Across the Universe

Convergence is proud to have the great Dr Alfred Lanning of United Machines and Mechanical Men to give a talk on the advances made in the production of Robots for uses in diverse situations both on Earth and in space.

As a taster here is a short transcript from a talk that the Dr gave to Robotics students at Harvard last year in a discussion on the background and history of the science.

“As early as 1800s it was proposed that the development of “Calculating Engines” and other such machines would one day reach a point where the capacity for intelligent thought would outstrip that of the human brain.

In 1847, R. Thornton, the editor of The Expounder of Primitive Christianity, wrote about the recent invention of a four-function mechanical calculator:

...such machines, by which the scholar may, by turning a crank, grind out the solution of a problem without the fatigue of mental application, would by its introduction into schools, do incalculable injury. But who knows that such machines when brought to greater perfection, may not think of a plan to remedy all their own defects and then grind out ideas beyond the ken of mortal mind!

In 1951, Alan Turing spoke of machines outstripping humans intellectually:

once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. ...

At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control, in the way that is mentioned in Samuel Butler's Erewhon.

In 1965, I. J. Good first wrote of an "intelligence explosion", suggesting that if machines could even slightly surpass human intellect, they could improve their own designs in ways unforeseen by their designers, and thus recursively augment themselves into far greater intelligences.

The first such improvements might be small, but as the machine became more intelligent it would become better at becoming more intelligent, which could lead to a cascade of self-improvements and a sudden surge to superintelligence (or a singularity).

The idea of the technological singularity – a point beyond which the human intelligence cannot predict any outcome – became a significant focal point for differing lines of research. The estimated date when calculated in the twentieth century was 2040-50.

The research fell into three main groups.

The first group embraced the concept of technology far in advance of human capacity but felt there would need to be controls built into such machines to prevent them discarding humans as inferior. Here United Machines and Mechanical men concentrated on algorithms which were calculated to replicate human ideals and the introduction of the three laws to ensure the machines would serve and protect mankind. This is the route you will be following in the course here at Harvard.

The second group concentrated on research which would augment the human biological being and enable humanity to keep pace with the technology in an absolute and physical sense. These groups concentrated on developing implants which increased the capacity of the human brain and materials and products which strengthened the capabilities of the body. This field still has some very serious side effects to overcome though advances are being made in neurosciences which enable the function of limbs through impulses directly from the brain..

The third group were convinced that no matter how advanced technology became, any machines could be outwitted by a large group of humans acting as one. This required a way to join the brains of the group into one large consciousness, either by mechanical means or by telepathic links. We have yet to know if this is even feasible.

I should at this point warn you against one field of research which is almost universally outlawed for very good reasons.

It was an offshoot of the second group which decided on the less ethical route of developing a way of using a human brain in isolation, to run biometric technology. They argued that a human brain already operated on a far more complex scale than any machine and so adapting one to function at a higher level and compete with or out compute the best upcoming Artificial intelligence would  be relatively simple. So the experiments began. Initially with willing volunteers who imagined themselves becoming the next generation of human evolution and even the new super race of overlords. Soon it began to include those with physical defects that kept their active brain imprisoned in a body which to all intents had become a liability.

It was the pioneering work of a Canadian neurosurgeon Jean Xavier Roux, conducting his experiments in North Korea which first established that only specific brains were suitable for transfer and he established a series of tests to identify the right subjects. Once the extent of his experiments became apparent he was hounded by the press and by the WHO and disappeared from public scrutiny, obviously continuing his work clandestinely. Though abhorrent to the public, there were many governments and powerful people who wanted his work to succeed. No one knows what eventually happened to him but records of his work circulated for many years, inspiring more to continue where he left off.

Another pivotal figure in this area was Dr Stephanie Lewis. She was the Dr at the centre of the world’s first court case brought by the family of a disabled man who they said had been tricked into donating his brain to research and was in fact the first officially documented instance of a brain incorporated into a machine and used to operate an orbiting satellite. The case found against the Dr, declaring the man officially dead, despite communications from the satellite purporting to come from the brain. It was argued that the Dr had done this in order to access the estate of the man and use it to fund her further work. She had argued she had no need to do this as she had a very wealthy patron already, but since she was not willing to name the benefactor the ruling went against her. She was prohibited from further work in the field but again she slipped from sight and was obviously still working secretly from somewhere.

There was it seemed, from records unearthed by industrial espionage, one recurring problem. The human brain was not comfortable with its disembodied state. There would always come a point when the humanity within conceived the enormity of the change in its situation and whether it cowered in terror or exploded in demonic megalomania in all cases it was lost to madness.

The problem caused more than one disaster when large scale brain operated machines either ceased to function or were made to embark on destructive sprees by their operating system.

It was a clinical psychologist named Yusuf Mahmuad who came up with the solution.

Firstly, a subject should be prepubescent. A mind of this age range has not yet begun the association of person with position in the hierarchy of the wider world and is still contained within its immediate environment. Secondly the mind must have a safe place into which it can retreat to rest and restore calm and equilibrium. This can be taken from the subject’s memory and the easiest way to invoke this memory is with sound, especially music. In fact, Dr Mahmaud found that it was possible to use music to control the subject, instilling and reinforcing commands with phrases, tunes and lyrics. However, even this was problematic and since the research and experimentation was outlawed no further breakthrough has been recorded.

United Machines and Mechanical Men are still the only practical and ethical pioneers in this field”