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artificial intelligence
November 2008 
Neuroscience
Posted on Apr 28th, 2007
by 
Vivek
Vivek
http://www.slate.com/id/2164996/
Fascinating Slate article on the 5 biggest neuroscience developments of the year. I've been tracking some of this, but put together an astonishing and in many ways terrifying picture emerges. Moving through the article:
1. "Scientists in Germany used pattern recognition software to predict, from functional magnetic resonance imaging of people's brainw hether each person had secretly decided to add or subtract two numbers he was looking at. The computer correctly predicted the decision 71 percent of the time "
This isn't a huge deal yet. fMRI is not really a mature technology and numbers would probably be much lower outside lab conditions, in addition this is a much simpler problem than some sort of general mind reading. This is a rapidly improving field however and my suspicion is that within a decade a certain level of mind reading will be technologically possible. How we resolve this with issues of privacy, how authoritarian regimes use this, strikes me as a terribly intricate ethical problem.
2. "Six people with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were presented with moral dilemmas (e.g., would you smother a baby to prevent bad guys from finding and killing people in hiding) and were found to be two to three times more willing to kill than people without brain damage"
To what degree is good and evil simply a product of brain chemistry? Can 'evil' individuals be 'fixed'. Can normal people be made 'better'? What else can be altered? We already use drugs to alter happiness levels, what about enthusiasm, creativity, rebeliousness vs. conformity, discipline, the list goes on. Who controls things like this? Governments, parents, individuals, communities, teachers? Do we create limits on how far we change people? What happens when we gain the ability to change people beyond the limits of what we understand as human? i.e. not just better, faster, stronger... but happier, more disciplined, or even more naturally altruistic?
3. Sexual Orientation
Can different sexual orientations be 'cured' in the womb. I find it surprising, though not astonishing that some conservatives are already thinking of technology along those lines and see it as something good. Should parents be allowed this 'choice' (I think it will be very interesting to see how party lines fall on this issue as it places a great deal of cognitive dissonance on traditional views). Is this akin to allowing some sort of genocide?
4. The discovery of vegetative consciousness.
I don't have much to say here other than that it makes doctor assisted suicide quite a bit trickier.
5. The progress of artificial intelligence
I'm taking more of a wait and see attitude on this. If it happens we'll all have to deal with
it, but all AI research seems to have done is shown us that some problems we thought were very hard aren't (i.e. Chess) and some we consider trivial (listening to someone speak, cooking, walking around) are incredibly tricky. Personally I think real AI is a while away.
Oh and if you really want to dive into neuroscience, theres a special issue in Slate on the brain here: http://www.slate.com/id/2165001/
very nice roundup of whats going on.
Fascinating Slate article on the 5 biggest neuroscience developments of the year. I've been tracking some of this, but put together an astonishing and in many ways terrifying picture emerges. Moving through the article:
1. "Scientists in Germany used pattern recognition software to predict, from functional magnetic resonance imaging of people's brainw hether each person had secretly decided to add or subtract two numbers he was looking at. The computer correctly predicted the decision 71 percent of the time "
This isn't a huge deal yet. fMRI is not really a mature technology and numbers would probably be much lower outside lab conditions, in addition this is a much simpler problem than some sort of general mind reading. This is a rapidly improving field however and my suspicion is that within a decade a certain level of mind reading will be technologically possible. How we resolve this with issues of privacy, how authoritarian regimes use this, strikes me as a terribly intricate ethical problem.
2. "Six people with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were presented with moral dilemmas (e.g., would you smother a baby to prevent bad guys from finding and killing people in hiding) and were found to be two to three times more willing to kill than people without brain damage"
To what degree is good and evil simply a product of brain chemistry? Can 'evil' individuals be 'fixed'. Can normal people be made 'better'? What else can be altered? We already use drugs to alter happiness levels, what about enthusiasm, creativity, rebeliousness vs. conformity, discipline, the list goes on. Who controls things like this? Governments, parents, individuals, communities, teachers? Do we create limits on how far we change people? What happens when we gain the ability to change people beyond the limits of what we understand as human? i.e. not just better, faster, stronger... but happier, more disciplined, or even more naturally altruistic?
3. Sexual Orientation
Can different sexual orientations be 'cured' in the womb. I find it surprising, though not astonishing that some conservatives are already thinking of technology along those lines and see it as something good. Should parents be allowed this 'choice' (I think it will be very interesting to see how party lines fall on this issue as it places a great deal of cognitive dissonance on traditional views). Is this akin to allowing some sort of genocide?
4. The discovery of vegetative consciousness.
I don't have much to say here other than that it makes doctor assisted suicide quite a bit trickier.
5. The progress of artificial intelligence
I'm taking more of a wait and see attitude on this. If it happens we'll all have to deal with
it, but all AI research seems to have done is shown us that some problems we thought were very hard aren't (i.e. Chess) and some we consider trivial (listening to someone speak, cooking, walking around) are incredibly tricky. Personally I think real AI is a while away.
Oh and if you really want to dive into neuroscience, theres a special issue in Slate on the brain here: http://www.slate.com/id/2165001/
very nice roundup of whats going on.
Access: PublicTagged with: neuroscience, artificial intelligence, ethics, morality, consciousness, sexual orientation, science, technology, MRI, fMRI, privacy, progress, slate
