The Rise of the Machines
Among the proponents of transhumanist philosophy, the prospect of creating true artificial intelligence (AI) is an anticipated development on the hopefully not too distant horizon. From a scientific perspective, artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence by machines or super computers.
“Machine learning and AI should augment human abilities, enabling incredible new experiences . . ." Jerremy Holland, Director of AI Research, Apple
The challenge with creating artificial intelligence is that a functioning AI system must be able to accomplish a tripartite set of complex processes. The first part of creating AI is to enable a super computer to learn which would necessitate acquiring information and then utilizing this information according to specific rules which must be part of the computer's programming. Secondly, an artificially intelligent machine would need to be able to reason the way human beings do in order to reach plausible and definite conclusions. Finally, an AI system would have to be programmed to be able to both recognize its own mistakes and then auto-correct those errors.
While researchers continue to work to make AI a reality, transhumanists hope that the eventual development of advanced AI platforms will help to facilitate the uploading of human consciousness to super computers thereby creating a disembodied posthuman. Transhumanists hope that such a biological/machine synergy will extend human life, albeit no longer human, to a realized cybernetic immortality.
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