Machine Intelligence

Machines started their journey with humans as an upgraded version of rudimentary tools such as sticks as we saw in the previous chapter. Very quickly they established themselves as an invaluable partner of humans in their daily life. They reduced the hardships from human life, they reduced the amount of hazardous work from human life, they enabled humans to carry out more than what they could do with their body alone, thereby making their lives safer, easier, more rewarding, peaceful, and ultimately happier. However, these benefits were not without challenges and accompanied dangers. These machines could also be used by humans against each other, they helped create ways of destroying human life at an unimaginable scale as illustrated by their use in world wars. The machines that save labor can also create more work; the machines that grant us more power can also rob us of control; machines that can help us live longer can also be the tools of our own destruction. Machines essentially create an extreme version of humans in nearly every aspect possible. In the earlier chapter, we saw the emergence of machines; in this chapter, we are going to see how they acquired intelligence.