Humanity will have to become a hybrid race if we are to stay relevant. That is, if we want to survive obsolescence in a future society overcome by artificial intelligence, said Elon Musk at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday.
Musk also launched Tesla in the United Arab Emirates, where it has already sold 200 cars in just a couple of days. At the Summit, the entrepreneur also discussed the future of space flights and the need for establishing a universal basic income model.
Musk believes we are already halfway from cyborg humans
“TO SOME DEGREE WE ARE ALREADY CYBORG – YOU THINK OF ALL THE DIGITAL TOOLS THAT YOU HAVE – YOUR PHONE, YOUR COMPUTER. OVER TIME WE WILL SEE A CLOSER MERGER OF BIOLOGICAL AND DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE,” said Elon Musk to the crowd in Dubai.
The executive made this argument to illustrate how we have developed a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the devices we use every day. A greedy vision of this concept steps into the realm of transhumanism.
Transhumanism is a lesser known movement that proposes the evolution of the human race using science and technology. In this sense, people can enhance their abilities by adapting their minds and body using highly advanced prosthetics.
SpaceX’s CEO believes humanity will have to, eventually, develop “some high-bandwidth interface” that allows us to enhance our capabilities by fusing our brains with machines dramatically.
The reason for this is the impending dominance of artificial intelligence over something more than the job market if scientists are not careful enough. Intelligent machines will take over as much as 15% of all jobs over the next 20 years, Musk predicted.
Musk also sees some silver linings in the future
The future is not all bleak and full of machines taking over the world for the head of Tesla. Elon Musk also feels we can achieve space travel beyond our solar system in the next 50 years.
SpaceX is already working on sending humans to Mars by next decade, and eventually colonizing the Red Planet by nuking it with atomic bombs to make it habitable for humans.
He also sees universal basic income as a consequence of artificial intelligence displacing people in the job market, leading to both great opportunities and major issues that strike the deepest chords of humanity.
Source: Ars Technica