Subject: New Paper: Return to Eden? Promises of an Omnipotent Global Intelligence
Here's my latest paper on the Global Brain. Comments
welcome!
Return to
Eden?
Promises and Perils on the
Road to an
Omnipotent Global
Intelligence
Francis Heylighen
Global Brain Institute
Vrije Universiteit
Brussel
Abstract: The concept of Singularity
envisages a technology-driven explosion in intelligence. This paper
argues that the resulting suprahuman intelligence will not be
centralized in a single AI system, but distributed across all people
and artifacts, as connected via the Internet. This "global
brain" will function to tackle all challenges confronting the
"global superorganism". Its capabilities will extend so far
beyond our present abilities that they are best conveyed as a
pragmatic version of the "divine" attributes:
omniscience (knowing everything needed to solve our problems),
omnipresence (being available anywhere anytime),
omnipotence (being able to provide any product or service at
negligible cost) and omnibenevolence (aiming at the greatest
happiness for the greatest number). By extrapolating present trends,
technologies and evolutionary mechanisms, the paper shows that these
abilities are likely to be realized within the next few decades. The
resulting solution to all our individual and societal problems can be
seen as a return to the "Garden of Eden", the idyllic state
of abundance and peace that supposedly existed before civilization. In
this utopian society, individuals would be supported and challenged by
the global brain to maximally develop their abilities, and to
continuously create new knowledge. However, side effects of
technological innovation are likely to create serious disturbances on
the road to this utopia. The most important dangers are cascading
failures facilitated by hyperconnectivity, the spread of psychological
parasites that make people lose touch with reality, the loss of human
abilities caused by an unnatural, passive lifestyle, and a
conservative backlash triggered by too rapid changes. Because of the
non-linearity of the system, the precise impact of such disturbances
cannot be predicted. However, a range of precautionary measures,
including a "global immune system", may pre-empt the
greatest risks, and thus secure our eventual return to
Eden.
Full paper at:
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