Case for AI
A perspective on relation between human and artificial intelligence
Intelligence is the most powerful thing there is. Stop for a moment and take a closer look at your life. Starting from the device that you’re reading this article on, to the house you live in, the appliance that you use to make your food, the bed that you sleep on, the automobile that you use to travel, the language you use to express your thoughts and many other things that are important in our lives are all direct products of intelligence, human intelligence. The very ability with which I was able to write this article and you are able to read and comprehend it can be attributed to our intelligence.
Intelligence is what makes progress and evolution possible. It is the intelligence’s ability to observe patterns of the nature and emulate them that has been the key to science, progress and evolution.
Earliest humans used their intelligence to observe the properties of natural elements like fire, water, air, wood and earth, and use them to make innovations like agriculture, cooking, wheel, construction and metal & mineral extraction possible.
Later, human intelligence slowly evolved to fathom nature better and to formulate principles of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, which were responsible for breakthroughs in Engineering and Medicine. These breakthroughs were directly responsible for inception of technologies like engines, electric machines, automobiles, airplanes, vaccines and antibiotics, etc. that are central to our current way of living.
Towards the end of 19th and early 20th centuries, human intelligence evolved enough to observe the properties of nature at a micro level in form of atoms, protons and electrons. This directly led to the creation of Electronics as a field. Now, it is hard to imagine a world without electronic devices like Computers, Televisions, Smartphones, Sensors, Cameras and Printers, or any device with a microchip in it for that matter.
So, it is needless to say that the ability of human intelligence in comprehending the nature and using that knowledge that has been the key to science, progress and evolution in general. In addition, the strides of progress that human intelligence was able to make in arts and humanities created some of the most cherished and adored artistic creations throughout history, which are deeply imbibed into our way of living. Be it technology that greatly enhanced our efficiency and made our living better or the art and music that in subtle ways touch us deeply and make us human, intelligence is at the epicenter.
After many centuries of evolution and progress, human intelligence has created something fascinating, it paved way for a new form of intelligence, what we now call ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or simply ‘AI’. AI can simply be perceived as the ability of computers to learn and make decisions.
AI’s ability to analyze complex data, decipher the patterns in it and learn from it makes it a very powerful tool. This ability can help us unlock more secrets of nature. As confirmed throughout history, this will be the key to our progress forward. It can help us venture into distances unexplored, be it in space, science, or art. It can help us find cures to the diseases and lower the accidents due to human error. It can raise our standards of living through creation of more high paying jobs. It can revolutionize human way of living by being a powerful tool at our disposal. It can help us live more efficient, healthier and more fulfilling lives. Who knows, one day we might all have our own personal assistant like Iron man’s Jarvis!
It may even throw some light on higher dimensions that have eluded human understanding so far, opening up vast number of possibilities. It has potential to revolutionize agriculture, administration, communication, education, entertainment, travel… the list goes on. In other words, it can exert a positive influence on every facet of our lives. When we look at all the amazing accomplishments that human intelligence was capable of achieving, we can only imagine the tremendous results that human intelligence coalesced with artificial intelligence can produce.
Sky is the limit for the exciting new possibilities. AI can open doors that we didn’t think existed before. With a technology that powerful, we can dare to dream higher and bigger. But, AI does have its own challenges. Throughout the progress of our evolution, we have always been dealing with greater and greater challenges. With great knowledge comes great power and as the saying goes, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. It is we humans who have created AI and it is we who are training and teaching it. So, in a nut shell, AI is machine intelligence fused with human intelligence. Consequently, it is up to us to make the best use of it, just as it was with any innovation that our intelligence created thus far. In that sense, it is not a new technology that can disrupt the life in this world, it is only a lack of empathy for one another that can.
In conclusion, human intelligence has driven progress and created so many amazing advancements. AI is one of those advancements which is in its nascent stages. If people from diverse set of backgrounds with a shared sense of empathy can come together to build it, AI has the potential to cause a bigger consequential revolution in improvising human life than the industrial revolution or the digital revolution did. I like to imagine it as a movie where the world is presented with a powerful new change that causes tremendous transformations with twists and turns at every juncture. The movie has already begun and we all get a free ticket to watch it for the next few decades.
Picture source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alansimpsonme/34752491090/in/album-72157681733133242/
