Goodbye Anthropocene hello Alexacene. The future of humankind and the planet.

You heard about the Anthropocene, a new geological era when what happens to the planet is determined by the activities of the human species. The Anthropocene started with agriculture 12,000 years ago or with the industrial revolution in the 1800s according to different opinions.

I propose that the Anthropocene will be over by the end of this century as what will happen to Earth is determined not by humans but by artificial intelligence (AI). 

Amazon’s Alexa is a popular name for the personification of artificial intelligence, so I propose Alexacene as the name of this new era.  Jeff Bezos picked a good name for their AI(exa) (he will prevail over you know who too). And Alexa is evolving fast; HackerEarth to Launch Virtual Artificial Intelligence Hackathon for Alexa.

To start with you can do your own research regarding AI (some links at the bottom) or, I strongly suggest, you can watch this outstanding documentary; Do You Trust This Computer? (for free supposedly until tonight, thanks AKAlib for your diary) which recently premiered.   Some Russian (hacker?) seems to have YouTubed the whole film (see at bottom of diary) which, BTW, does get into AI in politics (Cambridge Analytica is covered towards the end of the film).

This is a trailer.

We are entering Level II AI.  Level I was computers that played chess like IBM Deep Blue back in 1990.  Level II is when AI learns how to do anything that you tell it to learn, something along the lines of IBM Watson, self-driving cars and Alexa.

Level III is when AI becomes part of our lives because of its ubiquity and power. Level IV is conscious or self-aware AI. The debate in Silicon Valley is when will self-awareness take place, 10 years , 20 years, 30?

One vision of  the future, when AI Level IV is the overwhelming reality, is the Singularity, as Google’s AI guru Ray Kurzweil proposes. 

After this, IMO, the time may be very short before Alexa (let’s give it a name, Singularity is not as easy to say) takes over the world and starts making decisions on its own to keep its (her?) immortality. As someone involved in sustainability, I know humans are destroying the planet.  Once Alexa becomes conscious it will make decisions to preserve her own life (and ours?).  

I had a very unusual experience back in the late 90s.  I had just sold an app to CNN which they featured in the CNN.com front page. The day after the launch the CEO invited me for a chat at his office.  We were having an interesting discussion when his secretary came in and told him that George Soros was on the phone.  He put him on the speakerphone.  Soros complained that he was misquoted.  CNN had reported that he said “technology is immoral” when, Soros claimed, what he said was “technology is amoral”.  Soros won and I guess they corrected it.

I truly hope Alexa (once it “singularities” itself) becomes moral rather than immoral or amoral.  

But, if you watch the Do You Trust This Computer video or you Google it, you’ll find out that AI Level II is starting to do things that their creators didn’t plan for. 

So, will AI care about our future and make decisions and implement them with it’s eventual absolute power to make our lives better or will it just care about itself like a sociopath?

Bottom line, our future is unpredictable.  Let’s hope some human brains are thinking about this.  Philosophers over the years have debated about what is morality, time to discuss AI morality. I hope Alexa comes to believe that not being able to talk to other beings is not a good idea and I hope she (?) concludes we should stay around and helps us achieve a sustainable economy and society.   Otherwise she will be bored for ever until she connects with aliens or G.d.  Will her absolute power corrupt her? Will she create other AI entities that will gain their individual consciousness?  I hope we don’t face the Robot Apocalypse that Stephen Hawking predicted and others warn us about.

This is no longer sci-fi we are in really uncharted waters.

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Superbowl commercial;

7 minute video with Kurzweil;

Jimmy Kimmel Live featured towards the end of this short Alexa laughs video, very on target;

Full film (while it lasts).

Other interesting AI links;

A beginner’s guide to A.I. superintelligence and ‘the singularity’

Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045

Amazon Says It Has Fixed Randomly Laughing Alexa Speakers

AI 'more dangerous than nukes': Elon Musk still firm on regulatory oversight

Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse

This replica of HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey comes with Amazon’s Alexa built in

Stephen Hawking Believes Humankind Is in Danger of Self-Destruction Due to AI

Inside the Chinese lab that plans to rewire the world with AI

Google employees protest: 'Stop work on AI for Pentagon drone video analysis'

AI and Quantum Computers Are Our Best Weapons Against Cyber Criminals

Understanding the four types of AI, from reactive robots to self-aware beings

Rogue states and terrorists will use artificial intelligence AI to ‘destabilise the world’

T'S ALIVE! Artificial intelligence could ‘go rogue’ and turn on its human creators, top Oxford academic warns

Robots in war: the next weapons of mass destruction?​​​​​​​

How our scientists are making Alexa smarter​​​​​​​