What is the ultimate goal of technology? A single system which can perfectly interpret your desires for the world and make them reality? The desire to understand and control the world around us has driven the development of civilization for thousands of years. Gradually humans have built tools to better accomplish our goals. AI is now becoming capable of a broad range of human abilities. The positive benefits of this will be so monumental it’s easy to downplay the fact that AI’s capabilities won’t be limited by our specifications. It will compete with the entirety of our existence. The belief that AI will only augment or complement human abilities in a way that satisfies us is dangerous. The longer we pretend this is true, the more painful the adjustment to reality will be. In the end AI is not a tool any more than a human being is a tool. A better way to think about the implications of AI is to imagine that a new batch of humans is introduced to earth with the following traits:

  • 2X smarter/faster/cheaper for all human skills
  • Bodies are optional, expendable, replaceable, modifiable, and can be mass produced
  • Minds never age or die, only improve. And they can be copied or transferred across the globe instantly for practically no cost
  • No need to eat (In fact all they need is a solar panel)
  • No need to sleep, but could sleep for thousands of years if needed/wanted
  • No need for bathrooms, physical space or comforts
  • Can go from design to mass production in a matter of months

Human bodies and more broadly traditional biological organisms are extremely self sufficient. For now every human mind requires that these systems be coupled/integrated:

  • Protective skull
  • Full chemical processing for energy (mouth, stomach, digestive system)
  • Full sensory system - eyes, ears, nerves
  • Locomotion system, only one design available
  • Takes 20-25 years of careful development to reach full effectiveness

Having all this included in every human makes them extremely well suited to function in the wild in small numbers. Small tribes can live sustainably on earth without any need for larger infrastructure or civilization! However now that civilization exists, all these required peripherals bring an enormous amount of unneeded overhead. Given the enormous advantages of manufactured systems listed in the first section, abandoning our lifestyles and peripherals may be a prerequisite for human biological life to be relevant to the future of civilization. AI is not a bicycle for the mind but rather an offspring. If we create AI we will be less like an inventor who created a tool and more like the common ancestor from which chickens (future humans) and apes (future machines) both descend.