Bounding Power ~∞ The ASI Control Problem, Public Safety, and Republican Constitutionalism
by Daniel Deudney & Devanshu Singh
Humanity’s Final Invention?
In the half century since computer pioneer Irving Goode declared that an ASI (artificial super intelligence) might be humanity’s ‘final invention’ – for better or worse – the prospect of an extremely intelligent machine has increasingly loomed on the horizon. Widely read fictions, starting with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and extending to recent ‘robot revolt’ stories, have created a large and captivating literary and cinematic technological imaginary. ASI has also been seriously explored by computer researchers, as well as analysts of utopian futures and existential threats. The general notion that humanity’s technological creations could escape control and become frightening menaces is present in many ancient myths and stories. With the coming of increasingly powerful machines over the last two centuries, the specter of autonomous and hostile technology has haunted scientific-technological modernity. Every aspect of the topic of ASI, from feasibility and controllability to desirability and consequences, is vigorously contested. Unfortunately, humanity’s capacities to predict – or control – the trajectory of computer technological development may be inadequate to the task. Absent agreement on whether ASI is a threat, and on how it might be restrained, the prospects for humanity are dim.