Biological life vs. machinery
Mankind is quite conservative, and very wary of new technologies. This conservatism is evolutionary justified. Over hundreds of millions of years, the development of new opportunities was slow, our ancestors had hundreds of thousands of years for psychological adaptation. Now a lot of fears are connected with neural networks. But in order to understand this question, one must first understand the difference between organic life and mechanisms.
Our life is based on water-soluble substances. All reactions in biological systems can proceed at relatively low temperatures. And a relatively small amount of energy is spent on supporting life processes. If we look at the systems of the simplest cells, then we can see pumps, electric motors, electric generators and many other structural elements that are arranged very perfectly. And at the level of cells and at the level of the body, you can find structural elements that have analogues in our technologies. For example, a bacterial flagellum and an eye. So biological life is also based on nano-mechanisms optimized by long-term evolution. It can be assumed that more advanced technologies of the future will make it possible to create the same microscopic mechanisms from structural materials familiar to us, but there will still be a fundamental difference. This difference is the energy required to bring materials into circulation and reuse. Material circulation processes in biological systems occur at low temperatures and are highly energy efficient. The melting point of plastics starts at a few hundred degrees Celsius, while most metals melt at temperatures in excess of a thousand degrees. At low temperatures, it is easy to manipulate molecules and ions to build biological systems, but at high temperatures, the manipulation will be much more complex and much more energy-intensive. Also in the process of functioning — a cyclist by eating an apple will be able to get energy to travel many kilometers, but from the same apple it is impossible to extract such an amount of energy to feed the engine to overcome the same distance.
As a result, it turns out that the fundamental difference is in the concentration of energy. Biological systems require little energy to build and rebuild, and are highly energy efficient to operate. But the same energy deficit leads to the fact that the speed of movement of biological organisms is relatively low. While mechanisms require a huge amount of energy to create and rebuild, they also consume a lot of energy in the process of functioning. But on the other hand, consuming a huge amount of energy, they can develop huge speeds of movement.
For robots, even the most technologically advanced, all this will also be true. And this will also be true for the brain of a robot. So far, there are not even hints of technologies that will be fundamentally different from existing ones. So humanity and artificial intelligence will occupy different ecological niches. We are more comfortable on cool planets in the circumstellar habitable zone. Intelligent robots will aim closer to the star where the concentration of energy is much higher.
One important conclusion follows from this — if humanity retains intelligence and has a desire to survive, then in such comfortable conditions as on Earth or Mars, biologically designed mechanisms should be used first of all. In addition, it is very environmentally friendly. On our comfortable planet, non-biological mechanisms are really in demand quite a bit. Mainly in the field of transmission and accumulation of information, in the field of rapid movements, as well as in the field of energy generation and high concentrations. With the development of all the possibilities of genetic engineering, we can make our life even more comfortable than it is now, and with minimal damage to the environment. If we refuse to move quickly around our planet, then practically everything necessary for life on our planet can be organized only on the basis of biological mechanisms. Even the main main fear of the present time — neural networks can be implemented not on the basis of silicon processors, but on the basis of biological neurons and synapses. Genetic engineering can also greatly improve our own computational abilities. The processor, compared to the parts of our brain, is quite primitive, but it has specialized blocks for certain calculations. The parts of our brain are designed for everyday computing. The capabilities of the brain can be expanded by adding specialized departments, for example, an analogue of a mathematical co-processor or a department of a neural interface, for example, to control complex mechanisms.
Another conclusion is that biological and non-biological mechanisms compete weakly. They will be successful in different ecological niches, so it will not be a struggle, but rather a symbiosis. But this is in the event that artificial evolution is launched intelligently. But with a reasonable approach, non-biological mechanisms are indispensable in such dangerous environments as space. They just need mechanisms that are resistant to high temperatures and hard radiation. And besides, long interstellar flights require spaceships that can self-repair. Self-healing spaceships can be done with the help of bots, but spaceships that will have the properties of a living organism will be much more advanced.
At the same time, we must already understand that we will be able to maintain our ecological niche, but the niche of non-biological creatures is much wider. Perhaps the future belongs to cybernetic life, when both organic and structural materials will be used in one organism. But perhaps they will be effective on the border of ecological niches or in special conditions.
So the future is in cooperation, not in enmity. And everything necessary for this must be done now.
