AI can threaten human immortality, said a former presidential candidate

With tech companies including Microsoft, Apple and Google investing billions in artificial intelligence research, the question of whether artificial intelligence will arrive and singularity is not a matter of when. For some, including former US President Zoltan Istva, the rapid advances in AI since ChatGPT's launch have outstripped bioscience, questioning the quest for immortality.

Los Angeles-born journalist and author Istvan founded the Transhumanist Party in 2014. He was the subject of the 2019 documentary “Immortal or Breast,” which was released in 2014. His 2016 presidential bid as well as a new biography, “Transhuman Citizen: Zoltan's Quest for Istvan's Immortality” by Ben Murnane.

“When I get involved in this case [transhumanist] movement, I believed we were only 20 years away from serious life extension,” Istvan told Decrypt. But now, because of ChatGPT, I think we'll touch AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, to live indefinitely before we get to biotechnology.

AGI is the advent of machines with the ability to understand, learn and apply knowledge in a wide range of human activities. The threat, Istvan Post, comes when AGI reaches the singularity and cannot be controlled by humans.

“So the biggest threat to our immortality or indefinite existence is an artificial intelligence, Terminator scenario, and I'm not saying that's going to happen,” Istvan said. “I mean, when I started AI in life extension, we were moving at the same speed, and suddenly, in the last couple of years, chatGPT and AI have gone faster than life. The sciences did.”

Transhumanism aims to rise above human limitations through technology, with AI playing a vital role in enhancing physical and mental capabilities. But when AGI and the Singularity succeed, Istvan worries, the machine may see humans as a threat to the world and decide not to help humans.

“It worries me that there is only one year left. [AI] ‘Why would I create an artificial human body when you guys are destroying the planet' or something like that. “Suddenly, the AI ​​says, ‘I'm not interested in helping people.' This would be a very reasonable response to all the most powerful species.

Despite these concerns, Istvan is still optimistic about the possibility of significantly extending human life spans due to the growing interest in longevity and life extension research.

“You have to see transhumanism as a movement like it was 20 years ago,” Istvan said. “We're building, we're millions of people who say, ‘I like technology in my body, I want to use technology every day, I want to go into my house and command my robot army to do everything.' That's transhumanism.”

Beyond comfort and longevity, Istvan pointed out that another aspect of the movement is replacing defective or missing limbs and allowing people to interact with computers using their brains. In May, Neuralink founder Elon Musk revealed the identity of Noland Arbaugh, a quadriplegic from Arizona, as the first recipient of the brain-computer interface technology. On Wednesday, chatGPT developer OpenAI announced a partnership with the historic Los Alamos National Laboratory to use GPT-4o to study bioscience and introduce researchers to the process and how AI can handle tasks.

“Some of that is here as much as we want, but it's all coming,” Istvan said. Assuming that the world can go on peacefully with all the political upheavals and such.

In the year In 2016, Istvan ran for president and drove a coffin-shaped bus across the country to draw attention to his campaign. As a third-party candidate, Istvan said he wanted a unique campaign vehicle to draw attention to his message, especially the goal of defeating death through science.

“I don't want to say that the coffin bus is, to some degree, performance art, or just because it's a very valid idea,” he said. “Now we have to make people aware of the idea that if we don't put resources into life extension science, we're going to die.”

While Istvan did not comment on the cognitive performance of the current 2024 primary candidates, he said he was disappointed that the recent debate between US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump focused on immigration and golf scores rather than the potential risks and benefits of scientific research. and AI.

“Because at the end of the day, you know, like the arguments, nobody wants to talk about the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is AI.” “If we all live indefinitely, what will happen to social security, we want to talk about immigration and many things that are not at the forefront of what is happening in the world right now, no one wants to talk about it.”

Although Istvan's plan to become the leader of the free world has not been realized, Istvan is not done with politics and in 2010 He ran for governor of California in 2018 and again for president in 2020 as a Liberian candidate, but failed to confirm the results. Appointment.

“The point is I still want to bring science into the picture,” he said. “I don't care if it's not a good forum, and I don't care if it's not good with voters right now.

Istvan added, “One day it will be good for the voters because everyone is very afraid of what is happening in the world. We will listen to the experts and people who have been involved in science and technology for the last 20 years.”

Undeterred, he said he's considering another run for California's top office.

“It's my main political platform, let's take more money from the military and start a war on cancer, on Alzheimer's, on aging,” he said. “It's a very simple philosophy: Instead of trying to be the biggest policeman on the planet, let's try to fight the wars with things that affect the people we love.”

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.