What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "artificial intelligence"? Raised on several generations of Hollywood films, we often think about "evil robots and omniscient computers that are eager to destroy humanity." But AI is already playing an active role in our daily life, and its capabilities will only increase from now on. To alleviate the anxiety that will accompany the arrival of AI in our world, Wired editor Kevin Kelly encouraged us to change the way we think and think about AI.
Kelly thinks that the word "intelligence" has taken on an excessive baggage, including a somewhat negative connotation. When used without reference to the human mind, the word "intelligence" is inevitably associated with espionage, classified information, or invasion of privacy.
Since the field of artificial intelligence goes far beyond that, and we may no longer be able to introduce new definitions for old words, why not use new words instead?
The word that Kelly suggests using is cognition, cognification, and he uses it to describe "smart" things.
At the moment, not many things have been cognized: phones, cars, thermostats, televisions, but others are coming along with them. But in the future, Kelly says, anything that has already been electrified will be cognized. Smart homes? Smart offices? Smart cities? You just have to wait.
The cognition of things can be considered analogous to the electrification of things that occurred during the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution brought about a large-scale transition from the agricultural world - where everything that was done was done by the power of muscles - to the mechanized world where gasoline, steam engines and electricity gave artificial power to almost everything. We created an energy grid to distribute this energy, to have access to it on demand at any time and in any place, and anything that would require the use of natural force could be done with the help of artificial force.
Movement and transportation, among other things, have grown substantially due to this new power. Kelly gives an example of a car that's simple yet compelling: you invoke the power of 250 horses just by turning the key. Step on the gas pedal and your vehicle will move at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, which was unthinkable for those times when we did everything we did with our bare hands.
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The next step is to take the same car that already has the artificial power of 250 horses and add the power of 250 artificial minds. Result? Self-driving cars that can not only drive fast, but also make independent decisions, get us to our destinations and reduce the risk of fatal incidents.
According to Kelly, we are now on the verge of another industrial revolution. As it unfolds, we will take everything that we previously electrified, and we will cognize it all.
When we imagine life before the Industrial Revolution, we wonder how it was possible to live without electricity at all. We think it's good that today we have light, airplanes and e-mail. It's good that we stopped using candles, driving carriages and writing letters by hand. However, this does not relieve us of nostalgia for these simple things.
What will people think in 200 years? As soon as everything is known, and the world becomes one big smart bubble, people will miss the "simpler times" in which we live now, but at the same time wonder: how did we live without the omnipresent AI?
ILYA KHEL
