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We are the last generation more intelligent than our own creations

Francisco Miraval

It seems that we are the last generation of human beings more intelligent than our own creations. I find such an idea profoundly problematic because I don’t want to be part of the “last generation” and I don’t want to appear to be less intelligent than artificially created intelligence.

Obviously, what I like or dislike becomes irrelevant in the context of so many constant and profound changes which, even if we don’t accept them, will transform our lives and our futures. After all, never before in the history of humanity the “machines” created by humans surpassed us or are about to do it.

In other words, in the near future (and perhaps it is already happening), we humans will no longer be the dominant species on earth. Having a new dominant species on our planet is nothing new. In the past, the big reptiles were replaced by mammals, and then the primates took over, and then humans. And we assumed that was the end of the line.

For that reason, it is a challenge to accept that we are but larvae of future supra-human entities. Perhaps we are just incubators, or a fertile ground, for a trans-human existence. And we, humans of the first half of the 21st century, will witness that transition.

I said above I don’t to be part of any “last generation”. That’s only partially true. For example, I would like to be part of the last generation without a cure for all diseases or with poverty and war. But I don’t want to be part of the last generation of humans. However, it seems we are heading in that direction.

At the same time, we should ask, how intelligent should the Artificial Intelligence (the new synthetic trans-humans) should be to surpass human intelligence? I mean, are we humans as intelligent as we think we are?

After all, after dozens of millennia of human existence and a few millennia of “civilization”, we are still killing each other and we also destroying the planet. And the speed of that process of self-destruction and environmental destruction seems to be increasing.

Also, injustice seems to win in many places. And there are constant conflicts among cultures and religions. There is also economic and social disparity to such a degree and with countless negatives effect that, regardless, we accept as something normal and impossible to change.

There are many more examples we could share about our own lack of intelligence. If you would like more examples, just watch the news or read mostly any post in social media and you will soon question the level of human intelligence. So, it seems it shouldn’t take that much intelligence for Artificial Intelligence to surpass human intelligence.

People sometimes ask me if I believe one day we will find intelligent beings on other planets. I always give the same answer: I would be amazed if one day intelligent beings are found on this planet. In a sense, we need to be those intelligent beings.

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