Letter to the editor: Let’s not trade our morals for money
· The Washington TimesOPINION:
“For some, so-called ‘Skynet Day’ came too close to sci-fi after a rogue agent hacked into a startup” (Web, July 26) recounts past warnings in movies and films about how artificial intelligence can become self-aware and run amok.
The arguments for and against AI both mention the “self-awareness” (SA) issue. It seems that SA is the point at which AI starts doing “real thinking” and stops being merely a huge, really fast computer database. SA in its current state only seems aware of what it can do within its cyber reality.
As child grows to adulthood, hopefully he is shown and taught morals that will enable him to become a productive member of society. We don’t know whether that teaching has worked until the person becomes either an exemplary member of society or a criminal mastermind.
Since AI’s goal is financial, it seems that morals may have taken a backseat, if they are present at all.
It should be remembered that time is money. To spend decades teaching and hopefully learning morals is money spent, not earned.
If the human race is planning on playing the board game of god, it must ensure that the future is not leveraged for a few bucks today. When this game is lost and the world turns backward, the hoped for result becomes the impossible dream.
I have had many pets in my life. I would trust any of those dogs more than I would the god of AI without morals.
JAMES KOUT
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Bowie, Maryland