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Transhuman: Part 2
ABC News
ENRICHED
Details
- Date Published
- 23 Feb 2017
- Priority Score
- 3
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 13 July 2026, 08:01 am
Authors (1)
Description
As scientists work to prevent ageing and ensure immortality, they're also trying to expand the capabilities of the human brain. Margot O'Neill reports.
Summary
This archival report explores the emergence of artificial general intelligence and the potential for a 'super intelligence' to surpass human capabilities by 2045. It highlights the security risks of a global AI arms race and the existential threat of humans becoming intellectually obsolete, as voiced by Elon Musk. The content specifically addresses the Australian context through interviews with local transhumanists regarding the ethical implications of human-AI merging and the democratic distribution of frontier technologies.
Body
Lateline · ABC NewsTranshuman: Part 2Broadcast Thursday, 23 February 2017 · Reporter: Margot O'Neill← Full Lateline episode — Thursday, 23 February 2017Watch LatelineVideo of this Lateline story, as originally broadcast.PETER XING, TRANSHUMANISM, AUSTRALIA: So the next step after super longevity is super intelligence and that is the concept that since artificial intelligence is progressing at an exponential rate there will be a one point in time where the intelligence of the artificial intelligence will surpass that of humans and some theorists are saying that, that year could be by 2045. ELON MUSK, ENTREPRENEUR AND INVENTOR: If you have ultra-intelligent AI. We would be so far below them in intelligence that it would be like a pet. I mean I don't love the idea of being a house cat. PETER XING: People like Elon Musk are saying that we will develop a neural lace so essentially another layer within our mammalian brains to the neural cortex and then onto this artificial intelligence connection and that way we would actually be able to see a digital mind and be able to connect ourselves to the clouds. ELON MUSK: Effectively merging in a symbiotic way with digital intelligence. PETER XING: There will potentially be a drive towards inequality, especially if only the billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel and the CEO at Amazon Jeff Bezos other billionaires, they are actually investing in this life extension technology. But will they make that available to the rest of humanity, and as democratic transhumanists, we want to actually make that available to everyone. Right now there is what we call an AI arms race, whoever has this they call it the artificial general intelligence: an AI that has more power than any human equivalent. Whoever gets there first will have complete dominance. At what point does the corporation of these technologies within the human make us a different species completely and what are the ethics behind that? So what will people think in society? Will there be a divide behind the human race and those that are augmented by technology?I think that it's going to be a very interesting time as we see these developments happening now.
Topics:science and technology