The Internet Could out-Evolve Humanity

[mindwalker_i]

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-science-fiction-internet-out-evolve-humanity.html

The main idea of the article is that the Internet is the latest of information-storage systems, and that advances in information storage have lead to "enslavement" of previous systems. This is not limited to human systems. DNA enslaves RNA and made it the messenger between DNA in cells. We - human - could become predictable cogs within the machine that is the Internet and its information.

In a sense, this has been happening since we invented writing and probably before. Information is what we produce and what governs how the world works. The 'net is just the latest advancement, although it's a big one. The article links to another article from 2013 predicting that by 2020, there will be chip implants into our brains that connect us at a much deeper level to the 'net and global information. Computers, smartphones more recently, and VR/AR are making it more difficult to not be connected and still be part of the world. AR, especially, will merge the physical and virtual worlds, and deep learning (neural networks) will have a huge effect on what information we are presented with, which in turn will affect our behavior deeply.

It seems to me that this has a huge potential to make the whole world into more of a single entity. Neural networks will break language barriers as well as cultural barriers, ideas and information will flow throughout the networks lightening-fast, possibly guiding our opinions and actions like never before. The possibilities for control are large as well, but I don't think that will be done by any government.

[Wilms]

1. The Borg

[mindwalker_i]

3. That's what I was thinking

It's happening a lot faster than I thought it would. It doesn't seem to require cybernetics, although that will just accelerate the process.

[airplaneman]

6. Resistance is futile - You WILL be assimilated. n/t.

[Kip Humphrey]

2. Not in my comcastic world.

[valerief]

4. Bwahahaha! Comcast and a bucket of gasoline. That's where we're still living.

[hedda_foil]

5. I just watched a Ted Talk by David Christian that made me think along the same lines.

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history#t-1045083

Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

It's well worth a look.

[NeoGreen]

7. Kurzweil's technological singularity ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

technological singularity

The technological singularity is a hypothetical event in which artificial general intelligence (constituting, for example, intelligent computers, computer networks, or robots) would be capable of recursive self-improvement (progressively redesigning itself), or of autonomously building ever smarter and more powerful machines than itself, up to the point of a runaway effect—an intelligence explosion[1][2]—that yields an intelligence surpassing all current human control or understanding. Because the capabilities of such a superintelligence may be impossible for a human to comprehend, the technological singularity is the point beyond which events may become unpredictable or even unfathomable to human intelligence.[3]

The first use of the term "singularity" in this context was made by Stanislaw Ulam in his 1958 obituary for John von Neumann, in which he mentioned a conversation with von Neumann about the "ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue".[4] The term was popularized by mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author Vernor Vinge, who argues that artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement, or brain–computer interfaces could be possible causes of the singularity.[5] Futurist Ray Kurzweil cited von Neumann's use of the term in a foreword to von Neumann's classic The Computer and the Brain.

Kurzweil predicts the singularity to occur around 2045[6] whereas Vinge predicts some time before 2030.[7] In 2012, Stuart Armstrong and Kaj Sotala published a study of artificial general intelligence (AGI) predictions by both experts and non-experts and found a wide range of predicted dates, with a median value of 2040.[8] Discussing the level of uncertainty in AGI estimates, Armstrong stated at the 2012 Singularity Summit: "It's not fully formalized, but my current 80% estimate is something like five to 100 years."[9]

[mindwalker_i]

8. The singularity is a closely related issue

In a sense, the human race will become a single entity - the Internet will be us. Our information space is the 'net and it is evolving quickly, and we are becoming, essentially, agents of the 'net. We put information into it, we organize it, and that information drives our lives to a large extent. VR, AR, and brain-implantable chips will make that so much more so.

Even with just VR/AR, it seems like our ability to access information will go way up, and our ability to access knowledge, make models, and interact with those models will drive development significanty faster. That will lead to the singularity. We will grow and change with the Internet and be able to access information so easily that I don't think we'll be left behind - we'll be a part of it. It seems more likely that we will merge with AI rather than let it go off on its own.