PBS高端访谈:人类会被人工智能所取代吗?

 　　Now: the fears around the development of artificial intelligence.

　　Computer superintelligence is a long, long way from the stuff of sci-fi movies, but several high-profile leaders and thinkers have been worrying quite publicly about what they see as the risks to come.

　　Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, explores that. It's part of his weekly series, Making Sense.

　　I want to talk to you about the greatest scientific event in the history of man.

　　Are you building an A.I.?

　　A.I., artificial intelligence.

　　Do you think I might be switched off?

　　It's not up to me.

　　Why is it up to anyone?

　　Some version of this scenario¹ has had prominent tech luminaries² and scientists worried for years.

　　In 2014, cosmologist Stephen Hawking³ told the BBC:

　　I think the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

　　And just this week, Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk⁴ told the ?MDNMˉNational Governors Association:

　　A.I. is a fundamental existential risk for human civilization. And I don't think people fully⁵ appreciate that.

　　OK, but what's the economics angle? Well, at Oxford⁶ University's Future of Humanity Institute,

　　founding director Nick Bostrom leads a team trying to figure out how best to invest in, well, the future of humanity.

　　We are in this very peculiar⁷ situation of looking back at the history of our species, 100,000 years old,

　　and now finding ourselves just before the threshold to what looks like it will be this transition to some post-human era of superintelligence that can colonize⁸ the universe, and then maybe last for billions of years.

　　Philosopher Bostrom has been perhaps the most prominent thinker about the benefits and dangers to humanity of what he calls superintelligence for many years.

　　Once there is superintelligence, the fate of humanity may depend on what that superintelligence does.

　　There are plenty of ways to invest in humanity, he says, giving money to anti-disease charities, for example.

　　But Bostrom thinks longer-term, about investing to lessen⁹ existential risks, those that threaten to wipe out the human species entirely¹⁰.

　　Global warming might be one. But plenty of other people are worrying about that, he says. So, he thinks about other risks.

　　What are the greatest of those risks?

　　The greatest existential risks arise from certain anticipated technological¹¹ breakthroughs that we might make,

　　in particular, machine superintelligence, nanotechnology, and synthetic¹² biology, fundamentally because we don't have the ability to uninvent anything that we invent.

　　We don't, as a human civilization, have the ability to put the genie¹³ back into the bottle. Once something has been published, then we are stuck with that knowledge.

　　So Bostrom wants money invested in how to manage A.I.

　　Specifically on the question, if and when in the future you could build machines that were really smart, maybe superintelligent, smarter than humans,

　　how could you then ensure that you could control what those machines do, that they were beneficial, that they were aligned¹⁴ with human intentions?

　　How likely is it that machines would develop basically a mind of their own, which is what you're saying, right?

　　I do think that advanced A.I., including superintelligence, is a sort of portal through which humanity will have passage, assuming we don't destroy ourselves prematurely¹⁵ in some other way.

　　Right now, the human brain is where it's at. It's the source of almost all of the technologies we have.

　　I'm relieved to hear that. And the complex social organization we have. Right.

　　It's why the modern condition is so different from the way that the chimpanzees live.

　　It's all through the human brain's ability to discover and communicate.

　　But there is no reason to think that human intelligence is anywhere near the greatest possible level of intelligence that could exist, that we are sort of the smartest possible species.

　　I think, rather, that we are the stupidest possible species that is capable of creating technological civilization.

　　For the PBS NewsHour, this is economics correspondent Paul Solman, reporting from Oxford, England. undefined

1 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

2 luminaries   

n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式）

参考例句：

• In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 亚14:6那日、必没有光．三光必退缩。 来自互联网
• Includes household filament light bulbs & luminaries. 包括家用的白炙灯泡和光源。 来自互联网

3 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

4 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

7 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

8 colonize   

v.建立殖民地，拓殖；定居，居于

参考例句：

• Around 700 Arabs began to colonize East Africa.公元700年阿拉伯人开始把东非变为殖民地。
• Japan used to colonize many countries in Asia.日本曾经殖民过许多亚洲国家。

9 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

12 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

13 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

14 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

15 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句