Thinking about Thinking,
When Machines do the Thinking
There is a good likelihood that most of the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence described in my previous post will be infused in our lives sooner than later. We will be zipped around safely in driverless cars, which will be called upon and directed through our personal electronic “assistants.” These assistants, through machine learning, will have codified of our schedule, our preferences, our friends, our finances, our health, and our behavioral tendencies. We just have to choose how much we want to participate in the life that they design for us,
I might be greeted in the morning with this message:
“D, the Celtics are playing the Lakers tomorrow — do you want to get tickets to the game, or watch with Max, or at the pub, or at home by yourself. Should I order a six pack of Good Beer or Crappy Beer. Harry has sent an email inviting you to watch the game with him, but you had a terrible time the last time you went there. Should I send Harry an email saying your sister is visiting and you’re busy?”
That is just one of the more benign possibilities. You could get messages that refer to you diet, your blood pressure, your children’s progress at school, the report that is due at work, and seven news stories that relate to that report. All this, along with the traffic, weather, your favorite morning music, and any other information that is relevant to your life.
Why not? What will this due to the way we live, who we become, and how our brain works?
First of all, the biggest problem with the coming infusion of A. I. into so many aspects of our lives will be access. Who will get the benefits? Who will be left out? How much will that widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots? This needs to be addressed sooner than later. Many people are already way behind in the digital divide, and those who are deeply engaged in the new world have completely lost touch with those who are not. But I will save that discussion for another post.
What I want to discuss briefly here is indirect effects of the coming infusion of A.I. into our lives. How will this alter the skills people will need to get their needs met and to survive and prosper? What are the benefits, and what are the hazards of this happening?
My first response is that the benefits are obvious. The new, high tech world we are creating is changing quickly. Anything that can help us stay organized, stay informed, and give us more time to accomplish more important things is very helpful. It has become almost impossible to keep track of our schedule, our spouse’s schedule, our kids school work, our own physical, medical and nutritional needs, our close friends, our Facebook friends, our Snapchat followers, and to stay abreast of the news, new music and new books, while still having time to watch the sunset. We still need to work to support ourselves, and to keep learning new skills so that we can do that job well. Anything that can prioritize some of that information and help us find our keys (keys? will we still need keys?) would be very helpful.
What’s the downside of having all of that done for us?
The most obvious danger is what happens if the machine breaks, or the power goes off, or it gets hacked? Will we still know what we are supposed to do and how to do it?
Even when things are working smoothly will we still retain enough of our own critical judgement to question if we are doing the right thing?
What happens when your brain doesn’t practice locating yourself in space and time? If your A.I. directs you where to go and when, as my last post described with self-driving cars, will you lose the ability to plan hour by hour and day by day, how to use your time.? Will you really know how far it is from Lowell to Boston, and which one is closer to the ocean, or will you just learn to follow directions?
There are studies of brain development that have shown how important it was for our long-ago ancestors to run through the woods, and to learn how to throw stones and spears. These skills helped our brains grow bigger and faster than competing species. We were able to use these bigger brains to develop language and abstract thinking. Will we still be as capable as we depend more on language and abstract thinking, but have little skill in judging distances, speed, and developing hand-eye coordination?
These are just some of the questions that rattle through my mind as I think about buying an “Echo” or a “Home.” I’m old. My mind is already beginning to rot, so anything I can get to help me is a good thing. But what about my two year-old grandson? He already knows how to use his parent’s phone to find Thomas the Tank Engine. He already expects that many inanimate objects should have the ability to talk to him if he pushed a brightly colored button. He looks for that button on everything. “Let’s play,” says the green dinosaur. Do you want your kids relating to plastic for the first four years of his life?
I wonder about how he will use the time he saves by having his life organized by A.I. Will he use that extra time to develop skills that will help him solve some of his own problems better, and then go on to find better solutions to the world’s problems? He will have this luxury of more time because he won’t have to worry about ordering groceries, getting directions or balancing his bank account? Or will he use this gift of time to play more video games?
I also wonder how much does that matters, as long as he isn’t developing malware or grabbing women who don’t want to be grabbed?
Our brains develop differently the more we practice different activities. Studies have shown that the brains of London cab drivers, who have the maps of the the city in their heads, are very different than the brains of accomplished cello players. Very few people have the time and the devotion to do both. What do we lose if we don’t have to spend the time determining where and when we need to be? Those were very basic skills for our survival as a species. What will be the basic skills necessary for future generations? How vulnerable will they be to having their thoughts and judgements heavily influenced by whoever or whatever operates the “assistant”?
Who is worried about all this?
All of these problems need to be broken down and considered. This is just a blog post and not a research paper. I will try to find some research, or some other people who have been thinking about this. There is lots of stuff to think about.
Right now, a lot of the new uses of Artificial Intelligence are being produced by clever entrepreneurs and bigger tech companies. They are motivated to improve our lives, fill a need, but also to make a lot of money. I get worried when profit is the major driving force behind change. I think the mess that is the U.S. health system is a clear example of that.
What will life be like when more of these tiny, semi-intelligent bots are in place? Remember, these are all just tools to help us all live a healthier, happier, more prosperous, peaceful and creative life.
That sounds nice, but what does that really mean? To us as a society? to each of us as individuals? Let’s think about that.
The sooner the better.
