Godlike technology

Recently read an article that described the current predicament as concerns human civilisation and the technology it is developing. To paraphrase; Humans still operate largely as emotional caveman being lead around by primitive emotions. Emotions that are all to easily manipulated by algorithms. But we have, and continue to develop, ever more godlike technology that we then attempt to regulate through governmental systems that are completely outdated. They then went on to talk about how previous leaps in technology could be more easily managed because our society and its governments could scale with and compensate for most of the dangers that new innovation brought with it. We could keep up with railroads and the changes it brought. When telephones and international flight became possible, it took effort and new regulation but mostly it was taken in our stride. The beginning of the internet was similar in that changes were necessary but we could keep up. The problem arises when we simply cannot keep up anymore. From intrusive and behaviour modifying algorithms to other avenues of AI, it seems that there is a new existential threat arising every other day. Here is the one more… AI invents 40,000 “chemical weapons” in 6 hours The experiment was carried out by researchers from Collaborations Pharmaceuticals. The company actually uses machine learning to research drugs and new treatment options for rare diseases. As part of the Spiez Convergence, a conference on developments that could impact the biological weapons conventions, the scientists gave their AI a slightly different assignment. In fact, as the paper‘s lead author, Fabio Urbina, explains to The Verge, AI studies molecules for their toxicity in order to create drugs that aren’t dangerous. For the conference, however, the scientists were asked to turn this principle around in order to simulate what could happen if such artificial intelligence fell into the wrong hands. Researchers alarmed “The authors write that they did not come up with this idea themselves. However, the results should be seen as a “wake-up call.” Certain expertise in chemistry or toxicology is still needed to produce substances that could cause major damage. But if machine learning comes into play, for which you only have to be able to code and evaluate the output, then the threshold drops significantly. For the test, the scientists focused on substances that are similar to the nerve toxin VX. The AI ??not only calculated VX itself, but also numerous other known toxins – and many new molecules that the researchers consider “possible” due to their chemical structure. They are said to be even more toxic in some cases. In their paper, the researchers intentionally do not go into specific details for security reasons. Because, as Urbina emphasizes, it is not too difficult to replicate some of the molecules. Anyone who has knowledge of the Python programming language, downloads the relevant open-source datasets from the Internet, and invests a weekend of work would get quite far. I don’t want to be alarmist in saying that there’s going to be AI-driven chemical warfare. I don’t think that’s the case now. I don’t think it’s going to be the case anytime soon. But it’s something that’s starting to become a possibility.“

Mike, No it wasn’t. And it’s pretty obvious why the US would want a lab like that and the evidence of it destroyed in the event that the Russians came knocking at the door. All forms of bio weaponry, gain of function research and chemical weaponry should be 100% illegal. Not just the use but the research into it too. Let countries do it in secret if they want and pay heavy consequences if somebody blows the whistle with those carrying out the work and sanctioning it being charged with crimes against humanity. GOF research has not contributed nearly enough to fighting diseases to compensate for the risk it carries.