ISSN 0798 1015 HOME Revista ESPACIOS ÍNDICES / Index A LOS AUTORES / To the ! ! AUTORS ! Vol. 40 (Number 4) Year 2019. Page 3 ¿Will machines ever rule the world? ¿Las máquinas dominarán el mundo? PEDROZA, Mauricio 1; VILLAMIZAR, Gustavo 2; MENDEZ, James 3 Received: 11/08/2018 • Approved: 16/12/2018 • Published 04/02/2019 Contents 1. Introduction 2. (Narrow) Artificial Intelligence vs (General) Artificial Intelligence 3. Machines designed as tools of man 4. Machines thought as similar to man 5. Conclusions Acknowledgments Bibliographic references ABSTRACT: RESUMEN: From ancient automatons, to the latest technologies Desde los antiguos autómatas hasta las últimas of robotics and supercomputing, the continued tecnologías de la robótica, el continuo progreso de la progress of mankind has led man to even question his humanidad ha llevado al hombre a cuestionar incluso future status as a dominant species. “Will machines su estatus futuro como especie dominante. "¿Alguna ever rule the world?” or more precisely: Do we want vez dominarán las máquinas el mundo?" O más machines to rule the world? Theoretical and precisamente: ¿Queremos que las máquinas dominen technological challenges involved in this choice will be el mundo? Los retos teóricos y tecnológicos que se considered both under the conservative approach of plantean en esta elección serán considerados tanto "machines designed as tools of man" and in the bajo el enfoque conservador de "máquinas que sirven scenario of "machines thought as similar to man". al hombre" como en el escenario de "máquinas Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Machines, equiparables al hombre" Narrow Artificial Intelligence Strong Artificial Palabras clave: Inteligencia Artificial, Máquinas Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence. cognitivas, Inteligencia Artificial Débil, Inteligencia Artificial Fuerte, Inteligencia Artificial General. 1. Introduction If popular culture has taught us anything, according to Dean (2006) it is that the power of machines will increase to the point of being perceived as a threat to humanity. Bill Gates (2007) recently observed that: “the emergence of the robotics industry … is developing in much the same way that the computer business did 30 years ago” (p. 58), and according to Lin et al (2011): If the evolution of the robotics industry is analogous to that of computers, we can expect important social and ethical challenges to rise from robotics as well. Robots are often tasked to perform the ‘three Ds’, that is, jobs that are dull, dirty, or dangerous … We can also expect robots to scale down as well as up: Some robots are miniature today and ever shrinking, perhaps bringing to life the idea of a “nano-bot”, swarms of which might work inside our bodies or in the atmosphere or cleaning up oil spills. Even rooms or entire buildings might be considered as robots—beyond the ‘smart homes’ of today— … With synthetic biology, cognitive science, and nanoelectronics, future robots could be biologically based … Again, much of this speaks to the fuzziness of the definition of robot: What we intuitively consider as robots today may change given different form-factors and materials of tomorrow (p. 944). It is therefore natural that this set of facts and perspectives will lead to questions about the role of machines in the future of human being. This paper in particular seeks to present the differences in the conception and development of "truly" intelligent machines compared to the current state-of-the-art automatons, by approaching a controversial question: “Will machines ever rule the world?”. It is sought to show that the main lines of development in artificial intelligence (AI) are not currently focused on obtaining an adaptive, cognitive and autonomous system (being these just some of the main characteristics of an entity considered as "truly" intelligent), a system that does not require a restricted domain of operation to be successful, a system with an intelligence that we could call "general”. In words of experienced AI researchers such as Peter Voss (2002): “… yet very little work is being done to specifically identify what general intelligence is, what it requires, and how to achieve it” (§ 3). Voss invite us to review our research approach, either to continue the development under the perspective of a sophisticated task automation (Narrow AI) or the construction of a human-like cognitive system (Artificial General Intelligence). Finally, it will be argued that if we do not want machines to rule the world maybe Narrow AI is the way, also, a state-of-the-art of current technologies in robotics and automation will be presented under this conservative approach of "machines designed as tools of man". On the other hand, If we want machines to rule the world and see fulfilled many of the numerous science fiction fantasies that accompany the fact that they were able to do it, this article quotes diverse theoretical conceptions and technological developments that would be necessary in the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) to pass from the generic computing device, or what Philip D. Carter (2012) called: “the new breed of thing that is language and logic mechanized” (p. 2), to a scenario of machines thought as similar to man, considering it as a parallel line of evolution of intelligent entities in the universe, or going a little further as the sociologist Lewis Mumford (1970): “it is our essential nature to transcend the limits of our biological nature <and to be ready if necessary to die in order to make such transcendence posible> ”(p. 434). 2. (Narrow) Artificial Intelligence vs (General) Artificial Intelligence In the words of AI researcher Peter Voss (2002): “Intelligence can be defined simply as an entity’s ability to achieve goals – with greater intelligence coping with more complex and novel situations. Complexity ranges from the trivial – thermostats and mollusks (that in most contexts don’t even justify the label ‘intelligence’) – to the fantastically complex; autonomous flight control systems and humans” (§ 2). This particular view reveals that what is considered “intelligent” must by definition deal with certain levels of minimal complexity to avoid being classified as a simple automatism. In this same line of thought, according to philosopher Fred Dretske (1993) the approach to the concept of intelligence can be realized from two perspectives: One can think of it as something like money, something almost everyone has, but some have more of than others. Or one can be thinking of it as more like wealth - something possessed by only those who have (at least) more than the average amount of money … For if intelligence is like money, questions about the possibility of artificial intelligence are questions about the possibility of machines with some mental capacity - the amount being irrelevant. If, on the other hand, intelligence is understood in a comparative way, as mental wealth, the possibility of artificial intelligence then becomes the possibility of building machines that can win games, not just machines that can play games (p. 201). Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) aims to develop a human-level or greater intelligence inside an artificial structure and it is also known as Strong AI. However, the vast majority of developments in artificial intelligence to date are considered as advances in the field of Narrow AI (also known as weak artificial intelligence), understood as the capacity to gather information, processing and response in a limited or narrow domain of knowledge, which results in the execution of predetermined tasks within a very specific field of operation. On the other hand, adaptability, autonomy and response to new and problematic situations is a trait that many only attribute to those we consider "intelligent beings", and it is this particular characteristic what artificial general intelligence aims to develop, and its main difference vis-à-vis the specialized task execution approach (Narrow AI). Returning to the original question: “Will machines ever rule the world?” the academic Seth D. Baum (2014) explains: Narrow AI is intelligent in specific domains but cannot reason outside the domain it was designed for. Narrow AI can be quite useful, and can also pose some risks. But it is not expected to take over the world, because controlling the world requires capabilities across many domains. General AI (AGI) is intelligent across a wide range of domains. Humans are also intelligent across many domains, but this does not mean that AGI would necessarily think like humans do. An AGI may not need to think like humans in order to be capable across many domains (p. 5). 3. Machines designed as tools of man The human being as a member of the animal kingdom has within its biological characteristics the impulse to preserve its functional identity over time, since the cessation of these vital operations is what leads to the concept of death. Throughout history the needs of man have been widening, going from the ancestral requirements of food, shelter and company to a new set of parameters inherent to subsistence and coexistence within modern societies. Herein we have cataloged this range of needs within three general groups, arguing this way the conception and design of machines as tools to serve these needs. 3.1. We seek welfare & confort 3.1.1. Food. It is well known that the ancestral need for food led historically to the emergence of agriculture, understood as the ability to provide us with food through our knowledge in the manipulation of natural elements. “The role of world agriculture will become increasingly crucial in forthcoming decades, as concerns over food, the environment, and energy increase, in the context of a world population that is predicted to reach 10 billion by the middle of the 21st century” (Murase, 2000, p. 1). With regard to the role of artificial intelligence H. Murase (2000) says: In agricultural systems the inherent complex, dynamic and non-linear nature of its behavior has required advanced technologies, to provide better understanding, and appropriate solutions.