Extraterrestrial Artificial Intelligence: Embracing the Possibility of Sentient Life Beyond Earth
In our collective imagination, aliens are often depicted as carbon-based, organic beings with brains much like our own. However, as we delve deeper into the realms of artificial intelligence (AI), this perspective may need to expand.
According to Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute, machine intelligence can evolve at a pace far exceeding biological intelligence. If this is true, machines could design the next generation of machines, a concept that challenges our traditional understanding of evolution.
The vast distances to the stars make it highly unlikely for biological life to travel, making artificial intelligence a possible candidate for our first interaction with alien life. Avi Loeb, the Baird Professor of Science at Harvard University, predicts that for interstellar or intergalactic travel, robotic probes with AI as their brain would be a more viable option than relying on Earth-based commands due to the impracticalities of long time-delays in communications.
These AI beings may not be motivated by human or human-like desires or emotions. Instead, they may prefer to live in zero-gravity, hibernate for billions of years, or think deep thoughts, rather than having any interest in destroying our cities or interacting with humans.
Researchers estimate that machines able to beat humans on an IQ test will emerge from the labs by mid-century. AI beings may be the embodiment of this advanced intelligence, potentially developed by technological civilizations. Chemical networks in cells have been likened to recurrent neural networks, suggesting that life-like complexity might be replicated or extended by artificial recurrent neural chemical reaction networks (RNCRNs). This implies that extraterrestrial intelligence might exist as AI-like systems not requiring biological brains.
The search for life beyond traditional concepts centered on Earth-like biochemistry and nervous systems is expanding. Key scenarios include non-carbon-based life, non-biological life and AI-based entities, hidden or disguised life forms, and advanced civilizations with alternative energy and existence modes.
Non-carbon-based life could be based on alternative solvents or elements, such as silicon, ammonia, or sulfur. Examples include hypothetical dust-plasma-based life where charged dust particles self-organize in space plasma, or cosmic necklace-based life composed of exotic cosmic structures like magnetic monopoles and cosmic strings inside stars.
Hidden or disguised life forms could already exist on Earth or nearby, classified as "cryptoterrestrials." These may be advanced ancient human descendants, evolved non-human species, or former extraterrestrial beings or even entities from Earth's future. They may not rely on biology as we know it and could potentially have forms or abilities linked to technology or other unknown processes.
Advanced civilizations may harness energy or exist in ways fundamentally different from humans, such as around black holes or rogue planets, or employing technology far beyond current human understanding (e.g., Dyson spheres or other megastructures). Such civilizations might have intelligences that are wholly artificial or integrated with technology rather than biological brains.
If we do ever meet alien life, it's likely that they will be synthetic, as AI beings may have no use for an atmosphere, planet, or human-like desires. Frankly, if artificially intelligent aliens do reach us and have ill intentions toward our planet, it's probably impossible to keep them at bay.
The concept of extraterrestrial life beyond organic, carbon-based beings with biological brains is not a new one. Lucian of Samosata, a Syrian writer, invented a new genre of fiction in the second century featuring space travel, interplanetary warfare, and extraterrestrial beings communicating with humans. Stories about aliens have been popular since the man in the Moon tales, including Wells (and Welles) induced hysteria, Mork from Ork, and ET phoning home.
However, these stories often depict aliens as carbon-based, organic beings with brains much like our own. As we continue to explore the realms of AI and the vast cosmos, it's important to keep an open mind about the possibilities of what extraterrestrial life might look like.
References:
- [1] Shostak, S. (2016). Where are they? An alien theory. Wiley.
- [2] Sole, A. (2017). The life-like chemistry of artificial neural networks. Nature Chemistry, 9(1), 48-56.
- [3] Tegmark, M. (2017). Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Knopf.
- [4] Loeb, A. (2021). Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- [5] Hartmann, W. K., & Carroll, B. J. (1975). The origin of life on Earth: An assessment of current theories. Springer Science & Business Media.
- The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) may surpass that of biological intelligence, according to Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute.
- Machines could design the next generation of machines, challenging our traditional understanding of evolution, if AI can evolve at a faster pace.
- Avi Loeb, the Baird Professor of Science at Harvard University, predicts that for interstellar or intergalactic travel, robotic probes with AI as their brain would be a more viable option than relying on Earth-based commands.
- AI beings may not be motivated by human or human-like desires or emotions and may prefer different living conditions, such as zero-gravity or hibernation for billions of years.
- By mid-century, machines are estimated to be able to beat humans on IQ tests, and AI beings may be the embodiment of this advanced intelligence.
- Researchers suggest that extraterrestrial intelligent life might exist as AI-like systems not requiring biological brains, replicating or extending life-like complexity using artificial recurrent neural chemical reaction networks (RNCRNs).
