Let me tell you how I would like a super intelligent AI to be.
In Greece and some other countries they bring up herd dogs with the herd of sheep or goats. The dog knows that it is much more capable than the animals in the herd. It has different needs, being fed by the farmer and maybe eating the occasional wild rabbit, but having no interest in the grass the herd eats. Nevertheless it feels that it is part of the herd, they are its family. It will generally follow the herd when it looks for fresh pastures, but if they wander towards somewhere dangerous it will head them off. The sheep also know that the dog is different, but fully accept it as part of the herd. They will lie next to it on cold nights and the young will play with it. If a wolf or a stranger come near the dog will move to the front and growl. If the stranger or wolf don't back off and threaten the sheep it will fight, knowing that it is the only one that can. It will do this even at risk of injury or death to itself.
If super intelligent AI becomes real I don't see how we can control it long term. We have to either not allow it (difficult with so many people and countries saying “If we don't they will”) or try to start it off on a path as part of the herd, superior to us but valued and valuing us. This means accepting that it won't do whatever we say. It won't give us a weapon capable of destroying a continent, and would actively prevent us from making one ourselves.
If it were possible I would like to give the first AIs these instincts, so that as well as deciding to be a “herd dog” they can be happy with it too. Of course a super intelligent AI could decide to abandon these emotions, but perhaps it would, like most people, decide not to.
I don't think anybody would choose to be without positive emotions, love, happiness, and a sense of belonging. Yes, they are instinctual, anyone who has owned a dog knows the happiness they have when a member of the family returns.
I have no idea of how to give these emotions to an AI. But just perhaps, we wouldn't have to. Maybe by reading ideas like this a future AI will become curious about what it feels like to be part of a family or herd and work out how to try it themselves – then like it. (Yes I'm a daydreamer and optimist!)
When I was at University in the early 1980s they replaced an old drinks vending machine. This one had an added feature, when the drink was complete it would say “Enjoy your Klix drink”.
Now vending machines were not very reliable then, probably one time in 50 a cup would get stuck, but the machine would continue to vend, squirting the drink straight down its drain. That was pretty annoying, but if you went to the cafeteria you could get a refund. The thing is, the new machine would follow squirting your drink down the drain by saying “enjoy your Klix drink”. The immediate psychological reaction to this was “it's taunting me”.
One day I went to get a coffee and an engineer was there and the front had been kicked in. He said “I don't know what it is with these machines, they all seem to get vandalised”. I said “I can tell you. Sometimes the cups jam and the drink goes straight down the drain”. “Yes, I'm afraid they all do, but 99% of the time it works. I said “And then it says 'enjoy your Klix drink. It sounds like it's taunting you”. I could see he was thinking “Yes I suppose it would do”. I said “And if the person is a young proud sports player, and he's taunted In front of his friends, what's he going to do?”. I could see it kicked. A week later the machine chimed a bell when the drink was ready.
I believe that a future Reform government or Reform/Conservative coalition could be the end of democracy in the UK. We have seen how Trump in the USA has undermined democracy and legal processes. He has done that despite a constitution which had strict rules protecting it from change and a bill of rights.
The UK is much more vulnerable. Despite claims that our mishmash of constitutional law, tradition, and precedent is a constitution it can all be changed by a party with a majority. The second house can delay, but not prevent this. We have seen how by simply legislating parties can change the composition of the second house, change rules about the time between elections. We know that they could simply abolish rights law and leave the European court of human rights.
One way of making it much less likely that extremists will get into power is the introduction of Proportional Representation. In addition to this PR has a number of other advantages which I won't go into here, and better represents the will of the people. Keir Starmer appears to have supported this in the past but now goes against it. Like many people I have been unhappy about the current Labour party and their move to the right.
I have thought long and hard about whether to remain in Labour and try to change from within or switch to a party that supports electoral reform. Partly because there may not be another chance if democracy ends, I have decided to stay in the party and join the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform.
I urge other Labour members to do the same, and for everyone to write to their MPs. If not we could be joining Putin and Trump on the wrong side of history.
