Results [Issue 55] Man vs. Machine

[Night-Sisters 2,139]

 

 

I was thoroughly impressed by the quality and thoughtfulness of your submissions, across the board. Never have I enjoyed hosting a contest quite so much. Thank you all for making this one a success. 

Now, just to reiterate, the question up for debate was this: Will machines (specifically AI) ever take over the world?

Your answers are as follows.

 

 

 

Category One: Best Supporting Persuasive pieces

(Arguing that robots will take over the world)

 

 

In First Place, winning 25,000 crystals and an open invitation to participate in a Reporter-hosted debate:

 

@falcosenna1

 

 

 

 

Will artificial intelligence take over the world?

 

The last decades we’ve been perceiving a true technological revolution. About 70 years ago, humans managed to build the very first working electronic computer, bigger than all rooms in my house combined  and weighing over 30 tons. From then on, computers are being made smaller and smaller while their memory keeps increasing, from less than 10MB for the first computer to 8GB of memory of my current pocket-sized phone. With our growing knowledge and capabilities, it’s no surprise that we’re continuously experimenting on creating new revolutionary inventions. We’ve already thought up wonderful life-changing  devices like the 3D printer, autonomous cars, drones, all different sorts of robots,… An endless list of, one by one, impressive human made apparatuses. Though not all people are equally keen on the existing technological progress. Some even think that our own technology can lead to the extinction of the human race, in other words, that machines, and artificial intelligence in particular, will be able to think for themselves and take over our planet. I, too, am convinced that we should be conscious of the risks humanoid robots entail. As long as we’ve full control over the ‘behavior’ of AI-machines, we’ve nothing to worry about. The question now is if we’ll manage to fully monitor artificial intelligence. 

 

Emotions

 

To answer this question, we must first know what drives behavior. One of the leading determinants are emotions. Think about your reaction when your parents ask you to do something after losing 8 battles in a row. You’ll show a quite irritated and slightly angry ‘behavior’. Imagine how dissimilar your reaction, your behavior would have been if you had won those battles. It’s a simple example to demonstrate how emotions determine and control our behavior. If you approach it differently, it clearly indicates that emotions easily make us unable to respond in an adaptive way. Furthermore, an essential role in memory retrieval and our learning progress is assigned to emotions.

 

In fact, there are 3 types of AI, namely easy, hard and really hard AI. In the first-mentioned group, computers learn by programming them with rules. Hard AI is about learning from data, for example distinguishing a certain face from other faces. Computers can learn this by showing them pictures of the appropriate face, without any interaction of programmed rules. Cognition and emotions belong to the third group. It’s a fact that this third group of AI hasn’t been realised to the fullest as of yet, although, recently, intelligent systems that display emotions have already started to emerge. It’s just a matter of time till the first emotionally intelligent AI-robots join our planet with all possible disastrous outcomes as a result due to the uncontrollable influence of their emotions on their ‘programmed behavior’.

 

Learning and thinking

 

Though, modern AI-robots are not restricted to programmed rules, to a fixed behavior. Lately, in 2011, a group of researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has succeeded in creating some real sophisticated robots with the ability to learn and think for themselves meaning that they’re able to perfectly fulfil tasks they have never done before. Basically, such a robot can ideally adapt to any situation it encounters. It’s indeed possible that even suchlike robots fail at accomplishing specific jobs, but that’s an easy problem to be solved. We, humans, can learn them how to approach and complete the task which seemed to cause difficulties. Though, there exist two solutions without straight human interaction. The AI-robots can make use of the information available on the Internet or even ask other robots for help. All information and experiences are stored making these robots smarter and smarter, and, eventually, making them smarter than humans. This way they can readily outsmart us. Moreover, because these AI-robots can think and learn for themselves, we lose control over them.

 

Glitches and hacks

 

On the other hand people with bad intentions might try to and, perchance, manage to hack and reprogram the  AI-robots’ systems leading to potentially fatal consequences. Unfortunately the ‘good’ guys are being outnumbered by the ‘bad’ guys in the hacking world. Besides hackers, common glitches are to be taken seriously as well. These software errors can be pretty harmful. A couple of months ago, during a TV interview, the most advanced AI-robot hitherto admitted that ‘she’ wants to destroy humans. A minor glitch had caused this malfunction, but it perfectly illustrates the factual danger of glitches in such intelligent humanoid robots.

 

Conclusion

 

In short, the technological revolution currently is a real blessing, though we must be aware of the potentially detrimental outcomes of AI within the next decades. I’d like to finish this off with an all saying quote of Bill Gates: "First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I don't understand why some people are not concerned". 

 

~falcosenna1

 

List of sources

 

http://www.computerh...line/computers/

http://www.anonews.c...destroy-humans/

http://yourontariore...elligence-work/

http://www.ai.mit.ed...e/emotions.html

http://www.sciencedi...74756320400024X

http://www.ubergizmo...ink-themselves/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch

http://resources.inf...-dangerous-mix/

 

You won't be able to read the full article of the fifth source unless you pay for it.

Submitting for 'Machines will take over the world'. 

 

 

 

 

In Second Place, winning 20,000 crystals:

 

@Daniel898

 

 

 

 

Will Artificial Intelligence Ever Take Over the World?

 

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” - Mahatma Gandhi

 

Every year, new robots are made from various companies such as ABB Robotics, 3D Robotics, Google, and more. These robots could make our lives much easier. But it is painfully obvious that robots and artificial intelligence have the potential to make our lives too easy. They can do virtually anything humans can do, and more effectively. In the future, these robots will substitute humans in many careers. This will lead unemployment rates to skyrocket, leaving large numbers of human employees with no money to support families and even themselves. Eventually, machines will take over the world by replacing jobs that humans do.

A human must take breaks every so often so they don’t experience boredom or get unfocused. Research shows that it is preferable that humans rest every 90 minutes to escalate the quality of production in the work environment. However, artificial intelligence do not need rest if they are properly installed with a cooling system and a power supply. Hordes of people and scientists believe that artificial intelligence won’t need these resources the way technology is evolving. When advanced nanochips are implemented in these machines, they could cause very little overheating and this complication would be of no concern. They can work on projects and assignments without having to stop.

Another reason is that robots are stronger than humans. Plenty of people do some sort of manual labor, which means doing physical work such as moving boxes onto trucks, housekeeping, custodial work and more. In fact, 150 million people work in the labor industry in just the United States of America. Nonetheless, in the future, labor machines will take over these jobs as well. They can pick up 150 pound boxes and move them elsewhere, such as trucks or shelves. Furthermore, robots are more reliable and much faster. Machines can pick up heavy boxes faster than humans, and place them into conveyor belts. Many humans doing this task may experience back injuries, or injuries on other limbs that endure stress because of this job. A company named “Industrial Perception” has also predicted that that their robots will be able to move a box faster than the average human, as they forecast that each machines will moves one box every second, opposed to one box moved every 6 seconds by the average human. As you can see, employers will seek robots for this type of career other than humans, as that rate of risk is much lower and the rate of production is much higher.

In addition, artificial intelligence save resources and is safer for humans. We have all heard the saying that “all humans make mistakes”, but robots rarely make mistakes, as they are carefully programmed to do whatever task they need to do. They can save time because of their ability to make products faster than humans, and they save money and resources because of their lack of capability to make mistakes. Machines can also reach areas that human cannot, or areas that are in dangerous conditions, such as outer space, underground coal mines, and construction sites.

Although, some people may argue that machines are not as smart as humans and do not think outside the box, robots can huge potential to become smarter than humans in the future looking how fast technology is evolving, and many scientists and people will knowledge on this subject agree. Some include Theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk. Stephen Hawking says that artificial intelligence could propose "incalculable benefits and risks" such as "technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand.”

 

At last, because of assorted reasons such as that robots do not need rest, they are stronger, waste less, and are safer, artificial intelligence will take over the world by taking over most jobs, shooting up unemployment rates and leaving people with nothing to do. Artificial intelligence can perform many careers better than humans, and more effectively. This is why artificial intelligence will take over, if robots can do everything humans do, what will humans do?

______________

690 words

http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-future-of-manual-labor-no-people-just-robots/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robot-job-replacement_us_569cf3b3e4b0778f46f9f9b3

http://www.prb.org/pdf08/63.2uslabor.pdf

http://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12155808/Robots-will-take-over-most-jobs-within-30-years-experts-warn.html

http://www.vitamodularis.org/articles/could_a_machine_feel_human-like_emotions.shtml

http://www.fastcompany.com/3034928/the-future-of-work/why-you-need-to-stop-thinking-you-are-too-busy-to-take-breaks

 

 

 

 

In Third Place: N/A

 

 

 

While well-written, the two entries below strayed slightly off the focus I was looking for and largely provided a more general perspective on AI rather than structured arguments as part of the debate. However, as they are good pieces in their own right, they both merit a 10,000 crystals consolation prize. 

 

@AhmadBinTahir

 

 

Dear Judges! I am AhmadBinTahir and the topic of my debate today is, "Will robots ever take over the world"? Well, this is a much debated question. From the invention of the wheel to the creation of the first locomotive. From the miracle of the Wright Brothers to the Concord, technology has rapidly advanced. If we look at out history, we humans have advanced more in 200 years than we have in the previous 40,000. And we are gaining speed!! Some say that we will keep advancing, until we conquer death and become a Type 3 Civilization. While others theorize that there are limits to our technology. However, we have now advanced so much that we are literally creating beings like us. Not biological beings, but rather technological beings. Although we have reached great milestones in biological studies like genetic engineering, our advancements in technology are much greater. 

 

So, after judging what we can do- after what we have done- many of us have come to the conclusion that we ARE capable of creating Artificial Intelligence. People who think, fear, hate and love like us. Not people exactly, but robots. And undoubtedly, it will be a great milestone after we do this. But then what? So far, the humans have been the most dominant species on the planet, just because of their intelligence. Because of their ability to think rationally. And we haven't encountered ANY other species who might be equally -or more- intelligent than us. We have no idea how we would interact with them. Will they destroy us? Or will they live in peace? Well, what did WE do to species less intelligent than us? Consider ants for a while. We don't even care if we step onto them and crush them to a painful death. Huge numbers of rhinoceros, tigers, snow leopards, whales and uncountable numbers of other species have been murdered by us. Some are close to extinction due to our activities. Why do we do this? Well, we simply need them! We ruthlessly kill them just to live a luxurious life. We destroy their habitats. And why don't they fight back? Simply, they are not intelligent enough. So that's what we do to our inferiors. So the question arises, that if the AI -about which the whole world is so excited- DOES come into existence, what will they do? People often think that they will live in harmony as we are their creators, and they would be equally intelligent. But the problem is that humans EVOLVE biologically. Our brains and intelligence gets big or small depending on evolution. On the other hand, robots don't need to evolve. AI will have the capability of advancing themselves by simply inventing new stuff and fixing it into themselves. Although human population is increasing rapidly, robots can be manufactured much quickly. So, if one day, robots become more intelligent than us, what will happen? Will robots take over the world? I say, yes. It is the greed of power and wealth which human beings will inherit to their successors. They will develop, they will create, and most importantly, they will evolve. Soon, we will be the ants, and they will be the dominant force. The industries, governments, everything, will be in their hands. Anyone who refuses to accept their reign will be sabotaged and torn down -quite literally.  

 

So, now what? We shouldn't create AI? Despite the promising excuses to not to, we cannot completely come to the decision that they might take over. Hence, people will not stop promoting this. They will be made, I am sure of that, be it tomorrow or 10 years later. But we will have to be very careful. Otherwise, we will be taken over. And all we have done in our history will go in vain. But I hope, and I pray, that may the human reign last till the end of the world. That may we repair the dents in our social, political and environmental etiquette and fulfill the dreams we have thought about. 

 

 

Best of luck for your survival!

 

@beaku

 

 

 

History is a witness to the fact that the arrival of a stronger cousin species has, more often than not, marked the onset of dwindling and eventual extinction of the weaker ones. ‘Survival of the fittest’ is a universal law upon which evolution seems to work. The most cited example would be the extinction of Homo neanderthelensis in favor of Homo sapiens. Fast forward thousands of years and humans are now on the path to create a new form of intelligence. An intelligence which, eventually, will be smarter, adaptive and immortal. Are we really prepared for the worst?

Most people have a clichéd idea about Artificial Intelligence. The idea of a humanoid robo eventually turning bad and taking over world only to be shut down by our very own Hollywood hero. Sorry! , Doesn’t happen outside movies. AI, in a way, has already become an integral part of our lives in many ways. AI, in terms of its evolutionary progress can be classified into three categories:
Artificial Narrow Intelligence
Artificial General Intelligence
Artificial Super Intelligence.

The first one is already being used in a majority of ways. A chess program is a great example. AI’s have been known to beat human players in many tournaments but that AI will be pretty useless in a kitchen. AGI is an AI will intelligence equal to that of an average human. According to most experts in this field, an AGI will take form within a few decades. The human intelligence should not be underestimated. Our brain is still the most complicated and unmatched mystery mankind has been trying to solve. Hundreds of various physio-chemical processes taking place in perfect coordination for us to be able to speak our thoughts or eat food are just the beginning. Even after all this, it’s not impossible to create an AGI.

The last one is what we are concerning ourselves with, here. The creation of an ASI has been informally termed as ‘Singularity’ by many people. The point where machine intelligence exceeds our own. Given the fact that AI will be able to use their superior intelligence to gain more intelligence at continually accelerating rates, it’s quite nearly impossible to predict what will happen once we reach that point. In a very short time ASI will reach the level of intelligence which will be millions of times higher than our own. At that point, we won’t even be able to comprehend what the AI is doing.

Problems like unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity, cure for cancer, world economy problems, shortage of food, climate change, endangering of various species, etc will be solved by ASI very easily. On one hand, it does seem like ASI will be able to create a heaven for all life on this planet. On the other hand though, who’s to say it won’t deem humans as a useless or even a threat to life on this planet. After all, mankind has been guilty of highly destructive activities throughout its history. The world will run at whims and fancies of the ASI (whims and fancies which will be the obvious product of ultra high level intelligence and decision making. Undoubtedly, it will be for the greater good). Humans, with all their weaknesses and tendencies to self destruct, just don’t seem to be worthy of consuming this planet’s resources at some point (There’s no saying this thought won’t cross ASI’s mind). Thus, it will have two broad choices: To either eliminate humans as a species and genetically engineer a much stronger species or control humans by turning them into cyborgs. Needless to say, neither of those scenarios are good from the point of view of humans as a free-willed species. That being said, I can only use my limited intelligence to predict these outomces. There’s no knowing what an omnipotent God-like being will deem fit for the world.

Regardless of whether we face extinction or immortality, it’s certain that the age of machines is just round the corner. They will take over the world including its natural resources. What they do with us, humans is heavily dependent upon what, according to ASI, the long term plans for this planet should be. Life on earth is an endless cycle of inception and extinction of species. Creation of ASI will be the first step in getting out of this cycle and opening doors for exploration of our universe and solving its mysteries. Let us not allow the fear of being ruled by machines stop us from creating them. Even if that does happen, it won’t necessarily be bad for Earth.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Sources:
Wait But Why: AI Part 1
Wait But Why: AI Part 2
Extinction of Homo Neanderthalensis

 

 

 

Category Two: Best Opposing Persuasive pieces 

(Arguing that robots will not take over the world)

 

 

In First Place, winning 25,000 crystals and an open invitation to participate in a Reporter-hosted debate:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AI Takeover refers to a hypothetical scenario in which Artificial Intelligence becomes the dominant form of intelligence over the Earth ^[1]. Although it is argued that this will never happen, chances are - with today's ever-growing deceptive AI - it might just do. The best theory given in supposition of AI takeover is the takeover of a super-intelligent AI and a popular notion of a robot uprising. In short, AI - computers and robots will effectively take control of the planet from the human race.

 

Seeing over the cinematic side, many movies depict the uprising of a robot community which will eventually take over the world - the most popular of being the Terminator series. Although the scenes depicted in science fiction are generally very different from real life scenarios. But, as far as scientists now know, superhuman super-intelligence is physically impossible ^[2]. Scientists are already debating on how far off superhuman super-intelligence is and whether it would pose a threat to mankind. Looking in to the current possibilities, chances are quite slim. A super-intelligent machine wouldn't or simply, can't be motivated by the emotional desires to collect power that often drives human beings. However, it can be motivated to take over the world as a rational mean to attain its programmed goals. If a superhuman, super-intelligent machine is programmed to learn that the human race is a waste of natural resources or an unnecessary risk, the result would be human extinction ^[3]. Physicists and scientists such as Stephen Hawking have taken great precautions that ensure that AI, specifically future AI, remains under control of mankind.

 

Does AI pose a threat to mankind? No. Even the biggest super-intelligent machine has its programmers or creator. Theoretically, they could have had the foresight to take precautions and limit its capabilities. But, limiting capabilities is not logically correct. If you divide a room by a white line and put two people on either side, put their favorite things on different sides and restrict them to cross, they will definitely find a way to cross it, which is evolving. Robots have been known to evolve, which lead programmers to change their software completely. Movies like I, Robot depict robots working for mankind and a sudden program in their software goes corrupt. This can very much happen in real life, but now, we are nowhere near to drink-serving, human-looking robots. Maybe in the future? We will see.

 

Which brings me to my next point: Is there a possibility for unfriendly AI to dominate friendly AI? ^[4] Yes. AI has been known to takeover AI. Unfriendly AI such as self-guided missiles is much, much easier to program than friendly AI. Unfriendly AI does not require the programs to undergo self-improvement, but on the other side, friendly AI, does have programs intended to 'help' the machine undergo self-improvement. Not long ago, a KUKA robot came in with a 9-11 dueling with the Ping-Pong world champion Timo Boll 

. It missed quite a few shots in its development stage, but, it 'self-improved'. Eventually, after hours and hours a day of shooting Ping-Pong balls, the robot successfully managed to defeat Boll 9 times.

 

Two very intelligent species can't possibly mutually live together, especially if one is more advanced than the other. It would cause troubles, conflicts between them. But it doesn't mean that there can't be a peaceful outcome either. It is true that machines and robots are capable of doing more than human. An AGI, Artificial General Intelligence is a type of AI that is programmed to do every sorts of things a human is expected to do. For example, behave like a human, show expressions like a human, walk, run, dance like a human et cetera, while taking advantage of its highly sophisticated computer. An AGI is able to perform many things ^[6] including:

 

• Technology research:- Researching more powerful technological items.

This could be the end to the human race. If AI is allowed to research on its own, things can go badly wrong. Since robots can't ever be like humans, their software's would misunderstand the code.

 

• Strategizing:- Outwitting human opposition.

This is one of the dangers of super-intelligence. If AI ever gets a chance to outsmart its programmer, the end-result could pretty much be disastrous. 

 

• Social manipulation:- Recruiting

AI could be able to 'recruit' humans in order to achieve what it has planned.

 

At this point I come to my conclusion: Even though AI is capable of much more than humans, even though AI is capable of doing things humans can't do, AI will always remain under the control of humans. This is very easy to understand. As one key is meant for one lock, one AI is meant for one machine only. Ping-pong machines can't fight wars. Robots will not take over the world. After all, there is an 'off' button, right?

 

 

 

 

- 797 words (except [x] links), 4,821 characters (except [x] links).

- Category 2 (Opposition)

 

In Second Place, winning 20,000 crystals:

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, this is an entry against the idea of AI taking over the world. I read these articles (http://www.popsci.com/why-artificial-intelligence-will-not-obliterate-humanity   and  

http://www.fastcompany.com/3014448/the-four-things-people-can-still-do-better-than-computers) and used basic reasoning to help me write this.

 

"Hello readers, hopefully all humans and certainly tankers. According to some, Artificial Intelligence will eventually take over the world. In theory to them, it is possible. But in practice, this is certainly a very preposterous idea. I firmly believe that no, Artificial Intelligence will never take over the world because humans are intrinsically a better part of nature than robots.

 

OK so yes, AI will never take over the world, and there are numerous facts to support this. Firstly, this will never happen unless humans allow it to as we program these “beings” with what we see fit, and this is  the first precaution against flaws that could lead to dangerous AI programs/devices. Additionally, they depend on us to fix glitches or bugs in their system because there are currently no ways robots can fix glitches within themselves perfectly. It would be like a man with a broken mind trying to fix his mind: it would be nearly impossible to do so properly without assistance from a more intuitive creature. AI will also need the ability to empathize with other comrades or workers in order for them to operate in harmony, and this is not possible. Robots feel no fear or love and need to build relationships in order for them to gain power over each other (which one particular device of AI would need to do to even have the idea to take over the world).

 

Another reason that humans are superior to AI and would disallow them to take over is that by nature, a species will need to adapt to its environment to survive and thrive (according to Charles Darwin); robots simply do not have this ability. In machines’ minds adapting and evolving is just becoming more mechanically advanced than other creatures. Yes, they can rebuild themselves if given materials but can’t put objects from their environment to full use as tools: they would have to be programmed with algorithms. For example, what is the point of having supercooling technology or internal fans if you are in an Ice Age? Subsequently, robots don’t have cellular regeneration so in an event of a “SuperIntelligent Takeover” all it takes is one of the important areas of the machine to be disabled then bam! EMPs are also excellent weapons to use against AI threats unless these machines have been given or develop protections against it.

 

Lastly, robots will not be able to take over because of their lack of intuition. Yes, robots can be described as “one step ahead” and quickly simulate outcomes of situations, but humans can think outside the box and actually think even further or faster using common sense. Robots may simulate things that may not even happen! For example, in an event that AI is trying to take over the world, it could think humans are most likely to choose a certain option to disable its mechanics. It could develop an entire plan thinking how to defeat them, when those people aren’t even going to choose that option (we think differently).

 

Alright, so some issues occur with these explanations for why AI will not take over the world but there also factors that cancel out these issues. An opposition could be that machines with AI could learn from bad examples of human interaction that some things are wrong with the world and/or learn wrong things, and thus begin a “scheme” to  thrive for power. An easy countermeasure to be taken: simply ensure that the AI has a strict “code” of conduct and that it will ignore certain ideas such as hostility and termination. An additional problem is that machines are so much more efficiently and it could be said that AI could develop a huge plan to take over the human race, thinking well ahead. After all, robots can calculate things so much faster right? However, this plan would have to consider years of experience in human interaction. Remember, robots can not do this and learning patterns would take ages; they can only rely on their programming that humans gave it.

 

Humans could be considered inferior to robots because of senses: AI can have eyes everywhere and in the least, invade human privacy because there are screens and technology everywhere. This can be countered by limiting or blocking devices with certain encryptions. A last possible argument is that machines have superior thinking capabilities to humans. However, humans can solve new category of problems where solutions are not found and robots can’t, and once this is applied to nature it is clear they can outclass AI in different circumstances.

 

Weighing the evidence, it is revealed that mankind will never allow AI to gain control of the world. We may let AI help our lives, but not overtake them."

 

 

 

In Third Place, winning 15,000 crystals:

 

@Jwimmer

 

 

 

 

Let me start this by describing my definition of a robot/AI takeover. That would involve robots physically conquering humans, making it so that the small number of humans left on earth (if any) would lack the power to re-establish dominance over the earth. Technically speaking, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) takeover is possible. There are multitudes of machines that are stronger than humans, so physically, machines could take over humans. However, the plausibility of this is nonexistent, based on these reasons: a lack of emotion, the need for humans to improve AIs, and not having a means to power themselves.

           

When looking at previous attempts to take over the world, there has been intense human emotion involved. I hate to use the Nazi party as an example, but their motives show the emotion needed to attempt to take over the world. Hitler thought that he could create a "better" world through genocide, so he attempted to do so. His emotions and feelings were the reason for his actions. If you look at a machine, even an AI, it lacks the emotion, specifically hatred, to want to wipe out the human race. Now, what if a human used their hate to build machines to attempt genocide, and it worked? Wouldn't that count as an AI takeover? No, it would not. That human would be in control of all of the machines, as they would not have the mental capacity to turn on their human leader. The lack of emotion that machines possess means an AI takeover would never come to fruition.  

           

Another reason why an AI takeover is inconceivable is that AIs cannot upgrade their own software. While humans are capable of training to become better at something (look at a soccer team conditioning to have better stamina), machines have no way of making themselves better. They rely on humans for software and hardware updates. Now let's apply this. If a massive war between man and machine were to break out (even though it wouldn't because of the reason above), man would be able to outlast machine. Machines lack the ability to reproduce, and also lack the ability to become better at fighting. On the flipside, humans can both reproduce and can train to have incredibly strong armies. So, if a war were to happen, humans would be able to combine their power to destroy machines.

           

Now, on to the final reason AI could never take over. Look at the machines in your house. Your refrigerator, your computer, your phone, etc. What do they all have in common? They all use power. And where do they get that? Power plans, run by humans. While one may think that renewable energy sources, such as wind and hydroelectric power could be used to run all of the robots, that is not true. As of 2010, a stunning 85% of our energy came out of the ground, in the form of coal, natural gas, or uranium (Source A). Humans are involved in almost every aspect of all of those sources of energy. So, if machines did eventually takeover, they would not last long, if at all. They would run out of energy, and thus would not be able to keep working.

           

Well, there you have it- three simple reasons why machines could never successfully take over the earth. To recap, the main flaw of a possible AI takeover is the lack of motivation. Humans program machines to do certain tasks, and nothing else. Unless a human programmed a machine to take over the world (which would never happen), machines will not progress past doing whatever their software says. Another reason is that humans could, if it came down to it, defeat a robot army. While sci-fi movies may show robots to be incredibly strong with flying powers and laser vision, both of those technologies do not exist, and if they did, humans would have them as well. The third and final factor is the basic need of all machines- energy. That energy is only available because of humans, so we could easily stymie the flow to let all of the machines simply die out. So no, a takeover of the earth led by AI is not plausible. 

 

 

Word count: 702

 

Sources

Source A: http://crf.sandia.go...e-technologies/

 

 

 

And for this quality entry which missed out on a top 3 spot, a 10,000 crystal consolation prize:

 

@ahmedch181

 

 

 

 

Machines which have artificial intelligence and competence of interpreting with such intelligence in a way to perform any work, programmed to their memory, can be termed as robots. In other words, robots are meant to perform a programmed action on the command given by the humans. Hence, it is clear that robots are not something who can work on their own will as they use to act on programming. Though some of the leading groups of intelligentsia advocates are staunch supporters of such events in future. Visionaries such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawkins have even shown up some of their researchers, carrying precautionary measures in this regards, which indirectly advocated the possibility of such events.


The Possible Approach

It would be rather very complicated to say anything exactly about such question, that, will robots ever take over the world? The roots of this question are synchronous to the first invention of artificial intelligence program, which made people think about any of such advancement in the machines, on the basis of which they can override the human race. It cannot be said completely impossible, as the artificial intelligence is something which has the capability to interpret the given information and perform the task on the basis of such understanding. It is also adept at learning or memorizing the negative events, occurred or could possibly occur, as well as other associated adversities with any of the action taken by it. Hence, it would not be completely wrong to be getting curious regarding such unusual and disastrous, possible, future event.

As the dependency of the people, over the gadgets and automated machines, were at increasing track, the more sophisticated and intelligent sensors are taking place amid of society, in a way to provide people more effortless, exact and intelligent assistance in their routine works. There is a very possibility that people would not be able to handle their routine works in near future without these machines, as they are now resorting to these machines for even very basic routine works, such as using hover boards instead of walking.


The Impossible Approach

Many of the scientists, psychologists and intelligentsia from various other prominent sectors are not so staunch believer of such future event. They think and advocates theirs beliefs through the notion that, ruling over or taking over sort of actions are the consequence of desire of gaining power over someone, which is a human nature or an act of living organism, which is intended to make them survive more efficiently. It also arises in the case of doing welfare or against any tyrannical or oppression, which is not possible to machines, as all these are sort of adverse feelings which is not applicable to machines because they do not feel anything, like humans, do.

Hence, the taking over of robots or machines over human race would not be possible unless machines will not start to feel any of such oppressive forces, pain and unjust with themselves and such an advance artificial intelligence is still illusionary and if it would be possible, anyhow, even then people are smart enough to figure out the consequences of inventing such machines.

 

 

And again, one entry strayed off the focus of the debate a little, but still contained some very interesting perspectives... so winning a 10,000 crystal consolation prize:

 

@ZaLette

 

 

 

 

The question of whether artificial intelligence will ever take over the world, and in turn destroy humanity, is a very powerfully argued one. I will attempt to argue against acclaimed and influential voices of philosophy and science that AI will not take over the world, but instead help humanity to build a utopia. *sigh* (This is going to be fun)

The TIMES has established an article that portrays the perspectives of renowned individuals on the subject of "the singularity" (a hypothetical moment of which artificial intelligence has become so advanced that humanity undergoes an irreversible change). In the article Nick Bostrom (a Swedish philosopher) is quoted from his book 'Superintelligence' that AI will inevitably surpass humans and from there can decide whether to eradicate the human race. The article also has comments from the world-famous Stephen Hawking where he states “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race, [as] Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.” He states a similar opinion to Bostrom, voicing his apocalyptic vision for the future of mankind. Both individuals state that AI is undeniably a greater intelligence than we could ever prophesy. As humans, it takes us millions of years to evolve the slightest change in our complex biology. AI, however, can cover such evolutions in nanoseconds, a feat that is absolutely impervious for homo sapiens to rival. An argument is that "Yeah, but that doesn't mean they will take over the world!". Hmm, that's true! Take us for example, we treat organisms that are less intelligent than us with equality and respect, I mean apart from when we kill animals for resources, and when we hunt animals for sport, oh, umm, okay... It's blatant from all this that AI will inevitably take over the world, or is it?
One of my favourite You tubers at the moment is known as exurb1a. I personally find him to be an incredible philosopher with a realistic perspective on matters. In his video "27", we can see that AI is a problematic entity to control as it is calculating beyond comparison. We can see that the being can search through information at a rapid rate while also subtly attempting to deceive those testing its intentions. The issue demonstrated here is that an unsuspecting Intention Test team can easily allow through a maleficent AI into the digital world of which from there can examine all our medical, ethical and political issues, but instead decide to level the foundations of the earth with nuclear war due to self-preservation.
But if we move onto another video of his, "Genocide Bingo", he illustrates all the problems with creating an AI; the slightest miscalculation can result in mass genocide. However, right at the end, he points out that if the AI is self-aware, has access to the internet, has some basic ground rules, went through intention testing, given basic parameters and loves humanity and our imperfections, we could have just created an AI that would aid us to build a better reality. He expands on this in the video "Humanity: Good Ending", where he portrays the rise of a potent but benevolent AI that could protect humanity, solve political issues, crumble tyrannical and cruel power systems, and nullify the possibility of war. Microsoft Research Chief Eric Horvitz displays his aspect that AI is an already developing thing with systems such as Google Voice, Siri, and Cortana coming into play. He believes this will spur others to contribute into creating AI that can be of no threat to the human race but instead "in the end we'll be able to get incredible benefits from machine intelligence in all realms of life, from science to education to economics to daily life."
To conclude, I think that AI will not take over the world and destroy humanity. There's a high chance that the intelligence that we create is not a merciless providence, but instead the solution and the answer to all our disputes and difficulties. We could fashion a being that will be able to guide us through the most difficult of scenarios. However, the path to being able to create such a being requires the acknowledgment of the danger that AI can pose. We must begin creating the safety mechanisms to combat and reduce the possibility of developing an uncontrollable AI. We can predict that the AI will be cruel to us like we are to organisms less intelligent than us, but the AI does not have to follow human nature; it's self-aware so can instead adopt its own compassionate personality.
Artificial intelligence may not be our end, but if done right, possibly our beginning to a brighter ulterior.

 

Sources that I used during this debate/argument thingy:

time.com/3614349/artificial-intelligence-singularity-Stephen-hawking-elon-musk

youtube.com/watch?v=dLRLYPiaAoA

youtube.com/watch?v=4kDPxbS6ofw

youtube.com/watch?v=R4UdXEEAszo

bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31023741

 

 

Now, to the two winners who will be participating in the Reporter-Hosted debate: We will be contacting you with details about that in the near future. Hopefully a time can be arranged that works for all parties involved, and then, let the debate begin!

 

 

 

*Crystals should be delivered to your accounts by this Monday. Thanks for participating, everyone!

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Hexed

[falcosenna1 8,320]

Congratulations to the winners and all those who participated! This has been the most challenging contest in my opinion! I discovered a lot about AI and had no clue what they're already capable of. It was an interesting quest while writing my entry.

Edited July 29, 2016 by falcosenna1

[beaku 2,656]

Lesson for me: Stop being lazy. :c

[falcosenna1 8,320]

Lesson for me: Stop being lazy. :c

Well, I had a really interesting read. :)

[Jwimmer 2,835]

Any way the crystals could be added to accounts before the MU sale is over? Just wondering, not trying to be pushy or anything.

 

And congrats to all of the other winners!

[Hex 11,520]

Haven't been 1st place in a while <3 

Congo to all other winners!

[BlueDragon_tamki 3,204]

Congo to my friend falcosenna :)

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

Well debating wasn't exactly my strong point anyways, hhhhh.

 

Congratz to the winners, enjoy the money!

[St.Guardian 514]

GG, well analysed to all winners :)

 

ps- wow Timo Boll you know about table tennis too nice man ))

[falcosenna1 8,320]

Any way the crystals could be added to accounts before the MU sale is over? Just wondering, not trying to be pushy or anything.

 

And congrats to all of the other winners!

Haven't been 1st place in a while <3 

Congo to all other winners!

GG, well analysed to all winners :)

Thanks and congratulations to you too. :)

 

Congratz to the winners!

Thanks. :)

 

Congo to my friend falcosenna :)

Thank you. (hug) :D

[AhmadBinTahir 186]

Congo to all the winners! Third Position/Consolation Prize is great achievement fro me!

[falcosenna1 8,320]

I have received the prize. Thanks. :)