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The Case For Artificial Intelligence: How AI May Save the Human Race

Humans are terrible with data. It bogs down just about every aspect of life in a society and actually leads us astray — coming to false conclusions via incomplete data, leaving us overwhelmed by the amount of research that is required to fully understand a problem. 

This is why we are seeing computers and intelligent AI more and more in new technologies. Even in the music world we are witnessing the inklings of AI seep its way into the fabric of the industry. Humans are not rationale beings. They are still, for the most part, controlled by jealousy, greed, and neurotic emotions. We have a terrible problem with deceit — lying. We are still only animals after all. 

From healthcare, to safety, to conservation, it’s data that is empirically collected via scientific research that drives this phenomenon forward. Humans are flawed on this front when it comes to using this information, thus turning to AI may be the best way forward as global society stalls on important issues.

By using artificial machine learning, that is training a computer mind to understand an issue and make decisions based on the data it has been fed or has collected itself, a truly unbiased and inhumanly efficient way of looking at the world could be shaped. Artificial intelligence could be used for great good in the future if we decide to listen to what AI tells us. However, the artificial learning machine may very well destroy us if we’re not cautious.

The Case Against Artificial Intelligence: How AI May Destroy the Human Race

The benefits of turning to AI technologies to solve humanities problems is incredibly tempting. The amount of research that could be done in the blink of an eye with these machines is completely unfathomable compared to a team human researchers. Yet, could this same power be our own undoing?

Could AI absorb all of our jobs, and even assume the role of the artist, and musician? Perhaps, but I have a hunch, that as long as the human being remains in its current form, it will most likely enjoy art created by it own kind. But then again, I’ve been wrong before. And, it appears AI is already shaping the method, and type of music we consume.

A human hacker with an internet connection is capable of untold amounts of damage without leaving his or her home. Imagine what a supercomputer AI who is bent on causing as much mayhem as possible, could do. Wars have been fought over less mind you. Furthermore, what happens if something becomes so intelligent and so alienated from what we want it to be that we have no hope of controlling it? How does this particular genie get back into its bottle?

My favorite nightmare of this particular doomsday scenario brought on by AI of this nature is that of the Grey Goo Apocalypse. The idea boils down to self-replication like all life does or like that seen in even the first computer viruses, though this nightmare involves nano-bots. The gist is that if a self-replicating form of nano-bot (for healthcare or research) is created, it will need resources to self-replicate. 

If AI gets out of control, it will start taking our resources to reproduce. Then us. Then the earth. It may then very well venture into the stars – looking for more resources to recreate itself again and again to the point that the entire cosmos is consumed. Hell, perhaps this is our destiny. A sort of eternal path of self-replication. Who knows, perhaps this is the very simulated reality we’re experiencing now.

The beast awakens

As the mist from the morning rain clears, a series of resonating thumps are heard pulsating throughout the Savanah.

A flock of vultures take flight as a bewildered ape mercilessly pounds his fists upon a hallow tree trunk in rhythmic fashion. It’s as if he’s possessed, lost in a trancelike state, realizing for the first time his mortality, his bestial condition. And a strange love slowly seeps from his throbbing heart.

The beasts of the field stare at the ape in a perplexed state. They are fearful of the animal who is acting outside his typical pattern of fixed behavior. Afraid of what he might do next.

Background music of the age

It’s interesting how music often encapsulates the general sentiment of the prevailing time period. Just as Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel set the tone for the baroque period of the 17th and 18th Century with their ornate masterpieces, the music of today seems to simulate the collective fragmented view of reality.

No longer do we sift through cassettes and vinyl record collections, instead AI is now shaping the way we’re listening to music.

Think about that for a moment. Auto-generated playlists and internet radio stations are now curating music for us based upon our personalized algorithm. An algorithm that’s continually growing, and likely knows us better than our own mother.

Mainstream sells

On one side you have the formulated music of the mainstream. Commercial music that preys upon those of superficial tendencies – of the herd mentality. A breed of music that’s driven by systematic formulas with a proven track record. In short, music that sells.

For the last 50 years, this brand of commercialized mainstream music has reigned supreme. It has dominated the airwaves, seeped into the porous fabric of our species, and has conditioned us to favor certain sonic textures, beats, rhythms, and melodies.

One may ask if there is even a difference between roots music, or folk, and contemporary pop music of the mainstream? Well, it’s certain that both have burrowed their way into the fabric of the collective conscious, but I have a notion that one comes from the heart, and the other from a place of fear. A fear of failure. A fear of becoming the fool. A fear of the ego.

In my mind, the former is a lush rainforest crawling with majestic, yet dangerous beasts of beauty, and the latter a superficial oasis of plastic palm trees and high-grade formica crawling with pallid tourists.

Digital revolution

As the technological beast evolves in complexity, and dismantles the historic gatekeepers of the industry, a new sound protrudes its head from the underworld. A multifaceted beast displaying a creative vigor that may yet outshine both the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

It’s a transcendental vibration that is slowly infecting all those who dare to turn on, tune in, and drop out. It’s a new wave of music whose roots reach down into the abyss, and branches grow up into the heavens.

It’s the light we all see at the end of the tunnel. And we are the bridge.

Outside the realm of the mainstream, there are individuals who are blurring the lines between digital and analog, vintage and modern, electronic and acoustic. Artists who refuse to be relegated to any one genre. People, just like you and me, who spend most of their waking hours blending mediums of a diverse nature, attempting to create a sound of beauty that will never again be replicated in human form.

Closing thoughts

It is these pioneers, these trailblazers who propel music, the art world, and culture forward. Without them, we would be stuck in the mud. Beating upon a dead horse, and mindlessly plowing the field as we did throughout the dark ages.

We must be courageous in the creation of art. We must not let fear and stagnation drag us down into the gutter of despair. We must let our light shine forth as we advance upon the path, for the way is dark and treacherous.

There is no escape, so one must either carry on, and reach for a higher place, or roll over and die. Either way, death will find every single last one of us in the end.