Theoretical physicist Max Tegmark from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) in an interview with the IEEE Spectrum, dedicated to his recently published book "Life 3.0", called the most likely negative scenario for the future of human civilization.
The scientist believes that the greatest danger to the inhabitants of the Earth is represented by an artificial superintelligence, not endowed with consciousness. “When I talk about consciousness, I just mean subjective experience: it feels like something like me,” the scientist said.
In his opinion, the study of artificial intelligence often ignores the problem of consciousness, in particular, the difference between conscious and unconscious information processing systems characteristic of animate and inanimate nature.
Tegmark opposes "carbon chauvinism", assuming that life can be based on, in particular, silicon. The expert believes that intelligence and consciousness can be described by equations.
“If we raise children who continue to follow dreams that we have not achieved, then we can be proud of them, even if we are no longer there. But if instead we raise a new Adolf Hitler, who will destroy everything that is important to us, we will not be so excited,”the scientist said.
Tegmark shares the point of view of the American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, who admits that in the future man can seriously influence the Universe, the existence of which is given meaning by man. The cosmologist does not agree with the position of the Nobel laureate American theoretical physicist Stephen Weinberg, a leading specialist in quantum field theory, who believes that "the more we understand the Universe, the more meaningless it seems to us."
Tegmark encourages people to think about the future of humanity related to artificial intelligence. “Just because we don’t know what will go wrong does not mean that we should not think about it,” the scientist said.
The problem of correlating consciousness and the brain is one of the key ones in continental philosophy, the question is insignificant in insular (Anglo-American) science.
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According to a survey of 50 Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, physiology (or medicine) and economics published in August 2017, scientists do not expect the need for human researchers to decrease from the introduction of artificial intelligence and robots.
American businessman Elon Musk and British scientist Stephen Hawking (who are not Nobel laureates), who have repeatedly called artificial intelligence one of the threats to humanity, do not agree with the Nobel laureates.
In June 2016, philosopher Nick Bostrom from the University of Oxford (UK) clarified the meaning of Musk's words about humanity's stay in the matrix, recommending that the words of a businessman be taken literally.