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Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Frankenstein?
People have feared technological innovation from the beginning of time
People have always feared the power of new technologies and scientific inventions to possibly dominate, replace, or even destroy human beings. These fears are not unfounded.
When humans first discovered the power of fire to heat and cook, they also learned, from burned flesh and incinerated dwelling places, that this powerful new technology had a downside.
Most new technologies do have a potential downside. New technologies exert powerful effects on society. Depending on how they’re used, they can affect humanity for good or ill, or a mixture of the two.
But Frankenstein — Really?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no exception to the age-old fear of scientific technology possibly getting out of hand. This fear was enshrined in Mary Shelley’s classic novel, “Frankenstein,” where an artificially created being takes on a destructive life of its own.
Some people fear that AI will become “sentient” — that is, it will be able to make decisions for itself, decisions that might affect human well-being. In this view, AI may, in other words, “take over” and exercise malignant power over people — a modern-day…
