The Singularity





Evolution by Choice
©2002 by Mitchell Howe



Across every continent and throughout every ocean, evolution has woven
living tapestries of awesome complexity and beauty. In perhaps the most
exquisite motif of all, evolution has even given rise to minds able to
recognize and appreciate this beauty. But the artistry we observe
should not be confused with determined craftsmanship, for evolution
does not create any blueprints or write any recipes before laboring. It
sounds like an incorrect answer given by a sassy teenager on a test,
but evolution by natural selection is, in reality, just a bunch of
stuff that happens.

Because it is a non-intelligent process - the unavoidable reality that
conditions will always favor some designs over others - evolution by
natural selection has to break many, many eggs in order to make an
omelet. When we marvel at the swiftness of the cheetah, we do not see
the billions of ancestral cousins that weren't quite fast enough. When
we delight in the vibrant plumage of many birds, we do not see the
loveless flocks of bachelors that weren't quite attractive enough.

Modern humans share a lineage no less brutal than those of our fellow
animals. Even the unique cognitive ability reflected in the name homo
sapiens sapiens - the thinking thinking man - is the result of a
merciless game in which the perpetuation of genetic information is the
only condition for victory. From our most logical calculations to our
most passionate urges, our minds are orchestras assembled and tuned
solely to perform magnificent renditions of the simplest melody: the
call of the wild.

But by developing such an exquisite and versatile tool as the human
brain, evolution has unwittingly (for that is the only way it can ever
act) given us a means of escaping the cruel laboratory of natural
selection. For despite the peculiar tuning prescribed by nature,
general intelligence - the kind historically unique to humans - can
play more than one song.

This is not to say that becoming masters of our own evolution is as
simple as recognizing our origins and deciding not to be played. Until
very recently, the only tool we've had to influence our genetic
evolution was selective breeding, and since people tend to dislike
being killed or forbidden to reproduce for the sake of the gene pool,
we rightly look upon the science of eugenics with great suspicion.
Also, people frequently diverge in their choice of preferred genetic
traits. At best, they tend to favor qualities that nature already
selects. At worst, they hold prejudices that lead to ethnic cleansing
and genocide.

Today, we know genes can be altered in a more targeted fashion,
assuming we can decide which configurations are best to give our
children. But this level of genetic engineering will require many
decades-long studies and scientific breakthroughs before coming of age,
and raises disturbing questions about the ethical desirability of a
"designer baby" society.

Perhaps we find genetic engineering and eugenics unsatisfactory in part
because they fail to do any better than natural selection at providing
personal freedom; while parents using these techniques may appreciate
greater reproductive control, their children would still inherit a
particular genome without having any say in the matter. Breaking out of
this constrictive paradigm requires technology that can allow
individuals to decide for themselves what kinds of minds and bodies
they will possess, thus making evolution a personal decision.

Given genetic engineering's lengthy development cycle, it seems natural
to view the more advanced technology needed for personal evolution as a
distant fantasy. After all, this would require either superior
alternatives to human bodies or the ability to reconfigure living
bodies at the sub-cellular level - themes of only the most speculative
science fiction. Nanotechnology - the nascent field of engineering
materials and devices at molecular scales - can conceivably meet these
specifications. But despite the accelerating progress that is starting
to make nanotechnology a household word, humans are poorly suited for
engineering the level of complexity and control needed for these
advanced applications; we are evolved for activities of a completely
different magnitude. (For instance, manufacturing trillions of
multipurpose medical nanobots might be "easy" compared to making them
all operate intelligently.)

Even so, the formidable barriers of advanced technology may fall easily
if, instead of confronting them directly, we first build on our unique
evolutionary legacy of general intelligence. The ad-hoc intellectual
orchestra improvised by natural selection could almost certainly be
outperformed by one assembled intelligently from the beginning. The
creation of artificial general intelligence (AGI) represents a unique
and formidable challenge, but holds tremendous promise as a way of
playing to our greatest strength and augmenting it. In fact, the moment
we achieve greater intelligence has such "singular" significance that
futurists refer to it as the Singularity.

An adequately designed AGI could provide enormous assistance in the
design of still more intelligent minds - a process that can be repeated
in a self-reinforcing cycle. An AGI could also stand squarely outside
the survival-promoting distortions that evolution has built into our
thought processes, but at the same time possess a sympathetic respect
for human ethics - a trait called Friendliness by some researchers.
These new kinds of minds - free, capable, and compassionate to an
unparalleled degree - would be invaluable partners in safely mastering
technologies that can make personal evolution a reality.

Admittedly, opening a mind-and-body shop will probably not be the most
urgent service performed by any Friendly AI. Indeed, it is the
suffering of millions from potentially curable diseases and social
conditions that should be making Friendly AI a world-wide research
priority. (Many experts believe that AGI can be created in one or two
decades with just a fraction of the funding devoted to causes like
cancer research.) But initiating the transhuman destiny of homo sapiens
sapiens is perhaps the most significant long-term achievement we can
imagine; after that, who can say what dreams and challenges await?

We presently live in a beautiful-but-indifferent world where death and
hardship are the norm. Adversity is, after all, the driving force
behind natural selection. But as if that weren't enough, evolution has
tragically engineered us not to experience lasting happiness, but to
restlessly tend insatiable appetites in the service of our genes. With
help from Friendly new minds, however, the enduring frustrations of the
human condition can be severed as the cold strings of a mindless
puppeteer. The creation of greater intelligence is the first step
towards evolution by choice: the freedom to create our own better
selves.



(Back to articles.)



.

Quantcast