Templeton: "Open source ape" may become first AI

from the unnerving-thoughts dept.
Senior Associate Brad Templeton, also chairman of Electronic Frontier Foundation, has been thinking about AI through uploading: "However, the uploading scenario presents a rather disturbing conclusion. The first super-beings may not be based on humans at all, but instead may be apes. In the course of modern science, it is always the case that we experiment with animals first, years before we attempt anything on people. It's the ethical way, and in many cases the only legal way. As such, as we develop the technology to scan or convert an existing brain into an artificial form, we'll try this first on animals. We'll start with lower ones, and then work up to our closest relatives, the chimpanzee and bonobo…Indeed, the software of this chimp brain might be made available for free distribution. An "open source" ape, for all to experiment on." He makes a plausible case; worth reading.