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Essay / Artificial Intelligence - 1894
Of all the technological developments of the modern era, none is as complex as artificial intelligence. The idea that a non-human, manufactured entity could advance to the point of mimicking human behavior is enough to make people shudder. Perhaps even worse is the idea of something so advanced that we won't be able to tell the difference. In 1961, Philip Dick wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. He described a world with exactly these characteristics. Artificial intelligence had reached a point of near-perfect human replication. In creating this world, Dick was echoing the speculation and fears of AI that had been building up at that time. She will then continue to influence these opinions in the years that follow. It is necessary to look at the development of artificial intelligence in order to put this idea in context. The concept of intelligent, conscious constructs began to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s, when several scientists from many fields came together to discuss the possibilities of advanced computational research. The first major step was a scientific conference at Dartmouth College in 1956. Here, general concepts and possible avenues of AI research were fleshed out. As described in Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, this conference marked "the birth of artificial intelligence." This was essentially a theoretical step, but the experts present predicted that with a huge investment, working technology could be available within a generation (16). After being officially established, AI research and discovery exploded. Computer programs, a brand new idea, were already conquering algebra and speech recognition problems. Some could even reproduce English (18). It was clear that artificial intelligence research was going to be middle of paper....... Each stage of development increases our dependence and this in turn promotes advancement. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep describes a dark world where artificial intelligences and humanity have entered into some form of conflict. Its predictions and ramifications are not easy to dismiss and remain true even today. We are already seeing AI outperform humans in some areas. WATSON of IBM has surpassed humanity in terms of intellect. It will take some time to realize this, but it is an important step nonetheless. We also have artificial “slaves” in a small sense of the term. Machines for much of the heavy work previously done by man. Large assembly plants now employ only a few technicians to openly monitor computers. Although we are far from slavery, the process has begun. We are also addicted to the usefulness of machines and this addiction is impossible to cure..