The scenario Sam describes in his talk is disconcerting, even terrifying, but likely to occur: AI – artificial intelligence – could ultimately destroy us or inspire us to destroy ourselves. „One of the things that worry me most about the development of AI at this point is that we seem unable to marshal an appropriate emotional response to the dangers that lie ahead.“ Sam’s concern is that one day machines built by us might treat us with the same disregard as ants are treated by us. „It seems overwhelmingly likely, however, that the spectrum of intelligence extends much further than we currently conceive, and if we build machines that are more intelligent than we are, they will very likely explore this spectrum in ways that we can’t imagine, and exceed us in ways that we can’t imagine.“
Sam Harris holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. One of his numerous bestsellers The End of Faith, won the PEN Award for Nonfiction in 2005. Neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, spirituality, violence, human reasoning: the range of topics he writes and lectures about are manifold. Sam’s work has been published in more than 20 languages.
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