AI: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence

My grandparents were born in the depressing decade of the 1930’s. Their world was rough, growing slowly with the aches and pains of societal revolution. All endeavors took invested time and physical effort. Information was relayed through newspapers and the radio. Entertainment was found in music and dance. People had valuable skills that pertained to real life engagement: Road trips required the ability to read maps. Air travel required a travel agent, and communicating meant physically speaking with another human being.

My world is different. Instead of writing a letter, I shorthand a quick text. Rather than reading through a stack of encyclopedias, I Google for immediate answers. Images are captured instantly and shared across the world with the touch of a single button. Conversations are riddled with derogatory language and hip-hop slang. When entertainment is a concept with near infinite potential, I wonder how the world will continue to change.

As a teacher, I see that the frustrating struggles of connecting to AOL while another person tries to use the telephone are unrecognized by today’s youth. The Internet is instantaneous and everywhere. My archaic stories of connecting via landline may as well be the stories of my grandparents walking to school uphill, both ways. In today’s world, 8-tracks, pages, and walkmans are ancient fossils. They are the bricks supporting the massive infrastructure of today’s newer, technologically savvy society.

I wonder, though, where this progression will take humanity. Does anyone know where we are headed? Is anyone reflecting on the subconscious implications of computer screen addiction? Or is everyone too preoccupied with status updates, conspiracy news, and celebrity drama to care?

To me, it seems like technology is evolving too quickly for our brains to manage or comprehend. We are letting our creation grow out of control, like farmers who have neglected their crops for too long. Like weeds overtaking a garden, technology is monopolizing the environment. When it comes time to check the fields, will humanity be up for the challenge?

The information age is growing exponentially and without boundaries. Futurists project computer’s processing power to double every few months to a year. Adults and youth are losing sight of reality, being absorbed into virtual dimensions and projections of the mind. Electronic media demands our constant attention, but this might be the least of our concerns.

Figuratively, we are consumed by our devices. However, if humans aren’t careful, this may happen literally as well. Many innovators point to artificial intelligence as the epitome of human ingenuity through technological advances. Artificial intelligence, AI, is mechanical sentience—the ability for a computer to think for itself, as a human might do. If a computer becomes self-conscious, will it still need the beings that created it?

With advancement in robotics, identity recognition systems, internet databases, and microchip technology, humans might soon be sharing the planet with another elite species: the computer. Will we be able to coexist with our creation? Can we work together to experience a deeper level of life never seen before? Or will Terminators take over the planet, eradicating a lesser life form: us?

Even if humans can control the ultimate outcome and evolution of technology, where is our species headed next? Will we alter our genetic structures, creating a race of super humans? Will we integrate our bodies with technology or upload our consciousness into computers, entering into a state of transhumanism? Will children be implanted with microchips? Will we become more machine than man?

We must be conscious of what we create. We need to see connections and understand how our actions reverberate into the near and distant future. It is our duty to ensure technology progresses in a manner that is beneficial for human beings and the development of our societies. If we aren't careful, technology may literally take over our lives.