Alter our DNA or robots will take over, warns Hawking
Special report: the ethics of genetics
Nick Paton Walsh
Sunday September 2, 2001
The Observer
Stephen Hawking, the acclaimed scientist and writer, reignited the debate over genetic engineering yesterday by recommending that humans change their DNA through genetic modification to keep ahead of advances in computer technology and stop intelligent machines from 'taking over the world'.
He made the remarks in an interview with the German magazine Focus. Because technology is advancing so quickly, Hawking said, 'computers double their performance every month'. Humans, in contrast, are developing much more slowly, and so must change their DNA make-up or be left behind. 'The danger is real,' he said, 'that this [computer] intelligence will develop and take over the world.'
Hawking, author of the best-selling A Brief History Of Time and a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, recommended 'well-aimed manipulation' of human genes. Through this humans could 'raise the complexity of... the DNA [they are born with], thereby improving people'. He conceded the road to genetic modification would be a long one but said: 'We should follow this road if we want biological systems to remain superior to electronic ones.'
He also advocated cyber-technology - direct links between human brains and computers. 'We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.'
While scientists are excited by the huge possibilities of genetic engineering and human interaction with machines, ethicists urge caution as the experiments could go wrong.
Sue Mayer, director of policy research group Genewatch, rounded on Hawking's remarks. 'He is trying to take the debate about genetic engineering in the wrong direction,' she said. 'It is naive to think that genetic engineering will help us stay ahead of computers.'
observer.co.uk
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Physicist Warns Humans About A.I.
Saturday September 1 3:37 PM ET
BERLIN (AP) - People get ready: the machines are coming.
That's the word from famed British physicist Stephen Hawking, who says if humans hope to compete with the rising tide of artificial intelligence, they'll have to improve through genetic engineering.
In an interview released Saturday with the newsmagazine Focus, Hawking said science could increase the complexity of DNA and ``improve'' human beings.
He conceded that it would be a long process, ``but we should follow this road if we want biological systems to remain superior to electronic ones.''
``In contrast with our intellect, computers double their performance every 18 months,'' he added. ``So the danger is real that they could develop intelligence and take over the world.''
``We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it,'' Hawking said.
Hawking, the author of the best-selling ``A Brief History of Time,'' holds a prestigious Cambridge University chair once held by Sir Isaac Newton.
The 59-year-old lives with Lou Gehrig's disease and uses a motorized wheelchair and computer voice synthesizer.
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