Fears of Artificial Intelligence |
AI stirs deep fears in those with dementia, challenging what it means to remain fully human.
Ethical debates warn against letting AI replace human judgment in morality and decision-making.
The need to distinguish good from evil in AI's advance is more vital than ever.
The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" was on to something in the introspective 1939 song by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. Harbug’s: “If I Only Had a Brain.”
“I could while away the hours,Conferrin' with the flowers,Consultin' with the rain.And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin'If I only had a brain.”
“I could while away the hours,Conferrin' with the flowers,Consultin' with the rain.And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin'If I only had a brain.”
The lyrics today have some, like me, in the throes of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, dreading a future with the onslaught of artificial intelligence, a.k.a., “AI”—two letters that instill fear and anxiety in many. In our serpentine journey, many of us tend to want to grasp what is real, not artificial. Even when I cannot think or reason, I don’t want a computer telling me how to do so. I’d prefer to go silently into the night…
AI and the Fear of the Unknown
AI can be described as sophisticated computer systems able to execute tasks that have normally required human intellect. In other words, to some extent, they can supersede human intelligence.
While AI may offer beams of hope, the downside for those like me is fraught with danger without the proper safeguards. Fear of the unknown is the lowest common denominator for many with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
As the Baby Boomer iconic commercial echoed in the 1970s: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”
Public Debate About AI Ethics
Despite all the hype today, the concept of artificial intelligence is not new. Its genesis was in 1950, when English mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, considered the father of AI, published a research paper........