The Core

I was just thinking about things like this in the context of AGI.

We don’t have “real” AI because every time we solve a classic AI problem, someone says the solution is not real intelligence. But we’re getting to the end of that line

And that reminded me of how we used to redefine human exceptionalism every time an animal was shown to do a “human” thing like use tools, count, recognize themselves in a mirror, lie.  Now things like another primate using médecine is only so surprising, but it’s not like Jane Goodall discovering tool use and murder.

Within the biological world, human exceptionalism is mostly over. There doesn’t seem to be a uniquely human characteristic.

I see the same process happening in the AI world.

True, though I do find us remarkable in what we can accomplish

For sure. We are clearly radically different from any other life form on the planet. It boggles my mind that we can send spacecraft to other planets, discover elementary particles, develop coherent ideas about the age of the universe and invent Cheetos and Doritos.

But the ancient designations of man is the "rational animal" or "homo ludens" (the human who plays), "man the toolmaker," and so forth seem hopelessly outdated. We found out that these things that defined the "essence" of humans are either not unique to humans (tools) or don't describe humans particularly well (rational).

What is intelligence and what is life?  When an AI has self-awareness is it alive?

Also spot on I think.

My guess is that there will be an effort to define those things in a way that protects human exceptionalism until it is simply no longer tenable.

Somehow, we need to protect the idea that a non-human animal that uses medicinal herbs for healing and a non-human computer system that writes beautiful novels and provides an excellent course of treatment for a sick patient and effective, compassionate counseling for people with mental illness nevertheless have essentially no rights, whereas the most despicable humans nevertheless do.

It will be an interesting debate and in the long run I wonder whether it will be hard to coherently separate the debate on the rights of non-human synthetic life from the debate on the rights non-human biological life.

But frankly, the future has a way of surprising and predictions here are especially going into uncharted territory. Curious to hear more thoughts though