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Is the world heading towards a post-human future? Sir Martin
Rees warns that super-intelligent robots could wipe out
humanity
Astronomer Royal says we are facing an 'inorganic post-human era'
AI will surpass people because we are constrained by organic brains
By some estimates, he says, the process will begin in the next 25 years
The fact that AI isn't constrained by Earth's biosphere makes it an even deadlier threat, says the 72-year-old
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 16:09 EST, 21 May 2015 | UPDATED: 16:56 EST, 21 May 2015
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Artificial intelligence is progressing at a frightening pace leading humanity towards its ultimate destruction.
This is according to British theoretical astrophysicist, Sir Martin Rees, who believes we are facing
an 'inorganic post-human era'.
By some estimates, he says, the process will begin in the next 25 years as robots begin to achieve intelligence
rivaling that of humans.
The British Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, believes that we are facing an 'inorganic post-human era'
in which robot intelligence will surpass that of people, leading to humanity's ultimate destruction
Sir Martin, who is one of the world's most eminent astronomers, says that while Earth has existed for 45 million
centuries, this century is special.
Over nearly all of Earth's history, threats have come from nature, but from now on, the worst dangers come from
us – and specifically artificial intelligence.
He says that by any definition of 'thinking', the amount and intensity that's done by organic human-type brains
will, in the far future, be swamped by the intelligence of AI.
'There are chemical and metabolic limits to the size and processing power of organic brains,' wrote Sir Rees, in an
opinion piece for the Telegraph.
Sir Rees says that by any definition of 'thinking', the amount and intensity that's done by human-type
brains will, in the far future, be swamped by the intelligence of AI. Pictured is a scene from the 2015 film
'Ex Machina'
Sir Rees' concerns were last week echoed by Stephen Hawking who said that rather than being concerned about
who controls AI, we should be worried if AI can be controlled at all.
His comments were made today at the Zeitgeist 2015 conference in London, and follows a previous warning that
artificial intelligence could spell the end for humanity.
Earlier this year, Hawking signed an open letter with Elon Musk arguing AI development should not go on
uncontrolled.
The letter said that without safeguards on intelligent machines, mankind could be heading for a dark future.
In November, Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Space-X and Tesla, warned that the risk of 'something
seriously dangerous happening' as a result of machines with artificial intelligence, could be in as few as five years.
He has previously linked the development of autonomous, thinking machines, to 'summoning the demon'.