Elon Musk: Humans Need To Merge With Machines Else They Will Become Irrelevant in AI Age (cnbc.com)

Billionaire Elon Musk is known for his futuristic ideas. So it didn't come as a surprise when on Monday at the World Government Summit in Dubai, he predicted that over time we will see a "closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence." He added, via a CNBC report: "It's mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output." Musk explained what he meant by saying that computers can communicate at "a trillion bits per second", while humans, whose main communication method is typing with their fingers via a mobile device, can do about 10 bits per second. In an age when AI threatens to become widespread, humans would be useless, so there's a need to merge with machines, according to Musk. "Some high bandwidth interface to the brain will be something that helps achieve a symbiosis between human and machine intelligence and maybe solves the control problem and the usefulness problem," Musk explained.

Comments

Re:Elon Musk: What's this guy smoking?

[cayenne8]

Wow..these super rich types much be smoking some killer, killer shit.....

Solve for Greed first.

[geekmux]

AI can and probably will ultimately make the concept of human employment extinct. And we probably need to accept that fact faster than any prediction, given the speed at which technology has accelerated just in the last couple of decades.

Humans need to first solve the problem of Greed. Otherwise, the chasm that separates the AI owners and wealthy overlords from the rest of the human race will continue to grow, and they won't give a shit about the demise of the irrelevant meatsack masses.

Re:Game Time!

[UncleRage]

Even better when you consider that an improper filter set to prevent this winds up causing seizures for everyone up in HR.

"Be back, in a bit. I have to go reboot Bob again."

He does have a point...

[mspohr]

Most of the comments so far have been personal attacks on Musk. I guess this is par for the low level of discourse here.
However, I'd like to see some discussion of his statement.
Would a better connection between humans and machines be beneficial?
What would be the benefits/ problems?
How could this be achieved?
Come on, folks, I have seen much better from you in the past.

Re: He does have a point...

[Rei]

We dont have Strong AI.

I missed the part when Musk said "we need to do X by next Tuesday".

We do not know how the human brain works

Again, I missed the part when Musk said "we need to do X by next Tuesday".

This is a fantasy pipe dream.

I missed the part where time ceased progressing and technology ceased advancing.

Elon could say we need to build 1) lightsabers and 2) blockade runners to fight 3) the Empire when they get here

1) Not in line with physics, and impractical
2) Does not describe a concrete thing with traits arguably superior to alternatives
3) Does not exist, with no prospect of it existing... (...depending on how strictly you want to define it, either A) "... any time soon", or B) "... ever."

Yellow Journalism

[Spazmania]

"Humans Need To Merge With Machines?" Reading the article it turns out Musk said nothing of the sort. He actually said, "we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence."

Firewall?

[zamboni1138]

Some high bandwidth interface to the brain...

Without a 100% perfection inbound firewall you're not coming anywhere near my brain interface.

...and the benefits would be...what exactly?

[holophrastic]

alternatively: humans only need to communicate at 10 bits, we don't need a trillion bits per second to enjoy life.

But really, isn't the trick to do less, not more? I ain't no worker-bee. I'm jealous of my pet dog sitting on the couch all day while I work at a desk. I want his life -- it's called retirement.

Productivity is the goal of business. Laziness is the goal of life. I've worked hard to be this lazy.