Editorial

I remember one day when my Dad was older he told Mum he couldn’t find anything to read. ( Wrong thing to tell my mother, the librarian, but that’s another story!) He was fairly eccentric, my father, interested in pyramid power, UFOs, the paranormal, astral travel, and Mum rattled off those topics as options but nothing moved him. ‘What about some Science Fiction’, she proffered. ‘You used to love that.’ He looked at her rather sadly and said ‘It’s not exciting anymore – it all came true.’

Not quite, Dad, but I got his drift. But sometimes it feels as if we are hurtling towards a New World, rather than easing into it. Exciting in many ways, but frightening in others.

Artificial Intelligence will surely only benefit us – at least on paper. On the other hand, smart robots are taking jobs out of the hands of those who can least afford it – the unskilled. And there is already concern that young people are detached from the reality of violence, inured to it because the brutal video games they play are, well, just games. They see these acts, but because they don’t feel them, they are unrealistic and disengaged about the real impact of such deeds.

When the USSR developed remotely controlled Teletanks in the 1930s, it caused a ripple of fear. Now, that technology in the context of unarmed battle tanks is far, far superior and so frightening, the US Army has assured the public that AI weapons will adhere to an AI Murder Policy.

Doesn’t really reassure me.