Emulation Argument For Human-Level AI

The Emulation argument for human-level AI argues that since whole brain emulation seems feasible then human-level AI must also be feasible. There are many underlying assumptions in the argument, most of them are explored by Chalmers (2010)¹. Perhaps the most debated premise is holding that a brain emulation could have a consciousness mind or that consciousness isn’t fundamental to human intelligence. Chalmers ² formalized the argument as follows:”

(i) The human brain is a machine.
(ii) We will have the capacity to emulate this machine (before long).
(iii) If we emulate this machine, there will be AI.

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(iv) Absent defeaters, there will be AI (before long)”

An emulated-brain populated world could hold severe negative consequences, such as:

Inherent inability to have consciousness, if some philosophers are right ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶.
Elimination of culture in general, due to an extremely increasing penalty for inefficiency in the form of flamboyant displays ⁷
Near zero costs for reproduction, pushing most of emulations to live in a subsistence state. ⁸

References

CHALMERS, David. (2010) "The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis, Journal of Consciousness Studies", 17 (9-10), pp. 7-65.↩
LUCAS, John. (1961) Minds, machines, and Gödel, Philosophy, 36, pp. 112–127↩
DREYFUS, H. (1972) What Computers Can’t Do, New York: Harper & Row.↩
PENROSE, Roger (1994) Shadows of the Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press.↩
BLOCK, Ned (1981) Psychologism and behaviorism, Philosophical Review, 90, pp. 5–43.↩
BOSTROM, Nick.(2004) "The future of human evolution". Death and Anti‐Death: Two Hundred Years After Kant, Fifty Years After Turing, ed. Charles Tandy (Ria University Press: Palo Alto, California, 2004): pp. 339‐371. Available at: http://www.nickbostrom.com/fut/evolution.pdf↩
Hanson, R. (1994) If uploads come first: The crack of a future dawn, Extropy, 6(2). Available at: http://hanson.gmu.edu/uploads.html↩

AI ALIGNMENT FORUM
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AI ALIGNMENT FORUM
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Emulation Argument For Human-Level AI

References