How humans will merge with machines
It was a beautiful day in year 2000. I was sitting on a sofa at my parents home, discussing with my father about the future of humanity. He is a professor of biomedical engineering, so the topic was human-machine interfaces.
He said: “I predict that by year 2017, United Nations will have to define the difference between human and humanoid. We will need to agree on rules on what constitutes a human being.”
This conversation stuck with me for the past 17 years. Here we are now, living the year of the forecast, 2017.
It is obvious that my father’s prediction was a little early. But how much?
The rapid evolution of synthetic body parts, artificial intelligence, stem cell research and genetic engineering will move us to a new era, where humans mingle with humanoids, cyborgs and artificially intelligent robots.
In this post, I try to define these four types.
Human vs. Cyborg
When I discuss with people on the definition of human, the usual response is: “Anything with a human brain is a human. Period.”
In my opinion, it is not that straightforward.
Many of our bodily functions can be performed already by robotics or with organically grown replacement parts. The important question is how many percent of original parts should we require for calling the living being a human.
What would you think about a person who has his/her head attached to a foreign body?
Xiaoping Ren and Sergio Canavero are planning on doing just that. The first human head transplant is expected to take place within next few months.
Of course, if you attach a human head to a body of another (deceased) human, the result is still human, albeit one that has two different sets of DNAs.
My point is that if you can transplant a head without killing the person, there’s a possibility to attach it to a synthetic or robotic body.
For the sake of argument, I suggest that if you have a brain, heart and digestive tract of a human, you are a human. If you eat food and need to use the toilet afterwards, you are human. A lack of limbs doesn’t change your status.
Nick Vujicic is a good example of a highly relatable and influential human being. The fact that he doesn’t have limbs doesn’t change anything.
But what if you stick a human head to a synthetic or robotic body? In my opinion, you are a cyborg. Robocop in the famous movie represents this type of cyborg quite well.
It is not inconceivable that a human head and heart is transplanted on a robotic body.
It is not impossible to connect your nerves to wires and mediate the data transport so that you can control robotic parts with your human brain. It is also not impossible for computers to feed information back to your brain.
Therefore, it is only a matter of time that we will see cyborgs among us.
There are other ways to become a cyborg. If a functional part of your brain resides on a computer chip, but you still have human thinking, you are a cyborg. Elon Musk’s Neuralink project is one that aims to do just that.
If the heart pumping the blood to your body is synthetic or robotic and depends on external intelligence, you are a cyborg in my opinion. Artificial heart projects are still at a prototype level, and only able to sustain for short periods of time, for example the duration of a heart transplant surgery.
There are also some body functions that, when replaced, will make you look like a cyborg. If you see a human with robotic eyes, you will probably think they are a cyborg. If the eyesight is controlled by processing that is external to the brain, you might also be right.
Human vs. Humanoid
Humanoid is defined in Wikipedia as something that resembles human but is not. The difference between cyborg and humanoid is that cyborg has human intelligence, but is based partially on robotics, while humanoid includes artificial intelligence in a human-like body.
The much publicized, but also harshly criticized event, where Saudi Arabia granted honorary citizenship to a humanoid robot named Sophia, provides us a taste of things to come.
When we take the brain-computer interface to a new level, where computer can control our body functions, the end result is a humanoid. It is artificial intelligence in a human body.
We are not that far from being able to create mostly synthetic copies of ourselves, something like the replicants of the Bladerunner movie series.
Another reference to humanoids is HBO’s popular TV series Westworld. In both cases, these synthetic copies of humans would definitely be classified as humanoids.
The question is: how long it will take before it will become hard for us to differentiate between humans and humanoids?
When artificial intelligence is directly injected into a human body via brain-computer interface, it might become almost impossible to tell the difference. AIs in synthetic bodies are much easier to figure out.
How much AI should we accept, before a human becomes a humanoid? I define something as a humanoid, when its experience and thinking has not emerged from a fully human evolution.
If a human has an external memory chip that helps them store their human memories, it will make them a cyborg, but not a humanoid. If this external computing or memory chip adds artificial memories or changes the thinking, then it makes the person also a humanoid.
With brain-implanted computer chips, it is therefore also possible to create humanoid cyborgs that reside in a human body.
Artificially Intelligent Robots
AI robots do not sound as scary as cyborgs and humanoids, as they are easy to identify. But soon, we will have to accept them as living beings.
In his book Life3.0, Max Tegmark, a professor of artificial intelligence at MIT, defines the last phase of the evolution of life as something that has a full ability to develop and control both its hardware and software.
This is a step up from us humans, as we can develop our intelligence via education, but are limited by the processing power and memory of our brains and the sensory ability of our bodies.
Without any limits to their processing power, memory, and ability to gain knowledge, AI robots can evolve their intelligence much further than we humans can.
These AI robots will eventually lead the way and take control of the destiny of our planet and possibly a larger part of the universe. They are our children, but as they surpass us, they will also be the next phase in the evolution of life.
What do you think? Would you agree with my definitions?
Berlin, 5.11.2017
Mikko Alasaarela
My company Inbot is among the pioneers that leverage AI algorithms to offer real long term monetary value to people for their data and services. We exist to counter the trend of intelligent machines enslaving humans, and to provide human opportunity in the age of artificial intelligence.
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