“2 x 2 = ?”
“What? Silly! 4.”
“4 x 25 = ?”
“Ridiculous! 100.”
“100 x 528 = ?”
“Aaarrrgghh! You wasting my time! 52800.”
“628487 x 287849 = ??”
“Mmm… okay. Wait. This will take some time. Need to put the grey matter to a li’l bit more of work. Biological constraints, you see!”
“Biological! I understand. But, why? Use the other intelligence.”
“Don’t tell me you’re referring to the calculator.”
“I’m!”
“Calculator and intelligence? Funny. Okay. Here it is. 180909354463.”
“Great! But, yeah… keep in mind… anything that mimics human intelligence in any which way is intelligence.”
“Ah… next, you’ll tell me it’s something like Artificial Intelligence.”
“Precisely. But, not quite.”
“Muddle!”
“Put AI on 100. The calculator would be, maybe, on 2.”
“2?”
“Yes… ’cause, this one’s pretty limited in its intelligence as it works on some pre-ordained algorithms and can’t extend itself beyond that. And, it can’t decide.”
“The other one can?”
“Yes. Absolutely. And, there lies the catch. The AI learns from all the information it gets – from us – and makes its own algorithmic, logical and conscious decisions. And, it learns pretty fast, ’cause, it’s not – like our brain – bound by biological constraints. And so, it is turning into much superior intelligence. It is getting larger than life. It is getting larger than us. We are getting dwarfed. Already.”
“Oh! But, we are the ones that created it… we are the ones feeding it with all the information… so, we should be able to control it. It just can’t grow beyond us, against our wishes. Who – by the way – is allowing it to grow larger than us?”
“Us!”
SAINT MAVERICK 