed and superheated state, Hydrogen plasma continuously changes shape into unpredictable forms. In small fusion reactions scientists have found ways to manage the morphing of ionized plasma, but once we start building industrial scale fusion reactors that can produce the volume and consistent supply of fusion energy required by the commercial and residential needs of modern society, we need to ensure that Tokamaks are secure in order to remain operational. So, we will need to find some way to predict the virtually infinite number of shapes that the plasma can take. Then we can shift the Tokamak’s plasma encompassing magnetic field before the plasma renders its new shape. In this way, we can prevent the plasma from interacting with any matter since that interaction would result in an immediate termination of the fusion cycle.
Amongst the foremost companies in the Artificial Intelligence industry today, Google’s DeepMind has developed an Artificial Intelligence Agent that can use Deep Learning to predict with a high degree of accuracy the morphing and likely movements of the plasma and adjust the series of coils in the Tokamak that produce the magnetic field which is used to contain it. This will ensure that the fusion reaction continues much like the workings of our Sun and other stars.
It may still take time – perhaps several decades – before we have the capability to use Hydrogen fusion contained within the magnetic fields of a Tokamak and managed with Artificial Intelligence to produce the quantities of energy that can meet the world’s needs, but the proof of concept has been achieved. In the end, we are left with the difficult question that emerged in November 2021 following the closing of the Glasgow Climate Conference – will we be too late to prevent the worst outcomes of Climate Change that now seems to be the path we are on, or will we come to our senses and manage with interim solutions until thermonuclear energy is available and thus contain the worst effects of this most existential of crises? Time will tell.
Risks
So now we have some understanding of just how impactful and powerful Artificial Intelligence is and its potential to benefit humankind. We come to realize that AI is in fact a superior proxy for human intelligence. But given its power, there are also significant risks. When it comes to any technology, particularly one as powerful as AI, there are of course, a number of significant concerns we need to be aware of. These include AI’s implications for governance and transparency vis a vis Digital Authoritarianism or Datocracy.
Science and technology, once integrated into governance, offer free societies the potential to dramatically improve the quality of that governance. For example, surveillance systems and technology enabled by Artificial Intelligence can monitor the actions and behavior of officials across the public and private sector. Then, all the men and women seated in positions of authority, influence and power and thus charged with the public trust and administration of public finances can be kept in check. This offers society unprecedented transparency – the misdeeds of officials can quickly be exposed, and they can be held accountable based upon irrefutable evidence.
Unfortunately, the very same suite of advanced 4th Industrial Revolution capabilities can further strengthen the hands of Authoritarian regimes. Digital Authoritarianism – or Datocracy – the comprehensive surveillance of a society enabled by gathering their digital and physical data – will, for the very first time in history, facilitate an environment of domestic totalitarianism as well as hegemony over other external polities, both near and far. Just imagine how much control and influence an Authoritarian regime enabled by Datocracy can have over people in power throughout the world just by threatening to expose their adolescent improprieties and indiscretions or other more egregious misbehavior from their more recent personal and professional lives.
But the risks to liberal democracies from these very same technologies are growing at an alarming rate as the sociopolitical and socioeconomic implications of AI continue to proliferate in the public and private sectors. Two years ago, labor economists in Germany forecast that by the end of this decade, 800M jobs around the world would be adversely affected by Artificial Intelligence and many of the impacted workers are residents of the Developed World.
These liberal democracies comprise a constellation of nations situated at the apex of civilization – they are advanced, peaceful and prosperous. They have the world’s best academic, medical, scientific and technological institutions and industrial organizations. They also have the best civil societies and non-governmental organizations, arts & humanities, literary and sporting societies and so much more. Above all, these nations are characterized by their observance of the rule of law for ordinary citizens as well as for their leaders and finally, they’re known for their world-class economies, a commercial culture and environment that have provided the highest standard of living anywhere in the world since the end of World War II.
But as embodied Artificial Intelligence relentlessly permeates highly automated factories with state-of-the-art robotics thus eliminating the jobs these workers have always known, jobs that gave them dignity, ordinary people increasingly find themselves with few options other than to scrape out a living toiling in Amazon distribution warehouses where their bathroom breaks are humiliatingly timed, or other insecure and poorly paid positions in the hospitality sector. The implications for those working in jobs in accounting, finance, healthcare or even software engineering are also facing implacable competition from disembodied AI-enabled software systems that can process data and perform tasks one million times faster than the brightest of our species. This impending future strips too many ordinary people of their honor and dignity and it substantially squelches their motivation to actively participate in the democratic process. Eventually, their belief in the superiority of liberal democracies vis a vis Authoritarianism will wane. In their own experience, the empirical evidence for the superiority of democracy is no longer compelling. And of course, we know all too well that this will dangerously undermine the future of a liberal democratic order everywhere.
As a consequence, many ordinary citizens are likely to fall victim to misinformation, or worse, disinformation and other corrosive, irresponsible rhetoric as it insidiously and unavoidably spreads across social media. These are ideas and notions that have no basis in fact but are nevertheless curated by AI-enabled social media with a goal of maximally stimulating the human Limbic system and the emotions and impulses that reside therein. Consider for example, Cambridge Analytica. This is how social media companies optimize engagement – they shoulder little responsibility for the integrity or veracity of the content they unrelentingly present.
This persistent attack on our Mammalian brain makes us angry, frustrated and in some cases, primes us for retribution against one or more demonized minorities and other fictitious enemies. It is a very dangerous environment that provides a fertile and optimal domain for the genesis and cultivation of demagogues.
Secretary of State George Schultz was fond of wearing a tie imprinted with the phrase, ‘democracy is not a spectator sport.’ Historically, workers in the Developed World have been accustomed to living comfortable, hopeful lives and this gave them a strong reason to believe in the superiority of liberal democracy vis a vis other forms of government. The empirical evidence supporting their belief was overwhelming and palpable and so they filled churches and community halls to hear the encouraging rhetoric of candidates and elected officials and to present themselves, when summoned, at the polling booth.
So now, if we are to overcome the aforementioned negative trends and protect democracy for the future of our children and grandchildren, a continuous institutional process resulting in a holistic analysis of the numerous complex and nuanced factors impacting democracy must be debated and the various solutions evaluated. We need to approach the impact of AI in an interdisciplinary and near constant manner since there are too many today who seek to undermine democracy, not because they have superior ideas, ideals or methods of governance but rather because they seek wealth and power for themselves and their nascent and oppressive dynasties.
In closing, the unipolar world order of the past several decades has been beneficial for many but also damaging for some. If we seek to resurrect and sustain that order and repair its deficiencies and to protect it from the abuse of AI and other 4th Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies, we will need to act with the highest possible sense of urgency. Perhaps most importantly, this endeavor will require participation and sacrifice from all quarters.
There is no doubt that our system of liberal democracy is worth improving and protecting – no other ideology in the past 12,000 years since the birth of civilization has ever come close from the perspective of positive outcomes. But sustaining this extraordinary system of governance in an age of staggering scientific and technical challenges will have a price that we must collectively summon the will to pay.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Bell Labs Alumnus, a Lecturer and a Consultant. He is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar has lectured widely about Artificial Intelligence. He has recently lectured in New York at the National Hemophilia Foundation about AI & the Life Sciences. He has also lectured in London in the Royal Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, in Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley, the National Library of Singapore as well as in Düsseldorf [with invitations extended to Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Rome, Stockholm & Vienna] on AI and its implications for individuals and societies. Vicar has lectured at leading companies, as well.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. For geopolitical technologists, the symbiosis at this intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Episode 37 - https://youtu.be/UBenYYHbYqM
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
Episode 38 - https://youtu.be/JewJnPywnOU
Will AI Eventually Replace All Other Forms of Government?
Episode 39 - https://youtu.be/ibuJ8vozyqg
Will AI Perpetuate Bias in Employment, Health Systems, Law and Society?
Episode 40 - https://youtu.be/IJYbPfGC-08
AI | Will it be the Bain of Cyber Criminals?
Episode 41 - https://youtu.be/ozrO5_XTYKQ
AI | What Will it Mean for the Future of Work?
Episode 42 - https://youtu.be/kDKapDK-Vb0
AI | A Harbinger for the End of Democracy?
Episode 43 - https://youtu.be/7XeNyE8CA9I
AI & the Life Sciences | Developments in Connectomics & Radiology
Episode 44 - https://youtu.be/mWaPW_UolVo
AI & Geopolitics | Critical Strategic Planning in the Age of China
Episode 45 - https://youtu.be/qOSOc3vJRBk
AI & Humankind | What Might the Future Hold?
Episode 46 - https://youtu.be/atMSV1WAFkg
AI Enabled Surveillance | An Important Tool to Contain Dangerous Personality Traits?
Episode 47 - https://youtu.be/kz7-EDmlGXc
Will AI Favor Authoritarianism or Democracy?
Episode 48 - https://youtu.be/uTvKWQgdOaI
AI | A Key Enabler of Universal Basic Income?
Episode 49 - https://youtu.be/sy48Xqo-3qM
AI & The Future of Government, Industry, Markets &Trade
Episode 50 - https://youtu.be/JU1oGzb5TS0
AI & Surveillance | America’s New Strategy in the Middle East
Episode 51 - https://youtu.be/nOCQjUxLWJY
AI-Enabled Global Government | An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Episode 52 - https://youtu.be/g1VJqiI3HyE
AI & Healthcare | What Will the Future Look Like? Will it be More Equitable?
Episode 53 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Surveillance | The Ethical Dilemma of Facial Recognition Software
Episode 54 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Regulation | Europe is Leading the Way
Episode 55 - https://youtu.be/l-gcYTZMsm8
AI & Consciousness | Will Machines Soon be Sentient?
Episode 56 - https://youtu.be/-8BaouCn9cs
AI & Regulation | Europe Announces New Rules
Episode 57 - https://youtu.be/243zm7aHImQ
AI & Human Emotion Recognition | Is it Inherently Flawed?
Episode 58 - https://youtu.be/rdXllGj8rbo
AI & Autonomous Vehicles | Where are We Now?
Episode 59 - https://youtu.be/EMbqpN5mbqw
AI & the 4 Little Trees | More on Emotion Recognition
Episode 60 - https://youtu.be/K5wtkj-VTrk
AI & the Colonial Pipeline Attack | Cyber Threats are Growing Rapidly
Episode 61 - https://youtu.be/03KysO3VJgI
AI & the Coronavirus | A Postmortem
Episode 62 - https://youtu.be/7wmSIWgbuQI
AI on the Battlefield | The Conflict in Gaza
Episode 63 - https://youtu.be/a_1AmLJD3lo
AI and Xenophobia | Will We Finally Break the Cycle?
Episode 64 - https://youtu.be/9s-Go1TYK9c
AI, Cyber Attacks & the Future of War | Where are We Headed?
Episode 65 - https://youtu.be/1nKbTMzfpqM
Artificial Intelligence | Humankind’s Final and Greatest Invention
Episode 66 - https://youtu.be/cplR62KTa88
America & the 4th Industrial Revolution | Where do We Go from Here?
Episode 67 - https://youtu.be/RMrqreI-PRw
Artificial Intelligence | [Digital] Life After Death
Episode 68 - https://youtu.be/KzR8NkVdT0Q
Artificial Intelligence | The Fear Factor
Episode 69 - https://youtu.be/BI0HqACc4Ek
Artificial Intelligence | The Trust Factor
Episode 70 - https://youtu.be/nKhqVtQC_NI
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for the Future of Democracy
Episode 71 - https://youtu.be/GKD5hXmnpTU
Artificial Intelligence | Deep Fakes & Pornography
Episode 72 - https://youtu.be/KJdoBm5Kmw8
Artificial Intelligence | Working in the 21st Century
Episode 73 - https://youtu.be/lLY6gF_eeas
AI & Disinformation | Implications for Democracy & Geopolitics
Episode 74 - https://youtu.be/URsauWURj5A
AI, Climate Change & Pandemics | A Case for Global Governance?
Episode 75 - https://youtu.be/cu7xOHpNiO4
Artificial Intelligence | New Year’s Resolutions & Societal Reformation
Episode 76 - https://youtu.be/1-orEsKg5fM
Artificial Intelligence | Meritocracy and the Gathering Storm
Episode 77 - https://youtu.be/jYzyrxhxCJk
AI, Authoritarianism & Democracy | What Does the Future Hold?
Episode 78 – https://youtu.be/G5dlaB8TZJQ
AI & Speciation | Symbiosis and the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 79 – https://youtu.be/8pq2ZAxRdcY
AI and Disinformation | Echo Chambers in an Age of Division
Episode 80 – https://youtu.be/bewLnveVpDI
AI & Human Conflict | Objectivism, Tribalism & the Dunning-Kruger Effect
Episode 81 – https://youtu.be/Z5ZvMYuNhLQ
AI, Climate Change & Migration | Sowing the Seeds of Intraplanetary Discord
Episode 82 – https://youtu.be/mP-r_0pS3P8
Artificial Intelligence in 2022 | Where are We Now and What Does the Future Hold?
Episode 83 – https://youtu.be/vYSW-pceOQE
Artificial Intelligence in 2022 | Is Protein Folding Our Most Important Achievement?
Episode 84 – https://youtu.be/IBgF_oyCvpE
Artificial Intelligence & 21st Century Military Doctrine | Tora! Tora! Tora!
Episode 85 – https://youtu.be/sxGeIZSlYYo
Artificial Intelligence & Healthcare | A Revolution in the Making
Episode 86 – https://youtu.be/gARgH5rlCG8
AI & Thermonuclear Fusion | The Ultimate Solution for Climate Change
Episode 87 – https://youtu.be/baWRuYBKgu4
Putin’s Russia | A State of Humiliation
Episode 88 – https://youtu.be/6TP5AFtg-6g
AI & Genomics | Accelerating Gene Therapies
Episode 89 – https://youtu.be/_vgLJEoQFY4
Unipolar, Bipolar & Multipolar Worlds | Implications for Humankind
Episode 90 – https://youtu.be/8S7SDcqKNZ0
AI & Neocolonialism | Datocracy & the Surveillance State
Episode 91 – https://youtu.be/RfEIbPNAALo
AI & the Truman Doctrine | The Merits of Preserving the New World Order
Episode 92 – https://youtu.be/q1ybdNC5MiI
The Apollo Moon Landing | Lessons for Civilization in the Age of AI
Episode 93 – https://youtu.be/r1oc9uU8Ct4
Artificial Intelligence & Sapiens 3.0 | Are We Ready?
Episode 94 – https://youtu.be/OqUfXNwqtDU
Artificial Intelligence & Authoritarianism | What’s the Attraction?
Episode 95 – https://youtu.be/-HfFs-XVnKo
Irrationality and Intolerance | Humankind’s Two Greatest Liabilities in the Age of AI
Episode 96 – https://youtu.be/-ITqhjIe4yU
Sustaining Democracy in the Age of AI
Episode 97 –
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for Our Future
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