It is ironic that, having spent several thousand years subjugating all other life forms so we could become the dominant species, we have willfully ceded our hard-won authority over our fellow animals to inanimate technology. In many cases we have become so blindly reliant on machines that we have stopped using our own wits to the point where our brains are becoming dangerously redundant. We hardly need to think for ourselves at all. This vacuous mentality that we seem to be embracing is pervading all aspects of our behaviour and society. The rise of AI that now exceeds our own intelligence raises new ethical and existential dilemmas. As we develop synthetic minds, we will need to weigh up how we design them, what we allow and don’t allow them to do, and (crucially) how to ensure their needs are aligned with our own. Meanwhile, humanity is waging a “suicidal” war on the natural world, according to secretary general of the UN Antonio Guterres, which also ultimately jeopardises our very existence.
