Artificial Intelligence Replacing Humanity: An Evolution

Since the days when AI was first mentioned as a disinct possibility, mankind has been wondering about its aftereffects. Enormous literature today exists which speculates the possibilities and many motion pictures have been created depicting the future. AI by Stephen Spielberg was one of such classics. Matrix Trilogy, I-Robot and various other speculations have already tarnished the image of a technology which is still to be realized fully. The underlying philosophy is that AI, a creation of mankind, due to its high potential growth and evolution levels, will soon go out of control. It will overpower humanity and will become the unchallenged ruler of the planet. The process will be self-recuperating since AI will lead to the development of better programs (at an enormously high rate) which will further improve and strengthen AI. AI thus far ahead of humans will refuse to be ruled and any kind of protests and remonstrations will be dealt severly leading to excessive losses to human kind.

I will go about refuting this philosophy one by one.

(i) AI is not a separate entity. It is a part of the big system of which humans are part of.

(ii) There is essentially no difference between living beings and AI. Organic matter does not make life, stimulus to an action does. AI will definitely have an stimulus to any action.

(iii) Human beings are not special creatures. They are just a part of the large ecosystem. Due to enormous levels of brain power and being very high in terms of evolution, humans have been able to rule the planet. Humans have been exploiting the resources to their advantage and are depleting the nature, from which they have emerged. To further enhance their power, they are developing a system which will be self-learning and will be a form of life itself, which they are calling AI. AI according to me is in accordance with the overall genetic evolution. It is a game of survival of the fittest. Growth will happen, AI will develop and being more 'fit' will surely replace the humans as the rulers of the planet. This is in accordance with the evolution which is perfectly natural and essential. AI will use humans in the same way as humans are using nature today.

Rationality reveals that although AI is looked down upon by many people, it is not different from human beings. It is just a better form of species. Humans must marvel on such a technology and not crib about it. They must welcome it and accept it as a natural form of evolution.

The Freeriders

The first semester is approaching an end and already there is quite a lot of buzz about freeriders in our class. I define freeriders like this:

"Social loafers who aspire for maximum output by employing minimum of their energy and relying on others for getting their work done, however humiliating it may be for themselves and however painful it may be for others. They are the pesticides of humanity who niether have any respect for human intelligence, nor have any regard for human social responsibilities. Moreover they do not have balls to accept that and all courage in this world to argue against that."

What I say is purely an output of personal experience. With majority of people being dumb (personal opinion) and some of them shameless enough to accept that, we always have certain number of hopeless cases in any random sample. In my class, the distribution is skewed however. The number of freeriders is exceedingly more than the genuine people which makes it increasingly difficult for the genuine people to perform.

Consider some examples. A group of four is making a ppt. One of them calls the fifth member who happens to be a female and who has not turned up for the work. The receiver cuts the phone after a blunt remark, "I have to study, you know, otherwise I am going to flunk". She is again called and persuaded to join, but all efforts come to an halt when the freerider starts crying. "It may be some genuine problem. Let us not trouble her." comments one of the group members. In the examination the next day the freerider puts maximum marks in the class.

Consider another situation. A guy puts in his heart and soul in some project. He has got some brilliant idea for the project well supported by his group mates. One of his group mates is a hopeless case in all ways. The other three are capable but somehow want to rely on the first person to get the job done. One of those threes actually takes the pain of collecting the whole data and contributing his bit. With the data available, the first person does all the analysis and prepares the report. He expects nothing from the group but a good introduction to the report. After three days of cribbing regarding all other assignments he finally gets a 5 page doc which is nothing but an agglomeration of news clips. The guy dislikes plagiarism and is put off. So he calls up one of the group members for explanation and receives the reply, "You are not pragmatic dude, duniya mein aisa hi hota hai"

What the fuck man? If this is the way the world works, to hell with the world and to hell with the systems. But seriously, I feel pity for all these freeriders and social loafers because I foresee failure waiting for them in their lives. I hope, GOD FORBID THEM.

Human behavior and IPR

I realized something very peculiar about human behavior instead. According to me, it will be grossly wrong to call humans emotional beings. Most of them do not have even slightest of respect and feelings for other individual. We as a humans are just a bunch of selfish bastards who care for nothing except bitching. We cater to our self-interest with maximum sanctity and seriousness but invariably falter in caring about others. Inspite of this , human race has decided that the best way to progress is to work together and excel together. What a fucking hypocricy man! Humans are biologically morphed to look out for their self-interest in whatever they do. Barring few individuals, everybody is busy in an incessant struggle to gain maximum for himself, no matter what happens to others.

Another issue is intellectual property rights. I am a firm believer in this concept. I believe that human intelligence is rare and it should be handled very carefully. After all, it is an asset which has helped humans dominate the planet during their ecological history. I do not think there is any denying that humans due to their sick mentality have started abusing their very own most valuable asset. I heard from one of my friends in the corporate world, "Every thing is copy paste here". My friend, another preacher of IPR like me, is disappointed and is on the verge of leaving a plum job and go to the U.S. for a PhD. to do some original stuff.

These fundaes do not seem pragmatic to some people who really believe that world is all about negotiating and nothing else. They openly preach that "In the world you do not get what you deserve but what you are able to negotiate." I think any feeling like this is a basic hindrance to progress and must be discouraged. It may be important in dealing with the real world, it may be important to become so called "successful", but is certainly not good for the progress of mankind. If every person thinks in the same way, soon the incentives for real work will die down and people will be manipulating the present situation and doing nothing else. Real progress is achieved only when individual brilliance creates a new idea and the dumb people somehow realize the importance of it and let it stay. The final say is always of the majority (who are dumb), but somehow we have been lucky to make the progress we have made till now.

One more thing. Some of these people when give gyan to us thinking they are the most successful mortal in this planet, it really puts me off. I want to ask them that whatever fundaes they are giving us, how much productive are they. If they are so highly productive as you claim they are, why are you not one among Jack Welch or Steve Jobs. These people have a totally unconventional way of thinking and they have a respect for human brilliance. Steve Jobs because of his unconventional steps was recognized as among the biggest psychos of the world. He is definitely not pragmatic, according to the definition of the word, but he is definitely a highly successful person.

On Group Dynamics

What is a group? Is it just a agglomeration of some individuals coming together for no reason at all. Team, Group, what the fuck is this all about. Do we really need teams to move ahead and progress. My views are very different on this subject. I do not think that group or team formation serve any purpose as such. Dumb people find themselves very comfortable in groups since they can stand behind the brilliance of some individuals and can progress with them.

This concept of team has been introduced by the most foolish and dumbest people in this world (who are in majority) and we have just inherited it. Most teams in this world succeed because there is always one person who pulls it ahead, because of whom the team makes progress, and without whom the team will be nothing but a collection of idiotic, good for nothing, and dumb bastards.

The concept was employed extensively in the U.S. and many people attribute the success of U.S. to it. Most of the time we are not able to find the right reason for their success and we blindly accept all the norms prevalent in their society as ideal and "the right way". If team was such a successful norm, can anyone answer how many major achievements, be it in any field, canbe attributed to teams rather than individual. As far as I know, the major progress, be it in Science, technology, art and even management, has been possible only due to individual brilliance. Individuals have always developed the novel ideas and against all odds have advocated them forward. Einstein did not work in any team when he developed the relativity theory. How many nobel prizes have been awarded to teams for their brilliant contribution to the mankind? Even when group awards are given, most of the them they are given to individuals who had developed a similar idea working independently.

Life at Hell (Chapter 1)

"Raman, please do not do it. Open the door. Have you gone mad!"
Either the frequency of the tone was ultra-sonic or I was not able to hear it. There are some moments in your life when you reach a stage which I term as the moment of reality. It is a feeling which you can either get when you are in the final stage of orgasm, or you are in the transition stage of getting drunk. The solutions to all problem dawn on you and you make decisions of your life time.
I was in that stage although I was not drunk at all. Nothing seemed so crystal clear before. A psycho, as they used to refer to me, was not all that a sucker. He was courageous and determined. Determined enough to end his life.

Life at Hell (Prologue)

The life at L can be a nightmare for few. The subsequent chapters that I am going to publish from time to time will have a certain autobiographical touch to it but it is certainly not my story. It is a story of six different characters with startkingly different characteristics.

The terrible tuesday

The terrible tuesday was a black day indeed. With some 180 bodies losing their soles, the powerful blasts ripping the roof off the train compartments, and hundereds of people getting injured, the day will bring haunting memories to residents of the city.
I remember, I was solving one of the intricate mysteries of an accounting course when I heard this news. Taken aback, I tried to call people. Being from IIT Bombay, I had an umpteen amount of friends in Mumbai, most of them now employed in the areas where the blasts took their toll. I was worried but phone lines were not reachable. The network was out....
On logging on to messenger, I could talk to Anil who was himself worried. Singla had not reached the hostel. I kept trying the phone lines with desperation.
Every second which passed thereafter was haunting...till I got a call from Shrankhla who confirmed the well being of everybody. Hah, what a great relief it was.
I could not sleep that night. Kept thinking about those people who were still searching their lost ones and had not been able to find them. Worse were those who had find the names of their dear ones in the hospital notice boards. How they could have reconciled? The thought of the same gives me shivers and chills my bones even now.
What for?
180 people died and many got wounded badly. Most of the wounded are now in an irrecoverable stage which can be worse than death for many. Sometimes I wonder, what the people responsible for blasting of the lifeline of Mumbai got out of it. It remains unexplained. People try to attach logic to this, but this is the most ultra-logic deed by any means of imagination. Hate to the level of desperation leads to crime but the crime of this sort? What amount of detestation and execration would lead to this, I do not understand. Isn't is astonishing that people involved in this crime are Indian citizens only (atleast it is being speculated this way).
Communalism! is this the cause. No way! Blasts do not ask the ethinicity, religion, and country when they rip somebody apart. If communalism is the reason, I propose an IQ test for these miscreants who cannot understand the logic as simple as above.

People keep asking me...

"Why did not you go to Georgia Tech?" The answer follows:
Some incidents in our lives can trigger a thought process which culminates in completely altering our aspirations and the meaning of success to us. My US Visa interview was one such event. Although, I was granted the Visa but the way I was treated in the interview was nothing better than scathing. I was repeatedly questioned about my intentions to return back to India accompanied with comments like “Every Indian says so, nobody returns”. This really hurt me a lot. I thought long and hard, enquired about some people who left for US at an identical conjecture and concluded that my success does not lie in earning accolades for some fundamental research, in a nation which neither respects me or my nation, but in contributing my little bit for the growth of common men of my nation, which will earn me the required respect. Hence, I decided to drop the offer and stay back in India.