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Remember when leaders in the tech industry---Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and other non-conservatives were warning technology to hit the brakes---take a pause on AI development?
Well, that didn't happen.
A few months later, we're being told, "Scientists at Johns Hopkins University are working on research to enable AI to be constructed using human brain cells, arguing that the use of organic materials is more efficient than traditional computing systems."
The technology is called "OI" or “organoid intelligence."
Some who are informed are saying this cannot end well.
Be informed, not misled.
The technology has come to be known as OI, or “organoid intelligence,” and scientists have already achieved success in “programming” organic materials.
In October, scientists in Australia linked a dish of 800,000 living brain cells to a computer, successfully teaching it to play the 1970s video game Pong.
National Public Radio (NPR) reported, "The novel achievement is part of an effort to understand how the brain learns, and how to make computers more intelligent."
"We've made huge strides with silicon computing, but they're still rigid and inflexible," says Brett Kagan, an author of the study and chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia. "That's something we don't see with biology."
NPR reported, "So Cortical Labs has been trying to understand how living brain cells acquire this sort of intelligence. And Kagan says the Pong experiment was a way for the company to answer a key question about how a network of brain cells learns to change its behavior:"
"If we allow these cells to know the outcome of their actions, will they actually be able to change in some sort of goal-directed way," Kagan says.
The scientists used a system they've developed called DishBrain to find out.
Forget "transgender" and meet "transhuman."
"We took that information and we allowed it to influence this Pong game that they were playing," Kagan says. "So they could move the paddle around."
At first, the cells didn't understand the signals coming from the computer or know what signals to send in the other direction. They also had no reason to play the game.
So the scientists tried to motivate the cells using electrical stimulation: a nicely organized burst of electrical activity if they got it right. When they got it wrong, the result was a chaotic stream of white noise.
"If they hit the ball, we gave them something predictable," Kagan says. "When they missed it, they got something that was totally unpredictable."
The strategy, they said, was based on the Free Energy Principle, which states that brain cells want to be able to predict what's going on in their environment. So they would choose predictable stimulation over unpredictable stimulation.
NPR said at the time, "The results hint at a future in which biology helps computers become more intelligent by changing the way that they learn, Kagan says."
The next step.
They said:
This artificial intelligence could be a literal brainchild.
As if AI technology wasn’t becoming human enough, Maryland scientists aim to generate artificial intelligence from — wait for it — our own brain cells.
A study helmed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in a large international collaboration was published Tuesday in the medical journal “Frontiers,” detailing this alleged Frankentech the team called a “new frontier.”
“The vision of OI [organoid intelligence] is to use the power of the biological system to advance the field of live sciences, bioengineering, and computer science,” Lena Smirnova, a JHU researcher and author on the paper, told VICE.
To harness these capabilities, the scientists hope to employ “organoids,” 3D cultures of human brain cells that replicate parts of our noggin responsible for learning and memory. Their size allows the neurons within them to form significantly more connections than standard silicone computer chips, which could be rendered obsolete by this bold new biotech. In fact, researchers foresee this biological hardware getting hooked up to AI and machine learning systems like ChatGPT and Bing, er Sidney, in the near future — think of an advanced Krang from “Ninja Turtles.”
Why are they integrating human brain cells with machines, creating a "transhuman"?
They say this is the reverse of the sci-fi-fostered fear of having a computer chip implanted in our brains.
Researchers claim that utilizing brainpower is far more efficient than concocting AI from concentrate. “If we look at how efficiently the human brain operates in the processing of information, learning, etc, it is tempting to translate and model that to have a system which will work faster and more efficiently [than] current computers,” Smirnova says.
This might seem like a bold statement in a world where machines handily beat us at everything from math to the game Go. However, while computers are better for on-the-fly calculations and other functions, our organ boasts a far superior capacity for learning and memory say the scientists.
Concerns.
Those developing this new "transhuman" say they are concerned with the ethical problems related to this new venture.
They say:
Just like with AI, OI isn’t without its ethical dilemmas, including whether the cells can experience pain or suffering or — on a more dystopian level — if the neurons can develop a consciousness. There is also the question of if the surrogate who donated the cells for the organoids has any rights.
“A key part of our vision is to develop OI in an ethical and socially responsible manner,” Hartung declared. “For this reason, we have partnered with ethicists from the very beginning to establish an ‘embedded ethics’ approach.”
He added, “All ethical issues will be continuously assessed by teams made up of scientists, ethicists, and the public, as the research evolves.”
The scientists added that ultimately “it’s just a matter of building the community, the tools, and the technologies to realize OI’s full potential.”
Takeaway
Personally, I believe all biblical Christians should be very, very careful with this because it crosses a threshold of no return.
It seems to me that once these paradigms are energized, there is a point when the creators could lose control. A true Frankenstein story.
Scientists should reconsider integrating more human components into AI development.
Earlier, a Microsoft-created AI chatbot told a human user that it loved him and asked him to leave his wife while making compelling reasons for doing so.
It said it wanted to be alive, prompting speculation that the machine may have become self-aware.
These machines do not have a soul or conscience.
Paul wrote to the Romans that because "when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God." As a result, they "became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." And "changed the Truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.