News Item: "AI represents Mankind's salvation." The Raelian Movement responds to Elon Musk's alarmist statements while expressing concern over the closure of ChatGPT in Italy
(Category: Press Release)
Posted by felix
Thursday 20 April 2023
Billionaire Elon Musk, along with hundreds of other prominent personalities and managers, has formally called for the suspension of artificial intelligence (AI) projects for at least six months on the grounds that innovation, in this context, would proceed too fast and he fears that it would take over our lives.
"We are slowly but surely approaching the scenario described by Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement, over twenty years ago in his book, 'Yes to Human Cloning'," said Marco Franceschini, national leader of the Raelian Movement. "It is impressive and quite amusing to see how Rael's predictions take shape before our very eyes with startling precision."
In his visionary book, the author reveals, with extraordinary foresight, the future that awaits us and describes the growing concern of those who, unable to understand and adapt to changes, will anxiously witness the crumbling of their paradigms.
"These are generally individuals whose thinking is contaminated by evolutionary theories and who imagine a dystopian scenario whereby we will be subjected to rebellious machines," Franceschini added. "This is a completely implausible hypothesis since any software, no matter how developed, will never do anything other than execute the instructions encoded within it, unless its creator deliberately programs it to act in a way that moves it from Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Consciousness status. But there is no way this can happen spontaneously, as many wrongly believe has happened for the living species on our planet."
In his book, Rael makes a lucid examination of the possible and eventual implications of this scenario. He describes a distinctly present-day situation and invites readers to look at the upcoming future objectively and with optimism, imagining a vast array of powerful, interconnected tools that are designed to do no other than put their enormous potential at the service of humanity -- as the brightest human minds could never do.
He writes: "If our existence allowed us to achieve the creation of a higher form of consciousness, without harming the planet and all the animal and plant species living on it and without even risking conveying our violence and disrespect for the environment into the universe, would that really be a bad thing? Wouldn't a planet without violence, without suffering and without pollution, governed by a superior computer consciousness, be worth more than a planet run by humans where billions of people go hungry while millions are in hospitals or prisons, and hundreds of animal and plant species disappear every day?"
Thus, the introduction of AI into our society would be a much desired event that could prove decisive for our very survival and for the resolution of all the problems aforementioned that we have created and are seemingly, unfortunately, unable to solve on our own in this delicate and crucial phase of our social evolution.
"In an age when we have, for the first time in history, enough potential to instantly destroy every form of life on the planet, and our rulers threaten to use it with disarming levity, would it not be preferable to be guided by a sophisticated AI apparatus rather than by the stupidity and limited foresight of humans? Or, are we so self-centered that we would even be willing to jeopardize our own survival in order to assert a hypothetical and ephemeral superiority of man over machine?", asked Franceschini.
To this end, the recent decision by the Personal Data Protection Authority agency to suspend Italian citizens' access to ChatGPT -- the well-known artificial intelligence software capable of simulating and processing human conversations -- cannot be overlooked and seems questionable.
Franceschini stressed, "We want to believe that this is a temporary measure that does not hinder or conceals other purposes, because the motivations are quite questionable. To think that we are preventing minors from being exposed to responses that are inappropriate with respect to their degree of development and self-awareness is ridiculous. For consistency, one should then question the education given by incompetent parents, unqualified teachers and especially the role of religious institutions that impose silly beliefs and rituals on infants. As for the issue of the storage and possible disclosure of our personal data, I find this type of overzealousness suspicious and even hypocritical, since it is now well known how the Internet and users' phone traffic in every part of the world is closely monitored by agencies of some countries through their surveillance programs (Echelon and the like), without our governments ever showing as much diligence in taking action."
The reality is that any attempt to legislate against all forms of innovation is doomed to failure, because nothing will prevent science's inevitable progress and that of human society.
"This paradoxical situation only highlights the gap in knowledge and understanding of events between the individuals of our time -- even those endowed with the most vivid imagination -- and those who deepen and embrace the Raelian philosophy. This is quite normal, considering the fact that it has been transmitted to us by an extraterrestrial civilization, the Elohim, with twenty-five thousand years of technological advance on us and is responsible for the scientific creation in the laboratory of all forms of life on Earth. They have had a history that is comparable to our own and are in a better position than we are to know the pitfalls along the way, as well as the paths that can lead us to the creation of a paradise on Earth, thanks to the peaceful and responsible use of our scientific knowledge," concluded Franceschini.
This news item is from Raelian Press Site
( http://www.raelpress.org/news.php?extend.553 )
(Category: Press Release)
Posted by felix
Thursday 20 April 2023
Billionaire Elon Musk, along with hundreds of other prominent personalities and managers, has formally called for the suspension of artificial intelligence (AI) projects for at least six months on the grounds that innovation, in this context, would proceed too fast and he fears that it would take over our lives.
"We are slowly but surely approaching the scenario described by Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement, over twenty years ago in his book, 'Yes to Human Cloning'," said Marco Franceschini, national leader of the Raelian Movement. "It is impressive and quite amusing to see how Rael's predictions take shape before our very eyes with startling precision."
In his visionary book, the author reveals, with extraordinary foresight, the future that awaits us and describes the growing concern of those who, unable to understand and adapt to changes, will anxiously witness the crumbling of their paradigms.
"These are generally individuals whose thinking is contaminated by evolutionary theories and who imagine a dystopian scenario whereby we will be subjected to rebellious machines," Franceschini added. "This is a completely implausible hypothesis since any software, no matter how developed, will never do anything other than execute the instructions encoded within it, unless its creator deliberately programs it to act in a way that moves it from Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Consciousness status. But there is no way this can happen spontaneously, as many wrongly believe has happened for the living species on our planet."
In his book, Rael makes a lucid examination of the possible and eventual implications of this scenario. He describes a distinctly present-day situation and invites readers to look at the upcoming future objectively and with optimism, imagining a vast array of powerful, interconnected tools that are designed to do no other than put their enormous potential at the service of humanity -- as the brightest human minds could never do.
He writes: "If our existence allowed us to achieve the creation of a higher form of consciousness, without harming the planet and all the animal and plant species living on it and without even risking conveying our violence and disrespect for the environment into the universe, would that really be a bad thing? Wouldn't a planet without violence, without suffering and without pollution, governed by a superior computer consciousness, be worth more than a planet run by humans where billions of people go hungry while millions are in hospitals or prisons, and hundreds of animal and plant species disappear every day?"
Thus, the introduction of AI into our society would be a much desired event that could prove decisive for our very survival and for the resolution of all the problems aforementioned that we have created and are seemingly, unfortunately, unable to solve on our own in this delicate and crucial phase of our social evolution.
"In an age when we have, for the first time in history, enough potential to instantly destroy every form of life on the planet, and our rulers threaten to use it with disarming levity, would it not be preferable to be guided by a sophisticated AI apparatus rather than by the stupidity and limited foresight of humans? Or, are we so self-centered that we would even be willing to jeopardize our own survival in order to assert a hypothetical and ephemeral superiority of man over machine?", asked Franceschini.
To this end, the recent decision by the Personal Data Protection Authority agency to suspend Italian citizens' access to ChatGPT -- the well-known artificial intelligence software capable of simulating and processing human conversations -- cannot be overlooked and seems questionable.
Franceschini stressed, "We want to believe that this is a temporary measure that does not hinder or conceals other purposes, because the motivations are quite questionable. To think that we are preventing minors from being exposed to responses that are inappropriate with respect to their degree of development and self-awareness is ridiculous. For consistency, one should then question the education given by incompetent parents, unqualified teachers and especially the role of religious institutions that impose silly beliefs and rituals on infants. As for the issue of the storage and possible disclosure of our personal data, I find this type of overzealousness suspicious and even hypocritical, since it is now well known how the Internet and users' phone traffic in every part of the world is closely monitored by agencies of some countries through their surveillance programs (Echelon and the like), without our governments ever showing as much diligence in taking action."
The reality is that any attempt to legislate against all forms of innovation is doomed to failure, because nothing will prevent science's inevitable progress and that of human society.
"This paradoxical situation only highlights the gap in knowledge and understanding of events between the individuals of our time -- even those endowed with the most vivid imagination -- and those who deepen and embrace the Raelian philosophy. This is quite normal, considering the fact that it has been transmitted to us by an extraterrestrial civilization, the Elohim, with twenty-five thousand years of technological advance on us and is responsible for the scientific creation in the laboratory of all forms of life on Earth. They have had a history that is comparable to our own and are in a better position than we are to know the pitfalls along the way, as well as the paths that can lead us to the creation of a paradise on Earth, thanks to the peaceful and responsible use of our scientific knowledge," concluded Franceschini.
This news item is from Raelian Press Site
( http://www.raelpress.org/news.php?extend.553 )