SCI-FI SCHOOL by Odis Chenault
ep.6 Artificial Intelligence
Hello and welcome to the sixth installment of SciFi School.
Artificial intelligence (A.I.) is a common theme in science fiction. I want to talk about the obvious and not so obvious applications of this science in science fiction.
Artificial intelligence is when a computer or machine becomes aware of its own existence and starts to think. In science fiction, this usually spells trouble. In the Terminator and Matrix series, one of A.I.’s first decisions is to destroy mankind. It seems that thinking machines have little tolerance for our imperfect reasoning.
A.I. can be a computer network, an android, a robot or all of these. A.I. can be controlled by a main source or a community of individual machines.
When A.I. is a network, it can hack into and take control of other networks. In the Terminator and Matrix series, A.I. was given control of the nuclear arsenal. A.I. then used it to wipe out a large percentage of the human population. The next step was to build mobile war machines to mop up the remaining post apocalyptic survivors. With the machines growth unchecked, they would build machine cities and continue to evolve into something like Transformers or beyond.
An android is a thinking computer that looks like a human. These machines can operate on a complex series of programmed functions or have a form of positronic brain that allows them to think.
Robots, in science fiction, are usually stand alone machines with some form of mobility. They too can be programmed or think on their own. They can be in any size or shape. Technically, Nano-Bots are robots.
Nano- technology involves microscopic machines that can reproduce rapidly. Nano-technology and A.I. produce unlimited possibilities. If Nano machines develop“hive level” intelligence, they could become an unstoppable swarm or wave. It would be almost impossible to defend against a swarm of microscopic machines working together. They could go anywhere and build anything.
Scary stuff, but scientists are trying to build this stuff as you read this article. Don’t worry; they’ll keep it all under control. Won’t they?
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