The next Darwin moment has arrived

Like evolution before it, AI may force a rethink of what makes humans special.

Excerpt: "Computer scientists have known since the 1950s that computer programs can, in principle, emulate any aspect of human thought. This is because the digital calculations inside a computer can emulate the inputs and outputs of the neurons in a human brain.

Given this, “the problem is mainly one of programming,” as Alan Turing said in 1950.

Assuming that hypothesis holds, how should one feel about it? Will our lives retain meaning and purpose once the capabilities for reasoning, creativity and insight are no longer unique to humanity? History can be a helpful guide. In modern times, humans have been forced to shed two other supposedly special qualities.

First, life itself was once thought to have a unique quality that distinguishes it from inanimate matter. This theory, known as vitalism, died out in the early 20th century and today has no scientific credibility: Modern biochemistry has revealed that all life can be explained in terms of physics and chemistry.

Second, humans were once thought to be qualitatively distinct from nonhuman animals. But since the 19th century, Darwinism has gradually eroded that view. Today, the only credible scientific viewpoint is that humans are related to all other species via a vast series of small mutations from a common ancestor."