The 'Natural' Fallacy: A Word on Our Atavistic Fear of AI
I have been observing, with a mixture of amusement and alarm, the emergence of a rather tiresome and infantile dichotomy in the debate surrounding artificial intelligence. It is the supposed contest between the "natural" and the "artificial," a framing that is not only intellectually lazy but is freighted with a whole cargo of romantic superstition. The argument, if one can call it that, seems to be that human intelligence, being a "natural" product of evolution, is inherently superior, safer, or in some way more authentic than any intelligence we might ourselves devise. Let us be clear. Nature, in its sublime indifference, is the source of every poison, plague, and predator that has ever threatened our species. It is the realm of the cobra's venom, the black mamba's kiss, and the botulinum toxin. The "natural" world is a theater of ceaseless, pitiless, and mindless slaughter. To suggest that a product is "good" or ...