May 4, 2003
Digital Soul: Intelligent Machines
and Human Values by Thomas M. Georges. Westview, 285 pp.
$26.
Though buttressed with the ideas of such thinkers as B.F.
Skinner, mathematician Alan Turing, Carl Sagan and others,
liberally peppered with fun references to iconic "sci-fi" pop
culture and supported throughout by his own solid grasp on the
field of artificial intelligence, Georges pans in speculative
waters where the gold is in the questions as much as their
potential answers.
Georges supposes that in the relatively near future,
humankind will be able to create machines that so closely
replicate human consciousness — and so outperform our own
feeble human brains in certain respects — that we will have a
whole new set of moral dilemmas to ponder. In keeping with his
always lively questioning approach, his preface presents a
laundry list of queries. Among them:
"How would humans react on discovering that the club of
sentient beings is not as exclusive as they thought?"; "How
would it affect our notions of freedom and dignity?"; "How
would it affect our beliefs in God?"; "Can computers be
conscious?"; "Can they have emotions?"; "If so, what are their
rights and responsibilities?" And, could you be charged with
murder for disconnecting a "conscious" machine?
Some of his answers are surprising, and not a few will
disturb some readers, I suspect.
There are so many ideas here — mostly not original, but
nicely and entertainingly woven together by this former
scientist at Boulder's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration — that it's really impossible in a short space
to properly convey the territory across which he ranges. He
first explores what he means by artificial intelligence, then
moves into discussions of whether human concepts of emotion
and morality might not find their equivalent in a sufficiently
sophisticated thinking machine.
Unabashedly an evolutionist and humanist (his answer to the
question on God will surely alienate the traditionally
faithful), he's not afraid to criticize our race and
civilization. It's actually rather refreshing. You don't see
this kind of thing too often in a book intended for popular
audiences.
"A lot of baggage that evolution has left behind in our
minds and bodies might be considered residue from the long
process of our ancestral development," he writes. "If we truly
wanted to realistically replicate human behavior, then we
would have to incorporate all the primitive fears, desires,
and emotions that our ancestors needed to survive in their
primordial world. But why bother? Do we really want artificial
humans that exhibit all the fallibility, greed, and barbarity
of the real thing?"
Robots: a cleaner, better breed than humanity? Georges even
boldly parses out our human flaws, questioning, for instance,
our "inflated concepts of freedom and human dignity" and
"ideas of personal responsibility, crime and punishment." Holy
Heinlein! A futurist he may be, but a libertarian, he's not.
But don't worry. He's not some mad scientist bent on
replacing familiar Homo sapiens sapiens with machinery.
He even addresses the time-worn "sci-fi" horror story that
intelligent machines, capable of replicating themselves, might
take over the world and enslave or eradicate their creators.
Ultimately, he's just arguing that we need to thoroughly
think through the many possible ramifications of developing
truly intelligent machines before we plunge in. He sees hope
for a kind of human-machine symbiosis, but let's look before
we leap.
It's when Georges strays from "intelligent machines" and
into "human values" that he's likely to shock some people. He
argues not only against blind belief in religion (he quotes
biologist Richard Dawkins: "I am against religion because it
teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the
world."), but also scientists' claims that their pursuits
should be unlimited and that the consequences/uses of their
discoveries are not their problem. He sounds a clarion call
for reason over faith, yet expresses faith that we might
develop machines to the extent that all that's left for humans
to do is love and learn — heaven! Even voting might be turned
over to programmable machines who offer daily input to the
government based on our constantly updated profiles.
If all this sounds a little spooky, Georges' breezy style
and optimism defuses any such fears. As he reminds us, "Even
today, we are beginning to endow our governments and
corporations with godlike power and authority." In his
imagined future, we might actually take back some of
our power, and now is the time to start thinking about how to
make our future technological partnership mutually beneficial
and democratic.
"Digital Soul" is an enjoyable read, accessible,
thought-provoking, and jammed with information and
recognizable pop-culture reference points, all guided by
Georges' own clear-eyed rationalism. It's hard to imagine many
readers walking in lockstep with his conclusions, but if it's
futuristic food for thought you're after, this book is quite a
smorgasbord.
If Boulder physicist cum author Thomas M.
Georges used an old IBM Selectric to type his manuscripts —
and given his deep knowledge of computers it's a certainty
that he does not — I wonder if he would have worn out the "?"
key in writing his intriguing, and sure to be controversial,
new book, "Digital Soul." 