Dr. Nathaniel S. Borenstein: "AI, the Internet, and a Future Worth Hoping For"

IN-PERSON EVENT ONLY

In this talk Dr. Borenstein will discuss the nature and diversity of intelligence, the options that Artificial Intelligence and the Internet present to humanity, and the kind of future we should try to envision.

Most people talking about Artificial Intelligence today seem to have very strong opinions: either AI is going to make our world a paradise, or it is going to destroy us. Although today's information technology could support either outcome, there are many more likely possibilities in between, and our actions and decisions in the coming years could push us closer to either extreme. Some of the fundamental questions we face include:

• How might we create an economy based on abundance rather than scarcity?
• How will access to today's vast sea of information change our fundamental beliefs and traditions, and the nature of the human journey?
• What rights should non-human intelligences have, and how do they affect our notion of what it means to be human?
• Can we work in harmony with Artificial Intelligence for the benefit of all living things, biological and artificial, human and animal?

As food for radical thought, I suggest how the economic security of a Universal Basic Income might allow the elimination of many laws and regulations, including copyright, minimum wage, and many kinds of worker protections. I also imagine a world in which lifelong AI companions help protect and raise children far better than any human parents could do alone, and where all AIs are required to be open source. Understanding the widest possible range of options may not lead us to utopia, but might help us to envision and pursue a better world for our descendants.

About Dr. Borenstein

Nathaniel is best known for his pioneering email research that culminated in MIME, the standard for multimedia data on the Internet. He founded four companies, holds 33 patents, and was Mimecast's Chief Scientist and a Distinguished Engineer at IBM. He tells the story of his fifty years as an activist and student of how information technology will change the human journey in his forthcoming book, The Spirit of a Cyborg: AI, the Internet, and a Future Worth Hoping For.