The Intelligence Era
For effectively all of human history, intelligence has been immensely valuable. Cavemen with knowledge of which berries to eat and which to avoid survived. Generals who knew how to counter their enemies won wars and built empires. Innovators who built advanced machinery dominated trade over the Industrial Revolution. Scholars wielding nuclear energy established Earth’s first superpower.
What is to become of a world where intelligence is cheap? Where does human value lie? Has humanity made itself obsolete with the advent of ASI? There will be nothing humans can do better than ASI, and there is no way to undo this evolution.
I remember watching Lee Sedol’s matches against AlphaGo in 2016. At the time, I was young enough to believe it could propel us into an easier and kinder world. But I knew how the game ended. Sedol’s game four win only delayed the inevitable, and he knew it. Humanity’s era had ended, and artificial intelligence reigned.
I say this as someone who values intelligence immensely and pursued it all my life. I dream of a world where humanity wields ASI to achieve a type III civilization. However, I know humans too well.