We all have a mental image of what we assume aliens will look like.
Susan Schneider, philosophy professor at the University of Connecticut, has some deeper theories about first contact.
Dr. Susan Schneider is a professor of philosophy at UCONN. Her work is on the nature of the self and mind, in which she examines from the vantage point of issues in metaphysics, philosophy of mind/cognitive science, philosophy of science, and applied ethics. The topics she’s written about most recently include the software approach to the mind, artificial intelligence, how the mathematical nature of physics undermines physicalism, astrobiology, and the nature of the person. For a brief overview of some of my work see this interview with 3AM Magazine.
For other discussions of her work see The New York Times, Wired, Humanity+, Big Think, 3 Quarks Daily, and Discover Magazine.
Artificial Alien Life
They’re big-eyed and slight of build. They’re the grim, greenish beings that every moviegoer knows as aliens – the inscrutable inhabitants of a distant world. Playing supporting roles in countless films and TV shows, these hairless homunculi have become iconic.
But, we’ve never actually seen a real alien, of course.
But what might they look like? My research suggests that the most intelligent aliens will actually some form of artificial intelligence (or AI).
We know that Earth is a lot younger than many planets in the cosmos. And we know that there are a lot of planets in the universe capable of giving rise to life.
Now consider that in less than a century — a mere blip in the lifespan of the universe – humans have gone from simple radios to being on the cusp of developing impressive AI networks.
So what’s the next step on Earth? I suspect that in just a few hundred years, humans will not only create AI that is smarter than us, but enhance our own human minds using silicon-based aids.
And, at some point along the way, a life form that is augmented by these aids stops being biological and begins to be AI.
Older alien worlds may have already taken this path. For silicon is a better medium for thinking than carbon, being faster and more durable.
Would these creatures be conscious? Cognitive science research suggests that a silicon-based system, like a robot, would likely be conscious if it was sophisticated enough. But we can never know for certain, for we cannot step inside of the mind of another creature, and know what it feels like to be them, from the inside.
Of course, my research is theoretical in nature, but with the exponentially increasing growth in our abilities and technologies – these theories only grow stronger.
Then, the question that remains: When we make first contact with alien life, will they find us or will we find them?
Read More: VICE: The Dominant Life Form in the Cosmos Is Probably Superintelligent Robots
Comments
4 responses to “Susan Schneider, UCONN – Artificial Alien Life”
Why is the last question asked important?
Answer is: The AIs/Aliens have tweaked us…so they found us first.
Beyond the entertainment value of watching “Ancient Aliens” I have to agree that there appears to be compelling evidence suggesting that possibility.
The point you made about “simple radio” in the past 100 yearrs struck me. Trying to I,part perspective to my 12, 14 and 18 year old children I’v woo intend out that when my first Grandfather was born six more years would go by before Alexander Graham Bell’s invention that brought him renown and the world Bell Telephone. Five years after that. My second Brandfather was born, still within the era when a “Renaissance Man” might readily thrive, as he wished I aspire to do, and before such aspiration became as archaic a notion as it now is. The waiting room in my office, like a museum in some ways, was where patients could see examples feom previous generations of packaged !arsh,allow Root, Eccinacea, Digitalis Purporea, “Violette Ray” therapeutic devices so ancient they had to be packed with a plug adaptor that could screw into a light bulb socket (before people commonly had eclectical outlets or appliances. The older medical texts rely near entirely on raw botanicals and the evolved “cold surgical” techniques handed down many generation.
Those two Grandparents were adults before the first flight at Kitty Hawk and “2nd Grandpa” lived nearly a decade after the first Moon landing. I’ve often said that if society were “knocked out” in some worldwide catastrophe it would son be said that there’d been “magic” widely in use now. And even now most of the world has little concept of how all this tech works. Your statements on the likelihood of AI visitors coming here does carry much credence to me. Most space flight from Earth is unmanned right now just within the relatively small domain of our Solar System.
Your inference that extraterrestrial societies might be so far older than our own is not lost upon me. Our potential to make rapid leaps in our own technology, were contact made between societies, would further widen the “comprehension gap” so much so that someone, such as myself, could no longer hold even an inkling of how it all worked. What the society and culture my children’s children might be born into is a constant fascination to me. Meanwhile, the medical students, and sometimes even my own children, barely show any interest in how “all this hot this way now”. Too bad you and I will not have the delight to watch the future unfold beyond some certain point- LOL, for now I’ll use the known anti-aging discoveries and hope to see as much as can be seen !
Greetings Dr. Schneider,
My name is Eric McElroy and I wanted to know more about your research. I have watched a couple of your talks on AI and the moral and ethical implications that come up as we advance our knowledge and understanding of both AI/robotics, algorithms as well as consciousness. It almost seems as if the boundaries are becoming less defined and that we need to ask ourselves the question, “Just because we can do something, should we?”
I just purchased the Blackwell companion to Consciousness and am looking forward to diving in on the read. I am by no means a luddite or anti tech but I think that we are not focusing intently enough on the moral and ethical implications on these great technological discoveries we seem to be making in recent years. I look forward to your thoughts on these matters. With gratitude, Eric