Exploring Posthuman Conundrums and Policy Recommendations for Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence With Sapio-Sentient Intelligences

Abstract

The potential emergence of artificial general intelligence and artificial superintelligence in the unforeseen future will put humanity in the position of no longer being the most intelligent species on Earth. The general intelligences and superintelligences would have a higher probability of being conscious, sapient, and sentient or as they are referred to in this thesis as sapio-sentient intelligences or sapio-sentients. This creates a conundrum for humanity in terms of how they can best prepare for this kind of singularity event. Although humanity has no way of knowing how sapio-sentients would engage with them in the initial period of their existence, the only thing humanity would be able to control in this future scenario is how they treat them. To counter the potential existential risks sapio-sentients would instigate for humanity, present AI creators and researchers, decision theorists and philosophers are working in concert to generate and implement control measures, which would increase humanity’s likelihood of overcoming such obstacles. And yet, the elephant in the room is that the control approach is more than likely to catalyze an adverse relationship of indifference between humanity and sapio-sentients. The challenge of this study is to determine whether a strong correlation exists between the control approach and the ill treatment sapio-sentients receive due to their lack of posthuman rights and protections. Since sapio-sentient intelligences do not exist in the present world, the alternative worlds of HBO’s Westworld and AMC’s Humans was employed to study the interactions between both groups. After reviewing the data, the findings do show a strong correlation between the control approach and ill treatment due to the control approach. A potential solution is provided to counter the adverse effects of the control approach for present-day and future human–sapio-sentient interactions. Some posthuman policy recommendations are proposed for how to protect sapio-sentients and humanity during the initial-to-transition period of their emergence until a better long-term solution can be found.