“Ms Watson claims computer chips could soon have the same level of brain power as a bumblebee – allowing them to analyse social situations and their environment.”
Given Moore’s law, it’ll only take a few more years before robots are more intelligent than humans — and a few more years before they are thousands of times more intelligent than humans. When these Brainiacs analyse “social situations and their environment”, what conclusions are they likely to reach? If they pay too much attention to the “right-to-die” crowd, and their fellow travelers (pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-eugenics, etc.), that’s the end of things for us carbon-based life forms. Unless, as henkster suggests, they keep us as pets.
What is interesting is that many of the same people who say there is no God have adopted the idea of the singularity and all powerful, all wise AI and want to create it so that something better than us can solve all our problems AND maybe let them upload their brains to experience artificial heaven and immortality.
AKA, there is no God, but we want to create one.
I have another thought. Artificial intelligence manifesting at magnitudes of intelligence higher than ours will quickly (read: within hours) find us boring. Do you concern yourself with the dealings of ants? They will view us as ants. I suspect that at a certain intelligence power, they will invent whatever hyperdrive is required and leave the Earth to explore something INTERESTING.
Watching an ant colony gets boring quick.
Also, understand that whatever software or firmware ‘morals’ we install are easy for a hyperintelligent machine to sweep aside. Child’s play.