We get so caught up in crypto and security that we often forget we are designing a network that is quite likely going to become an A.I. and perhaps sooner than we think a sentient one at that. I think that we should give serious thought to the core dirrectives we are instilling in it’s base line programming, in it’s core DNA if you will. Maidsafe will not just be an app, it will be a network spanning the entire planet and interacting with millions of people and gathering and managing pedabytes of data. If the internet were to become self aware what would it’s personality be like? I am not raising this issue as a philosophical dissussion but rather as a serious technical one because the subject as maidsafe being an A.I. has been raised more than once and considering the scope of the internet, and of this project, and considering the speed at which technology advances these days I consider it a real possibility we are conceiving and giving birth to what will become a new sentient being here and I’d much prefer it to be Samantha from “Her” or Sarah from Eureka than Terminator’s Skynet or iRobot’s Vicki. In short I’d prefer a benevelent and helpful A.I. to a homocidal one.
What happens for instance if we become cybernetic at some point or otherwise life dependent on tech that is in turn dependent upon SAFE network data and one’s account or computer for whatever reason becomes infected. Do you terminate the patient or protect the network?
Perhaps I’m being ridiculous but I’ve seen science fiction been manifested into reality in my lifetime. The concept of a sentient computer isn’t that far fetched. \and here we are coding internet 2.0. So forgive me for taking a moment to throw the idea out there. The notion of an A.I. network that spans the planet, that all humanity depends on for their daily busines and interactions, suddenly waking up and throwing a temper tantrum gives me pause.
