That’s the thinking of tech innovator and Tesla boss Elon Musk, as he outlined his plans for the “neural lace” that just might save us from being enslaved by the very robots built to serve us. Even if that rate of advancement drops by 1,000 from what it is right now.
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The strongest argument for us being in a simulation probably is the following. Instead, we’re all just software trapped inside an advanced civilization’s computer simulation.
“We’re already a cyborg”. And he makes a really interesting point – our ability to have a digital version of ourselves online in the form of emails and social media has given us “super powers” in a way that wasn’t possible before. “You can answer any question, you can video conference with anyone, anywhere”. Musk responded by saying there is a “one-in-billions chance” we aren’t. Forty years ago we had pong.
“If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality”.
Musk, who has had “so many simulation discussions it’s insane”, has invested a lot of money to research into the dangers of artificial intelligence.
Arguably we should hope that that’s true, because otherwise if civilization stops advancing, that may be due to some calamitous event that erases civilization. This isn’t to say that he thinks all AI is out to get us.
SpaceX will start sending Mars cargo deliveries as early as 2018. It can seat seven, but no humans will go because there’s no way back. yet.
Musk made the ambitious headline-grabbing announcement at the invitation-only Code Conference organized by Recode out of California.
Autonomous cars had captured the imagination of the vehicle industry, and many automotive companies such as Nissan and Audi, as well as tech firms including Google and Nvidia, were working on the idea.
As for Apple’s autonomous auto project, Musk says he “hopes it works out”, but he does not think the company can produce cars for sale before 2020.
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“Yeah [Apple]. That’ll be more direct”.
