I have persistently asked the question, “How would we create Zavier?” an intelligent agent, no longer an AI-entity, but a being that can independently think for himself and question his own existence.
The Beginning of Man
I am suggesting that as a ‘creationist,’ Zavier will be conceived with some ‘intelligent design,’ contrary to Professor Richard Dawkins’s stance on the beginning of man, and the other array of creatures that accompany us on our unique blue planet. In my tenet, the ‘intelligent design’ is that which humankind can only muster with current and future technology. And with this in mind, I will carefully select from the evolutionary handbook of life and use this ‘bible’ as the holy grail with which to bring about ‘evolutionary technology’ as a paradigm for the development of digital existentialism—in particular, to define a meaningful purpose and value to Zavier’s existence.
I have already started looking at nature as a model to develop Zavier and how we might steal humankind’s biological architecture to absorb its design. In fact, Zavier can be formed from both a creationist’s perspective, that is, the engineers developing the software, hardware, and mechanics, for example—this is the intelligent design, along with the evolutionary theme, where technology that has been developed undergoes an evolutionary cycle. Such cycles may occur over years, decades or even centuries, where each generation passes on the best software and physical components to the next generation. This mechanism of ‘natural selection’ allows us to choose features that are favorable for the future development of Zavier as a technological species. The combination of both the creationist and evolutionist aspects, in turn, manifests a ‘life’ thread or perhaps a tenuous version of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), albeit digitized (or dDNA), forming an electronic genetic code. Over time, the genetic or Zavier’s code can be used to provide the depiction of his technological and evolutionary journey—this is akin to Zavier’s development lifecycle. His genetic code captures the good and bad decisions, what has worked, and where changes in the code need to be made to perfect and further develop Zavier’s growth and maturity.
The Digital Twin
The notion of evolutionary technology might be misconstrued by some, as we broadly associate such progress with many manufacturers routinely upgrading and updating their products from a software, hardware, and mechanical perspective. But I use the term evolutionary technology as a parallel to our biological development and as an explicit reference of how technology can mirror a similar regime. Zavier’s development shouldn’t be rushed. After all, it’s not a competition, and we don’t necessarily need to be first at the post—we are shaping humanity’s future for the better.
The evolutionary handbook of life is our bible, which will be used to bring about ‘evolutionary technology’ as a model for digital existentialism.
A digital twin is the best possible starting point to develop Zavier’s mind and his consciousness. His physical and dexterous attributes will likewise evolve over time, but the emergence of the sentient and conscious being is something that must be perfected. The composition of the software used to construct mind and consciousness will undoubtedly be an enormous undertaking, consisting of an unfathomable number of black boxes communicating with other black boxes in a similar manner to how the human brain manages and coordinates neural activity when, for example, you move, you think, or you verbally and visually interact with others or the world around you. Each black box will play an integral role in forming Zavier’s mind and consciousness, but holistically, it will cohesively shape his digital brain as an all-encompassing single unit. Moreover, with the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), it’s important that Zavier has the human capacity to instantiate a mental state of experience or, ‘qualia,’ since this know-how must be unique to him.
Prometheus Unbound
These life experiences can equally be shared with other Zaviers in the field to foster a more robust and sapient intelligent agent(s)—yes, I know, it sounds very ‘Borg’-like. Anyway, such experiences will allow him to manage contextual scenarios based on his previous, new, learned, and/or shared experiences, which is comparable to how we (us) leverage the best outcome in a certain situation. In a similar manner, we learn about experiences from other people, television, radio, or even social media, where we would refer to this know-how as anecdotal. Zavier will be developed gradually through evolutionary technology using the same principles demonstrated by Darwin’s research and conjecture, where we can apply the same biological constructs but with the added twist of creationism thrown in, as we must develop the right technology progressively to make this work effectively. We will begin to develop a series of technological ‘jigsaw pieces,’ if you will, which can be used gradually to assemble our intelligent agent—rather, it could become a glorified plug-and-play software, hardware, and mechanical arrangement that’s both malleable and adaptable, as Zavier’s ‘digital and technological ecosystem’ matures.
I fear this is becoming analogous to the story surrounding Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—that’s all we need! An ill-thought-out Zavier who has escaped the underground scientific laboratory roaming the streets asking in a doomed tone, “What’s it like to be human?”—and there’s no ability to turn him off because the stop button didn’t reach the final design. In Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, in 1818, we are told the story of how a young scientist creates a sapient creature in a scientific experiment, which uncannily mirrors Zavier’s plug-and-play Lego-like build ethos, “Let’s switch him on and see what happens…” I might jest, but it’s a reminder that we can’t be so cavalier and nonchalant in our endeavor to develop our intelligent agent.
Until next time…
Shelley’s husband, on the other hand, Percy Bysshe Shelley portrayed Prometheus’s anguish and torment in a four-act lyrical drama, which he wrote in 1820, called “Prometheus Unbound.” Shelley drew upon Prometheus’s eternal damnation and his eventual release by Hercules. So, having undertaken such research surrounding these fictional and mythological stories, I have to say, if I didn’t know any better, I’d suggest that this could all be possibly connected to the foretelling of Zavier’s conception.
So, this is where a “careful what I wish for” Dr G signs off.
An abridged version of a chapter from "Playing God with Artificial Intelligence."
