If - and when - we do finally encounter aliens, they will most likely not look like little green men or spiky insects. Most likely, they will not be biological creatures at all, but advanced robots that surpass us in intelligence and in other respects. While philosophers, scientists and futurists debate the rise of artificial intelligence and the inevitable singularity, they are all mostly on Earth.
Some thinkers - not science fiction thinkers, however - have already considered the possibility that artificial intelligence is already here and has been here for many years.
Susan Schneider, professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, is one of those. She has joined a group of astronomers including Seth Shostak, director of NASA's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), NASA astrobiologist Paul Davis, and astrobiologist Stephen Dick, who believe the dominant intelligence in space is likely to be artificial. In his work Alien Mind, Schneider explains why extraterrestrial life forms would be more artificial and how such creatures should think.
“Most people think aliens are biological, but that doesn't hold up to the timeline argument,” Shostak said. "I had a bet with a dozen astronomers that if we find a signal from extraterrestrial life, it will be artificial life."
As the data on potentially habitable planets scattered throughout the galaxy multiply and grow, it becomes more and more difficult to believe that we are alone in the universe. And if we ever encounter an extraterrestrial life form, we will certainly want to communicate with it, which means that we need a certain basis for understanding their consciousness. But for the vast majority of astrobiologists who study single-celled life, extraterrestrial intelligence is undetectable even on planes.
“If you asked me to gather the guys who will think about this topic, it will be very difficult for me. Someone thinks about a communication strategy, but very few think about the nature of extraterrestrial intelligence."
In his work, Schneider is among the first to try to solve this issue.
“Anything that can be connected with their consciousness - how their brains receive and process information, what their goals and intentions - can be significantly different from ours,” says Schneider. "Astrobiologists need to start thinking about the existence of completely new types of consciousness."
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For example, about the possibility of the existence of artificial superintelligence.
“This concept has a serious difference from just“artificial intelligence”. I'm not saying we're trying to find IBM processors in outer space. In all likelihood, this intelligence will be much more complex than any of the people can imagine."
The reason for this is primarily in the time frame. When it comes to extraterrestrial intelligence, there is what Schneider calls a "short window of observation" - the assumption that by the time any society learns to send radio signals, it will be one step away from improving its own biology. This opinion was popularized at the time by Ray Kurzweil, a famous futurist, hinting that a post-biological human society is not far off.
“As soon as a civilization invents radio, it is 50 years from computers, and then, in all likelihood, 50-100 years from the invention of artificial intelligence. At the same time, living brains become obsolete."
Schneider points to a nascent but rapidly growing branch of neurocomputer technology, neural implants, which only tells us that our own singularity is very close. Ultimately, we will not only modernize our own consciousness with the help of these technologies, but also completely switch to artificial "hardware", that is, to an artificial body.
"By the time we actually encounter aliens, it's possible that most humans will have advanced brains," Schneider said.
The second thesis that Schneider discusses is that most of the civilizations that have mastered radio technology are likely thousands or millions of years older than us.
“The path to this conclusion is very simple,” Shostak says. “Consider the fact that any signal that we can receive from civilization will mean that the civilization will be at least as advanced as ours. Now, relatively speaking, let's say that the average civilization will use radio for 10,000 years. From a purely probabilistic point of view, the chance of encountering a society that is much older than ours is quite high."
Of course, it is not very pleasant to realize that we can be galactic babies or creatures with insect intelligence compared to our cosmic brothers. However, despite their incredible processing power, we have what they may well lack: consciousness.
It sounds strange, but Schneider writes that there is no evidence that any artificial intelligence can be self-aware. To put it simply, we know so little about the neurological basis of consciousness that it is almost impossible to predict which of its ingredients can be artificially reproduced.
“I don’t see any compelling reason to believe that artificial superintelligence is not conscious, but it is very important to study the very possibility of this,” says Schneider. Nevertheless, the author of the work himself admits that the assertion that artificial intelligence, by definition, cannot have consciousness, is losing ground.
“I believe the brain is essentially a computing machine - we already have theories that describe aspects of consciousness, including working memory and attention,” says Schneider. "Given the computational side of the brain, I don't see any compelling argument that silicon instead of carbon can be an excellent medium for [learning] experience."
"It's creepy," says Schneider. She herself has repeatedly written about the possibility of loading the brain into a machine, encouraging people to think about the potential consequences of this cognitive improvement.
The concept of superintelligent extraterrestrial artificial intelligence is still highly controversial. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth considering. Moreover, expanding our horizons regarding extraterrestrial intelligence will help determine the imprints of life in space. “For now, we are aiming our antennas at stars, which may have planets with breathable atmospheres, oceans and so on,” Shostak says. "But what if we are right and the prevailing intelligence in space is artificial, does it need to live on a planet with an ocean?"
It's actually a little confusing that potentially habitable worlds could actually be completely uninhabited. Where then to look?
“Artificial life forms need raw materials,” Shostak says. "They can be in deep space, orbiting a star, or feeding on energy from a black hole in the center of the galaxy."
Roughly speaking, they can be anywhere. And the last question: how could such a superintelligence view us? Will he see us as space cousins or just biofuels, like in The Matrix? Does he study us from afar? Schneider doubts all of these options. Moreover, he believes that superintelligent aliens do not pay attention to us at all.
“If they were interested in us, we wouldn't be here anymore,” says Schneider. “My gut feeling is that their goals and motives are so different from ours that they won't want to mess with us at all.”
This conclusion is seriously different from Hawking's, which believes that advanced aliens can be nomads who are looking for planets with resources and who will not stand on ceremony with us, simply annihilating us along the way.
“I agree with Susan that they are not interested in us at all,” Shostak says. We are too simple, too irrelevant. “You don’t waste a lot of time talking to your goldfish. On the other hand, you don't want to kill them."
Thus, if we want to find our galactic peers, we need to keep looking. It may take thousands or millions of years. Perhaps our own intelligence will reach a level where we can talk on an equal footing.
Ilya Khel