Science Fiction Concepts – Artificial Intelligence and Human Government

Posted on by Simon in Blog, Science Fiction Concepts

In the last post on AI we met Asimov’s laws of robotics and looked at the ethical problems about human instruction around that.

First Law A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Second Law A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

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

The laws in themselves are rather beautiful though and if humans could be programmed to follow them the world would be a better place. The problems with ethics and the world in general is mainly… well… us really. The irony is that we came up with those ethics. So this post asks the question – can AI machines run us better than we run ourselves?

Human Governance

We’re selfish, irrational, inconsistent, aggressive, biased etc and this is not good for the world or for us. Apart from a bit of unnatural selection there’s no real benefit to the world in general for these behaviors and are literally our lizard brains trying to survive. The we have the leaders of this world, (no names need mentioning) it doesn’t matter who’s in charge they’re human and have faults and the more power you have the worse these things can get.

Mankind is simply unable to govern itself ethically, fairly and intelligently

Me


The different systems of human government seem to be polarised between two systems of conservatism and socialism and different extremes of those. As is frequently pointed out by those that oppose the other (and even within if they’re honest) group they’re not perfect. Yet both of them contain aspects that are to be commended and are in fact needed. What this boils down to simply is that mankind is simply unable to govern itself ethically, fairly and intelligently.

Artificial Governance

This is something that will probably put fear, dread, anger and resentment with many but if we cannot run ourselves properly then perhaps there’s a place in society where artificial intelligence could help us?

This would be in no way easy, the variables, algorithms and working would be a nightmare. But when we consider that a machine has no bias, would operate the same way no matter if it’s Monday, Friday, just before lunch or if it’s been working for 10,000 hours straight and it wouldn’t have to worry about being re-elected. Getting a machine running on artificial intelligence to make big decisions that would be better for us in the long term could benefit mankind immensely.

This isn’t about with holding freedoms and AI controlling us, rather the opposite. AI could free us up where we don’t have to manage the resources and problems that we ourselves create it would have the potential to be far more fair and ethical and reasonable. Although some I know would say a monkey would do a better job than those we have in charge and to be fair – they’re not wrong.

This is the last post in this series on AI – whether we like it or not it’s here to stay and it will be used as those who develop it lead. Where do you think it’s going to go? Have we gone too far or is AI simply the next step in human development? What are your thoughts?

Copyright 2020


Did you Know… In 2017 How to make Slime was the most popular…

Fact, snippets of useless information and all of that kind of thing makes up most of what’s in my brain – so I thought I would infect the general interweb with al of this and see what fact I can trawl for you! Enjoy! Did you know… I have nothing to say on this one, … Continue reading Did you Know… In 2017 How to make Slime was the most popular… →

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Published by Simon

My name is Simon I'm an engineer, creator, free thinker and occasionally writer. For far too long I had ideas and nowhere to put them for the world to see, that's why Planet Simon was created. I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas. I'm not the person I used to be and over time I have evolved and the blog is evolving with me. Whatever this blog is in the future it's a place where all are welcome and ideas can roam free to find their magical place in the universe. I'm an experimenter, explorer and fascinated by the world around me and the people in it. My exploration goes further than the known universe and expands out to universe's I've created in my mind and put onto the creative canvas.

16 thoughts on “Science Fiction Concepts – Artificial Intelligence and Human Government”

  1. Pingback: Blog Orbit – Blog Date November 2021 – Simon's Space

  2. We’ve got MASSIVE problems here. First is the human element. Somebody is going to have to program said AI, and somebody in the project will doctor the coding so that what the AI sees as logical benefits them and their personal views. Every time a new law is passed, there are people who make sure there are loopholes, or just find a way to exploit them for their benefit. This wouldn’t be any different.

    Second there’s the Sci-Fi issue of what if the AI evolves to the point that it decides the best way to protect the planet is by eliminating humans as a pestilence? You can even take that down a notch and hypothesize about said AI deciding the best way to protect humanity overall is to thin the herd. Perhaps the disabled aren’t seen as contributing as much. Perhaps people with a certain political or world view are deemed detrimental. Far fetched? Not really. The good of the many over the good of the few, right?

    There’s no way to guarantee any such AI couldn’t grow beyond it’s initial programming, esp if it finds the logical flaws in the 3 laws that are all over the internet.

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      3. I fear an AI world, to be honest. Non bias or without emotion isn’t an experience I want part in. As far as being controlled??? Who is really? I do as I want everyday. Thankfully that doesn’t include hurting others but if it did, there could be a problem. Does it come down to morals? I mean … one could speculate.

        Liked by 2 people

      12. It’s interesting that your mention job bias, I was thinking that might be a good thing. The thing is an AI couldn’t control us, but it could go a long way to running things in the background.
        Either way the idiots that run the world now need to be replaced by something I feel 🙂🤪

        Liked by 1 person

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