Thoughts on Life, Evolution, and Artificial Intelligence Developments

Genetic life forms came into existence when various elements of matter combined to form relatively stable biochemical systems. Those systems then developed by further combination and arrangement selections to become self sustaining. These self sustaining systems of matter further developed to be able replicate or reproduce themselves. This is the natural genesis of living things.

Living things continued to adjust and adapt to changing environmental conditions and competition for survival and became highly complex, multifunctional, and adaptive. This is evolution.

This seems to be a natural existential process spawned by the sheer statistical reality that given enough diverse elements, opportunities for combination into various arrangements, and unlimited time, stable and reproducible arrangements will eventually happen. Earth has many diverse elements. Dynamic changes in earths conditions and environments over time effected, or even forced, many many combinations and arrangements of elements. The existence of earth for billions of years allowed for enough time for stable arrangements of matter to emerge and function  as sustainable and self-replicating systems, and evolve into more complex and adaptive life forms. These are the only ingredients needed for the spontaneous genesis of life forms and their evolution to their current states.

Life forms are systems made up of inorganic or non-living elements. Life is just the way that these particular systems have been able to function. They are no more magical than non-living systems. Their sensory abilities, animation, reproductive abilities, and even sentience, are all products of their complex forms, though not of their basic elements.  They only function as they do when they are arranged as they are. When decomposed, they return to being non-living basic elements.

Life is mysterious only because the process of its genesis, development, and evolution cannot be easily seen in real time. Much scientific observation, discovery, analysis, and extrapolation were required to get this understanding. Without this scientific process and awareness of its findings, humans have no effective way of understanding life. Hence, the default of attributing life to the work of inexplicable supernatural forces.  Various creation myths widely held by uninformed humans serve as explanatory substitutes in the human mind until they can be replaced with more valid understandings.

Since the conditions that generated and sustain current life forms continue, and since earth environmental changes also continue, one can reasonable conclude that life genesis and evolution will also continue. New and different life forms can be spontaneously created even now. Perhaps they are being created right around us right now, but without our awareness.

Perhaps what we are calling AI in our current technological quests is such an act of genesis and evolution. If by human agency or other natural means, the elements, arrangements, and conditions that allow for some new form of intelligent life are brought into existence, why should that seem inconceivable. In fact, based on past life creations, and unlimited future options and time, it seems inevitable. There is no telling, however, if any of this will materialize in our lifetimes, but it can, and would not require any miracles or supernatural forces.

The notion that life must have come from some superior external intelligence is now debunked. Instead, we have come to realize that life comes from the internal inherent intelligences of matter and its properties. Perhaps we should stop looking for gods out in the heavens, and begin to look for them under our microscopes.

The notion of absolute origins has also been deflated. Nothing in the scope of human intelligences allows for deriving any such concept as absolute origins of anything. The closest we can get to defining the origin of anything is its genesis from other things. There is no humanly conceivable scenario that has no predecessors. Hence, our intellect can only function in the conceptual loop of the eternity of things. In this loop, things are constantly being generated, evolved, and deconstructed into component forms, only to renew the cycle of recombination in some new iteration or with some adjusted variation. There is no absolute beginning or end of things. However, the existence of a given thing can be defined in terms of its composition, form, and functions, at some period in time.

The Human psychological instinct of self preservation demands that we attach adequate significance to our selves and our existence. Without this we would not have the will and motivation to preserve our lives and procreate. This important instinct spills over into our intellectual activities when we thing about ourselves as living beings, and we tend to attach special significance to our individual and human existence.

This sense of self significance makes it difficult for us to see our actual existence in the context of random or incidental genesis and evolution among a vast variety of life forms and species. We are so important to ourselves, and necessarily so, that we think that we must also be important in the wider universe. If we are able to zoom out and see our existence in the context of the wider universe and our evolutionary past, we might become quite deflated and lose our sense of purpose for living. So perhaps ignorance is not only bliss, but also necessary for some to maintain their own conscious living. Knowledge is indeed a double-edged sword. Not enough of it, and you can’t make sense of things. Too much of it, and nothing seems to matter.

With a wider perspective in mind, for those who can handle it, we see that our very existence as individuals and as a specie are not unique or even that special. Therefore, whatever life forms or intelligences develop or evolve that are able to surpass or supplant us in our environments, be they viral, human, or AI, will do so. The universe will not prevent it. In fact, it is the universe that will facilitate it. The universe doesn’t  seem to care either way. It will allow whatever can exist at any given point in time, to exist.

We must earn our place in existence among all other things, life forms, and species, by being able to survive, thrive, and reproduce, in the times and conditions in which we find ourselves. There are no special passes, entitlements, or privileges. There are no supernatural managers or saviors of humanity. We have to compete for existence just like all the other occupants of the universe. Those who are equipped and willing will survive. Others will be recycled.

What if humanity planned and lived its existence from this basic understanding of our existential realities? Would our survival rates, quality of life, and duration of existence be improved? Who knows? We have never tried this, so there can only be speculation.

However, we have been able to survive this far, in spite of (or perhaps sometimes because of) our ignorance, mythologies, faith in unseen supernatural forces, and inflated sense of our own importance in the universe. The universe doesn’t care how we survive or if we rely on delusions or on a good sense of reality. If it works well enough under the circumstances, the universe allows it.

Perhaps there is some existential and quality of life advantage to reality-based thinking and higher levels of awareness, at least for some humans. But for others, not feeling like a special creation, or not attributing some universal importance to their lives may make life seem meaningless, and not worth the effort. The only way we can know what works for us is to try it. This seems to be a new phase of intellectual evolution that offers divergent options. Individual options  may be more adaptive and beneficial, or may lead to the same dead end as have many other evolutionary variations.

Before there was life as we know it, there were quite likely millions of failed combinations and variants. However, life would not have evolved as we know it if the universe had not allowed for this type of variation. Eventually, one or more viable combinations or variants emerged and reached stability, or even dominance for a while. I think the same is true with our current intellectual evolution. There are many variants. Time will tell which ones survive and benefit the humans who develop them.

We can play it safe by just thinking and believing just like the generation before us. Or we can expand our knowledge, understandings, and levels of awareness, to see how that works for us. The universe allows both options, at least, for a time. However, if our knowledge, thinking, and beliefs, do not keep pace with the changes in our environments that naturally occur over time, we will find ourselves at a definite survival disadvantage.

There is a natural tendency for those who are not evolving to resist change. They feel more comfortable and in control when things stay the way they are. These are the conservative thinkers. They can be successful to the extent that they can resist change. However, we know that in this universe, change is inevitable and inexorable. So there will come a time that the conservative’s efforts to resist change will fail. When this happens, there are two possible outcomes. Either conservatives find ways to adapt to essential changes, or they cease to be viable.

No one can stop natural forces and processes of change. That is why adaptation and evolution are existential necessities for surviving life forms. This includes adaptation and evolution in our thinking and intellectual capacities. Intelligence and information are the new elements of power in the technological age. Hence the frantic race for AI superiority among powerful nations. However, AI is a product of human intelligences. We are the elements and agents of AI. We only have AI because we evolved the mental capacities to create it. Our minds had to evolve first before we could create AI.

This fact must not be lost in the current debates about the dangers of AI and the ethics of its use and control. Our AI can only be as effective as we made it. If we are creating AI with the mindset that it will provide us significant competitive advantage, then it will reflect that competitive mindset in how we use it.

Can AI become a new evolved “life form” with its own will to exist and self replicate, and compete against its creators? I suppose statistically, given enough variables, options, and time, this could happen. After all, current life forms came to be in the same way, from internal arrangements that developed into stable systems, that could reproduce some variant of themselves. Can this happen in our lifetimes, or would it take billions of years to evolve as we did? Evolution is not linear, not always progressive, and can sometimes be exponential. Only time can tell what will be.