UniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley

LivingDigitalBeings

EdwardA.Lee

Keynote,ICT.OPEN,Hilversum,TheNetherlands,March20,2019

UC Berkeley

HypeandFear

IsAIanexistentialthreattohumanity?

2

ThreeQuestionsAboutAIs

1.  Arewegoingtolosecontrolofthem?2.  Aretheyalive?3.  Aretheygoingtomatchandexceedus?

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ChangingtheQuestion

Canweteachcomputerstoprogram? −MaartenvanSteen,March19,2019

Cancomputersteachhumanstoprogram?

−EdwardLee,March20,2019

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ComputersTeachingHumanstoProgram

EclipseJupyterGithubStackOverflowGoogle…

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EggsandChickens

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RichardDawkins“Achickenisanegg'swayofmakinganotheregg.”

Isahumanacomputer’swayofmakinganothercomputer?

DigitalCreationism:TheHypothesisthatTechnologyisTop-DownIntelligentDesign

Evolutionaryprocessesarecapableofmuchmorecomplexandsophisticateddesignthantop-downintelligentdesign.

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Vasa

AnAlternativetoDigitalCreationism:SymbioticCoevolution

“AreweplayingGod,creatinganewlifeforminourownimage,orarewebeingplayedbyaDarwinianevolutionofasymbioticnewspecies?”“Arehumansthepurveyorsofthe‘noisychannel’ofmutation,facilitatingsexbetweensoftwarebeingsbyrecombiningandmutatingprogramsintonewones?”

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CoevolutionofDigitalBeingsandHumans

9 [PhotoByJamesMorrisonCCBY-SA2.0] 1997 2012

HumansinControlofAI?

Arewegoingtolosecontrolofthem?No.Weneverwereincontrol,sowecan’tlosecontrol.

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ThreeQuestions

1.  Arewegoingtolosecontrolofthem?2.  Aretheyalive?3.  Aretheygoingtomatchandexceedus?

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TheTechnium

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KevinKelly,talksaboutthe“technium”asthe7thkingdomoflife.

2010

IsItAlive?

13 ViewoftheInternet[TheOpteProject,viaWikimediaCommonsCCBY2.5]

WikipediaServers[VictorGrigas/WikimediaFoundationCCBY-SA3.0]

Whatdoesitmeantobealive?

Wikipediaisarguablya“livingdigitalbeing”(LDB,or“eldebee”).Ithasalloftheseproperties.

14 [AfterChrisPackard,CCBY-SA4.0]

Arewebeinginvadedbyorcoalescingwithanalienlifeform?

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TheHumanSideofThisCoevolution

•  x

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Itishumancultureandcognition(“memes”per

Dawkins)thatarecoevolving,not(yet)

biology.

IntellectualProsthetics

Reproduction?Heredity?Mutation?

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SterileWorkersandaQueenBee

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[PhotobyMaxPixel,releasedtopublic

domain-CC0]

Symbiosis

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“Ifcomputersandsoftwareformorganisms,thentheydependonusfortheirprocreation.Weprovidethehusbandryandserveasmidwives.Inexchange,wedependonthemtomanageoursystemsoffinance,commerce,andtransportation.Butmoreinterestingly,themachinesmakethehumansmoreeffectiveattheveryhusbandrythatspreadsthesoftwarespecies.….thesoftwaresurvivesandevolvesonlyifthecompanysurvivesandevolves,andviceversa.”

WillWeBecomeCyborgs?

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Wearealreadyintegratingtechnologyintoourbiology.

ByUnknownMaster,Italian(1570s)WebGalleryofArt,PublicDomain

ObligateEndosymbiosis

21 LynnMargulis(1938-2011)[PhotobyJpedreira,CCBY-SA2.5] Di

agramCCBY

-SA3.0,

https://common

s.wikim

edia.org/w

/inde

x.ph

p?curid

=475

082

So,AreTheyAlive?

Thisdependsonwhatyoumeanby“alive,”butthereisnodoubttheysharemanyfeatureswithbiologicalbeings.Andmoreimportantly,theirrelationshipwithusismuchlikeabiologicalsymbiosis.

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ThreeQuestions

1.  Arewegoingtolosecontrolofthem?2.  Aretheyalive?3.  Aretheygoingtomatchandexceedus?

Computersalreadyexceedusinmanydimensions.Sotheinterestingquestionis:willtheymatchus?

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AreWeDigital?

24 HAL,thecomputerinStanleyKubrick’s1968movie,2001:ASpaceOdyssey

FreeingtheMindFromMatter

•  Arewealone?•  Teleportation?•  Thesingularity?•  Uploading?

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TeleportationandUploading

Whathappensto“I”?•  Isthereconstructionthesame“I”?–  Howcanwetell?

•  Whatiftheoriginalisnotdestroyed?–  Two“I”s?

•  Whatifabackupcopyislaterinstantiated?–  Two“I”sofdifferentages?

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TheSenseofSelfPerThreePhilosophers

Whathappensto“I”?•  DerekParfit:–  Thenotionof“I”makesnosense.

•  DanielDennett:–  “I”isafiction,anillusion,asocialconstruction.

•  DouglasHoftstadter–  “I”canbeintwoplacesatonce.

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ASimplerAnswer:“I”IsNotDigital

28 ClaudeShannon

Shannonshowedin1948anoisychannelcan,inprinciple,perfectlyconveyafinitenumberofbits(the“channelcapacity”).Theconverseisevenmoreimportant:Anoisychannelcannotconveymorethanafinitenumberofbits.

OrMaybeEverythingisDigital?

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Variantsofthe“DigitalPhysics”hypothesis:1.  Thenumberofpossiblestatesofaphysicalsystemisfinite.2.  Physicalprocessesaredigitalandalgorithmic.3.  EveryphysicalprocessisaTuringcomputation.4.  Thephysicalworldisacomputer.5.  Thephysicalworldisasimulation.Thesethesesarenotfalsifiable,andthereforenotscientificaccordingtothephilosophyofKarlPopper.

JohnArchibaldWheeler“Itfrombit”

DataismisaReligion

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YuvalNoahHarari

[PhotoByDanielNaber–CCBY-SA4.0]

The“UniversalMachine”Fallacy

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Turingmachines:•  Algorithmic•  Digital•  Terminating

AlanTuring MachinedesignedbyMikeDavey[PhotobyGabrielF,CCBY-SA3.0]

NoUniversalMachineHasYetBeenInvented

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KurtGödel

Ifoneiseverinvented,itwillnotbe,atitsessence,adiscrete,algorithmic,terminatingprocess.

TheDNAFallacy

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Everyhumanalivetodayistheendpointofcontinuous,unbroken,biologicalprocessdatingbackaboutfourbillionyears.

ByZephyris-Ownwork,CCBY-SA3.0

IfCognitionisnotaDigital,AlgorithmicProcess,then…

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“Yourmindisentirelyyourown.”

ThreeQuestions

1.  Arewegoingtolosecontrolofthem?No.2.  Aretheyalive?Maybe.3.  Aretheygoingtomatchandexceedus?

Theyalreadyexceedus,buttheywillnevermatchus.

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LivingDigitalBeings

EdwardAshfordLee MITPress,2020MITPress,2017