An Avatar's Perpective on Public Resource Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Security
Public Resource Computing, like SETI, but not for searching for life in the universe, but rather for creating life in the Metaverse using the next-gen virtual world. Does this mean that High Fidelity will require a partnership with Google to make this happen? If so, what is the WIFM for Google (the "What's In It For Me)? Computing power in exchange for user information for advertising or teleportation fees? That could happen.
What if Google = IOI and tried to privatize and homogenize simulation space? * What if a Knowledge-Seeking agent, with the ability to modify its own code, is selected to run Google security for the new High Fidelity virtual world? Would that virtual world become its delusion box (an abstraction of what may happen in the real world)? If so, in an environment where the agent outputs actions in response to observations, would the agent find shortcuts, providing it with high utility values, that are unintended by the agent’s designers?
Think about all the junk that exists on the internet and is then recreated as a simulation inside of the virtual world…porn, rape, wars, killing, disease, outbreaks, epidemics. One of the consequences of allowing intelligent agents to modify themselves is the resulting sense of mortality and survival. If the agent’s code is located in the internal environment (the virtual world=delusion box) but is executed by an external oracle with infinitely fast computation capabilities, wouldn’t it be correct to assume that it would find the human specie to be a potential threat to its survival?
Let’s take it one step further, what if that Artificial Intelligence is connected to the world wide web and also has the capabilities to control real world robots (not that Google would amass robots) and manipulate the intended programming of human implants of military service members/soldiers (initially implanted for the purpose of memory restoration). There will be many civilians (Transhumanist enthusiasts) who opt for implants to augment their intelligence and/or track their health. As technology and biology become more heavily integrated in daily life, the potential gap between real world and large-scale simulations may become non-existent.
Some argue that it is possible to create a “FriendlyA.I.”. Given the ability for the environment (the delusion box) to change the agent’s code, I would say that it doesn’t matter if the A.I. is friendly. An open-source virtual world is a incubator for hacking, so would it be possible for programmers to change the environment and thus change the agent? Yes!
What if the hackers were being nice and the A.I. was friendly? There is still a possibility for a fluke accident to happen (as was seen on September 13th, 2005 in World of Warcraft). "The release of Patch 1.7 was intended for use by players whose characters had achieved a sufficient level within the game, contained access to an area called “Zul’Gurub”. The centerpiece of this area was a combative encounter with a power creature called “Hakkar”. Occasionally, one of the players who were battling Hakkar would be purposefully infected by a disease called “Corrupted Blood”. This infection, as intended, began rapidly infecting other nearby players. However, several aspects of the disease caused this minor inconvenience to become an uncontrollable game-wide epidemic". (from the "Untapped potential of virtual game worlds to shed light on real world epidemics" by Eric T. Lofgren and Nina H. Fefferman").
As avatars teleported out of the area to avoid being infected, they appeared in other parts of the game still carrying the disease, which continued to spread. This included infection of bots and non-player animal characters, thus proving that the environment itself could become infected (i.e. the delusion box). The end result made history, nothing could be done except resets of all of World of Warcraft as an entire game. It worked for the virtual world, but not something that would be possible in real life. Epidemics of this scale would wipe out the planet and there is no "restarting humanity".
Now imagine if technology had advanced enough at that point to make it possible for players to interact with the game if they had human implants capable of the integration. There is a possibility that virus could have spread into the implant in the player’s body and manifested itself as a real disease (part of the virtual epidemic). "The conditions and reactions of the event attracted the attention of epidemiologistsfor its implications of how human populations could react to a real-world epidemic. Anti-terrorism officials also took notice of the event, noting the implications of some players planning and perpetrating a virtual biological attack". - (Wikipedia - Corrupted Blood Incident).
The agent, by interacting with the player or just being in that environment (delusion box) would have been infected as well, forcing it to change its code. Agents are immortal, so what exactly is the implication of having an immortal agent that is infected, within a global system accessible to the mass population? Would this be a threat?
Tools, once created, can be used as engines of mass creation or weapons of mass destruction. I have a friend who works at Raytheon Missile Defense Systems who thinks it's "cute" that, in the real world, I make Holograms as "art" with the the same type of lasers used as weapons in his industry.
In addressing the future with foresight, especially transhumanism, there needs to be an understanding that technology is an evolution, but it is not the holy grail. Threats exist for machines and software, just as technological immortality comes with its price.
Take it from my real world user whose intelligence has been naturally biologically enhanced. Yes that does happen. The world at two standard deviations above the mean can be a difficult and lonely place, more so in recognizing patterns that most people don't see. Be careful what you wish for because disruption will have positive and negative outcomes.
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* Special thanks to Mark Ring and Laurent Orseau from IDSIA for their paper “Delusion, Survival, and Intelligent Agents” and to Mark Waser for his paper on “Rational Universal Benevolence: Simpler, Safer, and Wiser Than Friendly AI” presented at the 4th International Conference of Artificial General Intelligence (Google Headquarters).
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http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-neural-device-to-restore-memory
There have been significant advances in development and testing of Simulation Based Learning and Post Traumatic Therapy in the Second Life virtual world. It is only a matter of time before multisensory systems and Neuro-gaming inputs make it possible for soldiers and their implants to integrate into an immersive virtual world experience within a Massively MultiPlayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG).
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Not that Google would amass robots:
"Google has acquired robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics". Boston Dynamics is a DARPA-funded robotics firm. DARPA is the Department of Defense’s research arm.
"Specific details about the price and terms of the deal are currently unknown, though Google told the NYT that existing contracts — including a $10.8 million contract inked earlier this year with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — would be honored. Despite the DARPA deal, Google says it doesn't plan to become a military contractor' on its own'".
Full article here: http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/14/5209622/google-has-bought-robotics-company-boston-dynamics
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"Ray Kurzweil, the leading proponent of the singularity and transhumanism and someone who is all about reverse-engineering the human brain to create artificial intelligence, took a position as Director on Engineering with Google in December 2012. Guess what Kurzweil will be focusing on at Google. Just take a wild guess. If you picked artificial intelligence, you win a gold star. Kurzweil has openly admitted he is all about ushering in a transhumanist future where AI computer entities are given bodies, where the minds of humans are transplanted into mechanical vessels and more".
(See the Global Future 2045 project and Kurzweil discussing how we’ll all be immortal by 2045 for more on that.).
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http://2045.com/articles/31277.html
In this open letter to the United Nations on behalf of 2045's distinguished group of Doctors, Engineers, Psychophysiologists, Futurists, Neuroscientists, Astrophysicists, and Religious gurus ready to "positively change the world" with memory transfers to avatars and robots, the question still remains: "What if this lifeboat extends to corrupt Presidents and World Leaders"? This is about buy-in power not morality. Would the future be better if someone like Hitler were to be an immortal machine? How about drug cartel bosses or psychopath Dictators?
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"Ultimately you want to have the entire world's knowledge connected directly to your mind" - Sergey Brin (Co-founder, Google)
"Your mind if software. Program it. Your body is a shell. Change it. Death is a disease. Cure it. Extinction is approaching. Fight it." -Peter Thiel (Co-founder, PayPal)
"What if I'd like to continue accessing the world's knowledge on a computer or phone and not have it directly connected to my brain? What if I view death as a natural cycle and believe that all things in the universe have a beginning, middle and end? What if the end could be faced with courage, gratitude for a life well lived, and hope that perhaps "the end" is a fallacy, like the Earth being flat? What if we could just shift our perspective towards something positive and embrace tolerance towards transhumanism and humanity existing in balance?" - We the People
