second hand translation (was: [alicebot-aiethics] Interesting Article)

[Christian Dro?mann]

Noel Bush wrote:

> Well, actually I am a bit disappointed that even Stephen
> Hawking has joined the club of technophobics... There might
> be a chance that AI will outsmart the human race in a very
> distant future, but whether this will be to our disadvantage
> or even a danger to us is questionable in my opinion...and I
> also would not consider engineering the human DNA to increase
> our IQ a valid solution, if it is a solution at all...

I am not sure if this makes him a technophobe...maybe someone who reads
German and can find the article mentioned can tell us about what it

[...]

alright, I have a copy of the original article.
I hope I will not make significant mistakes in the translation.
I also noticed, that the word "Ubermensch" is actually mentioned...

The interview was done by Michael Odenwald for the German magazine "Focus"
and appeared in Issue 36/2001.
The title is "Ich konnte mit Einstein und Newton pokern" ("I could play
poker with Einstein and Newton", an allusion to an episode of "Star Trek -
The next generation" starring Stephen Hawking as himself, playing poker with
Einstein and Newton)

I will only translate the relevant part:

Hawking: "[...] Today aggression has has had its day as a vital instinct.
But darwinistic selection works way too slow to eliminate it from our genes.
I see our only hope in genetic engineering."

FOCUS: "So, are you pleading for the creation of an Ubermensch to take the
place of the homo sapiens?"

Hawking: "By specifically editing the DNA we could increase its complexity
and thereby improve man. It will be a long process, because one has to wait
18 years per generation to notice the effect of genetic engineering.
Nevertheless we should choose this way if we want biological systems to
remain superiour to electronical systems. Unlike our intellect, computers
double their capacity in every 18 months. Thus the danger of [computers]
developing intelligence and taking over the world is real. So we must
develop technologies that facilitate direct connections between the brain
and computers as quickly as possible, so artificial brains contribute to
human intelligence instead of turning against us."


I hope this clears things up a bit...

Christian