The Technology After AI: Who Will Control What Comes Next?

Commentary by Ron Washington, native Chicagoan living in Las Vegas, disabled Marine Corps combat veteran, business owner (Premiers Secours), and proud NU grad. Son of Bernadine C. Washington, former WVON GM, who inspired his love for writing.

The technology that comes after AI is not a single field, but a combination of advancements including the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the increased power of quantum computing, and the integration of AI with other fields such as in something called, “synthetic biology and neuromorphic computing.”

A neuromorphic computer is a computer designed to mimic the structure and function of the human brain to process information. That’s right the science fiction of yesteryear is our reality today. 

These areas aim to move beyond current, task-specific AI like Chat and other data robots toward more human-like cognitive abilities and solve currently impossible problems. This opens up the possibility and high probability that this science will also create negative problems that will be impossible to solve and nefarious minded individuals and institutions to advance and run it. 

This is where the potential problems lie in as much as in who, which, and what humans and how do they think, believe and act, what humans will direct, influence and control this technological journey? We are getting a first hand view of those vying for power to control this advancement right now. I don’t think we can trust any of them because their motivation is not to aid mankind rather its driven by greed, power and money. It always has been.

This is why elections matter and right now it seems people of voting age, especially those of the post-Boomer generations, the ones who have the most to lose, have a lot of catching up to do. While we seem to be coming around in small incremental moves, there are so many distractions confronting us, keeping us from uniting against the common enemy beginning with TYRANNY right here at home. 

I’m not sure what the answer is or the outcomes will be but one thing is for sure. If we don’t cease falling for the distractions and force ourselves to bury the hatchet of petty grievances responsible for the likes of racism and hate, two of our major distractions, then this world will become more intolerant to life and living than it presently is now. We’ve got to unite beyond race, ethnicity and nationality if future generations are going to survive. For us in this country it begins with the next election. We don’t have time to argue about this!