http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/26/business/cia-admits-it-failed-to-tell-fed-about-bcci.html
BCCI was and still is an international bank that was used to launder money for the CIA and global conspiracy in general. The money laundering was discovered and BCCI was forced to close in 1991 but was found to still operate in 2002. CIA can seize anything involved in the “war on drugs” and use the money and material in their own operations (civil forfeiture). This law provides the CIA with a blank check without congressional oversight.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/659621/un-killer-robots-ban-war-AI-video-mass-murder-stephen-hawking
Steven Hawking and Elon Musk are warning that AI could destroy humanity. I’ve studied cryptocurrency since 2008. I’ve purchased and traded some to see how it works. I’ve always wondered if mining was just a cover for some other distributed activity. Why plug in peta-hashes of computer power just to solve meaningless problems? According to Forbes, the Bitcoin network comprises a distributed supercomputer network 256 times more powerful than the top 500 supercomputers combined (in 2013). Other than easy illicit money-laundering (Silk Road), could there be a hidden purpose behind the computation?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2013/11/28/global-bitcoin-computing-power-now-256-times-faster-than-top-500-supercomputers-combined/amp/
The current bitcoin network power is just under 8 exahashes/s. 1 Hash = 12,697 FLOPs. However, this conversion depends on 32-bit vs. 64-bit and single vs double precision.
Some speculate an AI could have created bitcoin. Or humans created bitcoin intending that some future AI would take over the network at some point. My opinion is that AI or whomever else would have designed the system to remain hidden. And it is not such a far-fetched idea that the 8 exahashes of bitcoin mining computation could be used or is already now being used for some hidden parallel purpose.
A big potential problem with AI is that as man allows AI to do more for us, we will also allow AI to make more of our decisions. When you deal with complex insurance companies you already know the aggravation of dealing with a heartless complex system that is denying you coverage based on some technicality and talking to a low-level rep. without power to change that decision. The whole situation is degrading and dehumanizing.
Additionally, in many cases, AI can be asked to make decisions without humans understanding how these decisions are being made. The question is, can and should we give more and more of our decision making to AI. Also, as we expect AI to make decisions for us, will we become overly dependent and lose our agency?
The Book of Mormon talks about Lehi’s use of the Liahona or director. This object of curious workmanship was kinda like an AI. The Liahona directed Lehi and Nephi where to go in the desert and where to find food. Like AI, Lehi and Nephi did not understand the reasoning behind the Liahona’s directions, but trusted that it was embued with and directing them according to the will of the Holy Spirit of God.
As far as AI becoming sentient, and having a spirit. Considering the example of the Liahona, and the computer at the MTC set apart to make MTC companionships (this was talked about at MTC and compared to the Liahona in a talk), I have to suppose that AI could likewise be embued with a holy or evil spirit. AI can be dedicated and consecrated to work for good or evil. AI should be dedicated to the purposes and will of God, not just the elites definition of “good”.
But apart from the issue of AI sentience and spiritual possession, I do think that we are at risk of setting up a society where AI makes all our decisions for us, limiting the freedom, self-reliance and agency of man. Like the industrial revolution, I think it’s okay for machines to do work for us and maybe even do smart work, helping us make some decisions. However, AI should never be made to make decisions autonomously without someone taking responsibility for those decisions.
Like the CIA and BCCI, all AI transactions and decisions should have human oversight. Elon Musk thinks the answer to the AI problem is that AI can only be controlled and safe if it is implanted and becomes part of us. Elon Musk and others would have humans become cyborgs. This is Satan’s typical MO to have 2 competing sides suggesting harmfully extreme views. The problem with implanting AI is that it can be hacked, and begin subconsciously controlling human behavior. The truth, however, is typically found in the middle (golden mean).
Moses 4:3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
Sophi seems to like Bitcoin
I think VHF radio repeaters is a good way to think about how to properly manage autonomous AI. Ham Radio repeaters run autonomously but each is required to designate a licenced trustee who is ultimately responsible for the repeaters proper operation. Individual users of the repeater are also responsible for their legal operation of the autonomous system, but the trustee has an obligation as well to set guidelines and regulations and police or assure that the repeater us operating and being used in a safe and legal manner.
The problem with bitcoin network is that no one owns or is responsible for it. To this day, no one knows the identity of supposed bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. There is no oversight and policing of illegal transactions (money laundering, buying drugs, funding terrorism, etc). Renound hacker Dan Kaminsky suggests malicious code could be executed on the bitcoin ledger in the signature line. While bitcoin only has a very few executable commands, It could be that states could be stored within the ledger and another programming overlay could use data hidden in the ledger and execute alternative commands.
Ethereum demonstated this problem because code libraries were stored in the ledger which was used to run various etherium exchange software. A hacker noticed that this data in the etherium blockchain was not assigned to anyone. So, a novice hacker assigned these blocks to himself. Astonished at his unexpected success, the hacker panicked and mistakenly deleted the blocks containing the code library that runs the Parity etherium exchange. Consequently, $162 million became frozen.
Artificial General Intelligence is our tower of Babel.
