A.I.-- Boon to Humanity or Threat?

Robots and artificial intelligence. They’re not really the same, but if you add AI to a robot, you’ve got what we’ve been wanting and fearing for decades:

Robots that are stronger — and much smarter — than us.

Humans have been thinking about intelligent robots at least since the 1927 movie Metropolis showed us a “female” robot of the future. Well, that future has arrived — pretty much.

Particularly in recent years, researchers and basement inventors have been combining advances in computers with robotic bodies that can do everything from bringing your pipe and slippers to providing new experiences in the bedroom.

Robots and artificial intelligence devices are quickly invading the background of our lives. Self-driving trucks and cars are coming soon, we’re told, and self-driving floor cleaners can be seen in Walmarts and other stores. Mars is being explored by roving machines as we speak.

Got a question about anything? Just ask Siri or Alexa on your smartphone. And boring, repetitious manufacturing jobs have increasingly been taken over by robots for decades.

Robots have also been entertaining us and scaring us in movies and on TV for many years. Lost in Space, Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, I Robot, Blade Runner, Westworld, Ex Machina, Her, A.I. — the list goes on and on.

Computing power is apparently doubling every 18-24 months, meaning that a robot with a computer brain could overtake the greatest human brain very soon.

And for many of us -- let's face it -- that has ALREADY happened.

The advance of robotic technology is now being called “the 4th Industrial Revolution,” as these robots take over many jobs, making our lives easier in some ways but also more worrisome.

Many observers are optimistic we can control these machines and build constraints into them that won’t let them hurt people. But can we ever be sure that won’t happen?

Stephen Hawking, perhaps the world’s most renowned physicist and super brain guy, expressed his concerns about the rapid advancement of AI before his death in 2018.

"In the future, A.I. could develop a will of its own — a will that is in conflict with ours,” Hawking said in 2014. “The rise of powerful A.I. will be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity.

"We do not yet know which."

Hawking stated his mixed feelings about AI at the 2017 Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon: "I am an optimist and I believe that we can create AI for the good of the world. That it can work in harmony with us.

“We simply need to be aware of the dangers, identify them, employ the best possible practice and management, and prepare for its consequences well in advance."

For a great video on all of this, check this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK31E4mSbXw