“I think; therefore, I am.”

The phrase guided the Age of Reason when Rene Descartes came up with it. The words had a ring of truth and irrefutability that lasted 300 years.
But now, that same Cartesian issue is up for review. Henry Kissinger and Google’s Eric Schmidt, in their book The Age of AI, are asking the question: If artificial Intelligence programs can think, then where do you and I fit in?”
The standard for machines thinking Intelligently was established back in 1950 by computer pioneer Alan Turing (Who broke the German U-boat Enigma code).
Machines, say Messrs. Kissinger and Schmidt, have now met the intelligence standard. They cited an example in 2020. when a novel antibiotic, “halicin,” was discovered by MIT researchers. Guys at MIT claimed that without AI, halicin would have been “prohibitively expensive”—in other words, impossible with traditional (Human) experimentation. Ergo, that machine was intelligent.

Prizewinning A.I. Painting

If AI programs can discover medicines that are beyond the reach of our brains, if software programs can produce prize-winning paintings or even write novels, or  philosophy books like Rene Descartes’, – then your standing on earth and mine have shifted. The ground is altered, and “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

As a Panglossian, I see all is for the best. But what if it’s not? Is the human’s monopoly on intelligence under attack? Are AI zombie brain snatchers going to grow and replace us?

Will orthodox intelligent life on earth become redundant? Back in the day, we all boasted about our IQ as a  sought-after human quality. I was proud of my number.  Not “exceptional”but miles ahead of  brilliant chimps and apes. No abacus or pocket calculator in the world could touch me and my ability to think. 

 But now the demand for performance and meritocracy dictate that we in the human community be relieved (fired) from jobs that demand top performance and responsibilities.

What will become of Aspiring intellectuals, scientists, researchers, and chess master?The positions will be capably filled by machines. Time has come, according to the Kissinger/Schmidt book, to redefine our position in the world while we still have the upper hand.

Some will be in; some will be out. I’m hoping to make the cut.

The Age of AI. By Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher. Little, Brown