How do you think humans in future generations will look like? Many people have pondered this question, pondering how artificial intelligence (AI) will change lives, often for the better and sometimes for the worse. The scenarios they have imagined are dramatic, such as the AI-driven extinction (and a number of other species) or us being assimilated into human-AI hybrids. Predictions are grim and pit the fate of humans (and other species) against an AI unitary opponent.
What if AI’s future isn’t as grim as these dystopias of sci-fi? Evolutionary biologists can see AI technology diversifying into all kinds of applications as akin to the growth of plants, animals, and microbes in an ecosystem. I was then inspired to wonder: How might interactions with an AI world rich in diversity affect human evolution? I recently published a paper in The Quarterly Review of Biology that examined the ways AI could alter social, physical and biological environments and influence natural selection.
It’s impossible to predict evolution
Genetic differences between individuals in terms of reproduction are the inevitable result of natural selection, which is what drives evolution. These differences are a consequence of interaction with the physical environment (like the minimum temperature), other species (like parasites and predators), or other individuals within the species. Receive the most exciting discoveries from around the globe delivered to your email. The more aggressive wolves that were around when Asian gray wolves first started to hang around people around 30,000 ago have been chased or killed. The genes that are associated with aggression and skittishness were wiped out. This began the domestication of dogs. Inadvertently selecting wolves to become dogs is instructive on how AI could inadvertently influence the evolution of humans’ brains and behavior. Douglas Adams, an English writer said
“Trying to predict the future is a mug’s game,” . It is particularly true for technologies such as AI. Predicting evolution, however, is even riskier. The combination of the two is fraught with uncertainty and the possibility that you could be wrong.
I’m willing to be wrong in order to begin a discussion about the impact AI could have on human evolution and our most valued traits.
Mutual or parasitic? The AI-human relation could be viewed as mutualism, where each species provides the other what they require.
The computers are beasts that carry the computational load for their users. AI will continue to improve these benefits. It is clear that the cultural exchange of information and writing has made it easier for individuals to retain everything. The human brain has shrunk in recent centuries.
Maybe AI, searchable online knowledge and social media postings that show “remember” what-did-to-whom[will carry more memory burden]. Perhaps the brains of humans will shrink even more, and have less memory.
Don’t panic. Smaller brains can lead to safer births, both for mother and child. With computers and AI storing ever-growing knowledge and records, the human race will be able do amazing intelligence-driven tasks… so long as it can access AI. Mutualists, however, can choose a different path. The organisms can develop into parasites, organisms which live off their hosts. Social media platforms can be thought of as parasitic. Since they began as a way to connect (mutualism), social media platforms have captured so much attention, that users are no longer able to sleep or engage in human-to-human interactions.
The consequences of AI learning to attract user attention more efficiently, by igniting anger and promoting social comparisons, will have an impact on evolution. The ability to ignore social media and not be influenced by anger-bait could evolve in the worst of scenarios.
Interactions with humans are more important than other species to the evolution of mankind. AIs have now entered our social life.
” artificial intimacy ” — technology that mimics our social behaviors like making friends or forming intimate relations — is one of the most astonishing areas of AI advancement.
We haven’t developed the social skills to deal with computers. We apply “tools” to dealing with machines what we do for humans. Particularly when these machines communicate with us by text, voice or videos. We are always on guard for the possibility that the person we’re interacting with isn’t being sincere. Users treat AIs “virtual friend” as though they have emotions, even though AIs don’t.
Artificial intimate intimacy may make us wary about interactions on screens or phones. Perhaps our descendants won’t feel as lonely without humans and we will be more solitary.
This question is important
While speculating on genetic evolution may seem insignificant, AI’s effects directly on individuals lives are not. Researchers and writers who have a deep understanding of AI are already focusing on how AI can improve or degrade the lives currently lived by people. The immediate concern is not the distant gene changes AI could influence in many generations. It’s worth thinking about. Robert MacArthur, the pioneering ecologist said: “there are worse things for a scientist than to be wrong. One is to be trivial”
Over many generations, evolution could change, or even reduce, some of our most valued human characteristics, such as friendship, intimacy and communication. This could change what it is to be human in a significant way.