# Could computers evolve into the replacement for humans? \[New title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 9, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905 "2003-12-09T13:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/21 "2003-12-09T17:19:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVAA \* > \*\*A glass must be half full to be half empty. I see no reason to give him even that mucA glass must be half full to be half empty. I see no reason to give him even that much credit.h credit. \*\* Using the technique of belittling the poster rather than the argument is effective in those with limited intellectual tools. When one only has a hammer…they hit everything like it is a nail.:wally ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/22 "2003-12-09T17:25:47Z")
Boy, it’s a good thing that your use of the putz smilie (’:wally’) isn’t an attempt to belittle a poster, or you’d look like a hypocrite. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/23 "2003-12-09T17:31:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Could there come a day when they ‘evolve’ in complexity and ability past their masters and move to take their rightful place as the pinnacle of creation in Gods own image? Somebody watched too many reruns of _Battlestar Gallactica_ on SciFi in the last few days… ---
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/24 "2003-12-09T17:34:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > \*_That’s all I need…my frigin Windows 2050 desktop to scream **SILENCE!!!**** BACK.TO WORK HU-MON!!!**_ \*\* Actually, with your biological Bluetooth wireless implant, the desktop will be able to stimulate your pleasure centers directly. Thus you will be able to complete your spreadsheet all the while simulating a video production starring yourself, Paris Hilton and the Olsen twins. ---
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/25 "2003-12-09T17:48:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*Somebody watched too many reruns of _Battlestar Gallactica_ on SciFi in the last few days… \*\* Actually that is a quite silly comparison. There would be no need to create artificial intelligence in the form of a man (two hands, two feet, etc.). Arms and legs evolved as the first ‘tools’. From this start we levered their power by learning to use inert tools to amplify our own abilities. Carrying this to its logical conclusion, artificial intelligence would control its/their own toolset remotely so as to protect its/their own ‘seat of intelligence’ from the vulgarities of interacting in close range with the environment. Destroying a Silicon solider would be no more effective in killing an artificial intelligence than cutting up a revolver would ‘kill’ a person wielding it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/26 "2003-12-09T17:56:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IWLN \* > \*\*_note to self, stay on TVAA’s good side._ 😛 \*\* Wait until you meet “Wrath of the Swarm.” Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/27 "2003-12-09T18:06:55Z")
Bow before me! I am the Pinochle of Evolution! ---
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/28 "2003-12-09T18:10:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > \*\*Bow before me! I am the Pinochle of Evolution! \*\* I would respond to this but my Overseer wants to play Castle Wolfenstein and my ‘thinking’ drops his frame rate. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/29 "2003-12-09T18:16:03Z")
As silicon warrior with no gun is pretty pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Jonmarzie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jonmarzie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonmarzie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/30 "2003-12-09T18:25:51Z")
No, **Grey** , a silicon warrior with no _spear_ would be pointless. A silicon warrior may be pointless even with a gun. Now, bayonettes (sp?) on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/31 "2003-12-09T18:31:13Z")
Let’s stop with the glibness here. I’m not trying to come of as being pretentious. I’m just trying to correctly verbalize my annoyance. Is nobody going to even try to be serious in this thread? It seems that a new Evolution Versus Religion thread starts everyday. I actually have somewhat of a digression from the normal topin that I think will finally fit into this thread, so I might as well say it while I can. My wife and I are not planning on having kids, ever. This makes my wife and I the voluntary endpoints of this branch of evolution. Nobody with the combination of mine and my wife’s genes will ever exist. No one will ever have our exact recipe of good and bad traits. And you know what? I’m perfectly okay with this. And, I think that that is strange. This is something that should petrify me. I truly believe that everything in the animal kingdom boils down to procreation and survival of the species. The whole purpose to life is to multiply - and I am choosing not to, along with millions of other Americans. Hmmm. It is obviously the chemicals in my head that give me the urge, or lack of urge, to spawn. _Dons SDMB Tin Foil Hat ™:_ Perhaps there is some slowly unravelling gene in the human chromosomes, put there by nature, that is self destructing the human race, and planning us for obsolencence. _Takes off SDMB Tin Foil Hat ™._ Sure, one species replaces another. Master creates its own replacement, in its own image. Product is “better” than its Creator, and lasts longer. Eh. It’s called “recycling”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/32 "2003-12-09T18:46:09Z")
::sings:: (with apologies to Fred Astaire) “I’m puttin’ on my foil hat, Warmin’ up the death ray, Chargin’ up the lap-top, Gonna be a dark day…” ---
**Author:** ![Paco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Paco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paco)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/33 "2003-12-09T18:50:03Z")
**Pessemist** : You seem to be forgetting that computers or machines will not “evolve” and overtake humans simply because machines are stupid. They only know what we teach them. They cannot learn by trial and error like humans, etc. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/34 "2003-12-09T19:07:40Z")
(restraining self from joke about how glad I am that ChiFaucet isn’t reproducing 😉 ) The problem is that there are MANY pinnacles of evolution at any time. I may be okay as an uncle but I am a truly LOUSY ant–too big, too few legs, no exoskeleton, etc. Looking for a top dog (though I make a poor dog, too) is an exercise based on a false assumption: that there is a goal to evolution. There may be a biological urge for Mr & Mrs Faucet to make little Faucets (there has to be a “petcock” joke here someplace) and those Faucets might have small changes that make the next generation of Faucets more likely to successfully reproduce but EVOLUTION HAS NO GOALS! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/35 "2003-12-09T19:19:22Z")
They may also have slight changes that make reproduction _less_ likely too. Like a leaky washer. 🙂 Oh, I couldn’t resist, sue me. ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/36 "2003-12-09T19:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pessemist \* > \*\*Using the technique of belittling the poster rather than the argument is effective in those with limited intellectual tools. > > When one only has a hammer…they hit everything like it is a nail.:wally \*\* **Ideally** , in GD, you should have a few facts. For instance if you’re making comparisons about evolution, you should probably understand evolution, a little. Otherwise you’ll get nailed. On the up side, you’ll learn from it, if you can take it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/37 "2003-12-09T19:43:02Z")
Oh, you did fine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/38 "2003-12-09T19:43:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > \*\*… but EVOLUTION HAS NO GOALS! \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > [B… but EVOLUTION HAS NO GOALS! \*\* Obviously. Evolution is but a description of the impact of environmental pressures on traits that can be inherited. There is no underlying intelligent force behind evolutionary pressures directing them one way or another. So one has anthromorphosized Evolution when one says it is goal sensitive. If one postulates that superior intellect and superior variable processing speeds are the ultimate adaptive traits, and one further postalizes that at some point these abilities will supersede the abilities of man in synthetic creations, then it follows that the next step in the evolutionary chain could very well in fact be synthetic. Incidentally there is an interesting corollary to this. Almost all known organisms are programmed to die. In fact human cells are capable of approximately 50 generations before the line becomes nonviable. This nonviability is thought to be genetically programmed in. Now consider a synthetic organism. Taking the place of the DNA code would be some descendant of a software code. Now we have a form of ‘DNA’ that can be altered to incorporate adaptations ‘on the fly.’ Instead of waiting for random changes in the code to manifest, a proactive approach to environmental adaptation could be made accelerating the evolution of, well, Evolution. 😃 Of course cosmic radiation slaps to such a colossal program would continue to provide an element of randomness as the occasional bit is swapped here or there. \*\*Oh how brave mere mortals are to sit hours on end in front of my high voltage electron gun with but a tiny phosphorus screen for protection! ---
**Author:** ![Pessemist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@Pessemist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pessemist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/39 "2003-12-09T20:08:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chicago Faucet \* > **It seems that a new Evolution Versus Religion thread starts everyday.** Well, technically, this is a ‘What is the next giant step in Evolution’ thread. I just included some God references so the religious right would not feel left out of the discussion. But thinking about it… If one believes that God is responsible for evolution, then it follows that evolution DOES have an intelligent force guiding it… ---
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905/40 "2003-12-09T20:16:35Z")
> [@](#): > > If one postulates that superior intellect and superior variable processing speeds are the ultimate adaptive traits… False postulate. Evolution means reproduction. Computers cannot replicate themselves, so “superior variable processing speed” is not an adaptive trait. Just because something is faster, more efficient, or somehow “better” does not make it adaptive. Something that leads to more offspring is adaptive. Period. Computer = no offspring = no evolution. Capiche? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-computers-evolve-into-the-replacement-for-humans-new-title/217905.md?page=3)