I’d put a reasonably high probability (5%) on orcas and several other species having all the necessary raw mental capacity to be “uplifted” in just a few (<20) generations with technology (in the wider sense) that has been available for a long time. Being uplifted means here the ability to intellectually engage with us on a near-equal or even equal footing, to create culture, to actively shape their destiny. Humans have been training, selecting, shaping other animals since before the dawn of history. Whenever we did so, it was with the goal of improving their use as tools or resources. Never, to my knowledge, has there been a sustained effort to put these abilities to use for the sole purpose of the mental and cultural flourishing of another species. It is my belief that many other universal learning machines beside the human brain have been produced by evolution, but just lack or lacked the right training environment for the kind of run-away development the homo genus went through, for various reasons.
Could “uplifted” orcas outperform humans on hard scientific problems? Would they care to? I don’t know, but I’d love to find out.
Indeed, I would have very much preferred to see other animal minds elevated before we turned to the creation of artificial ones. To explore a wider space of minds and values, to learn more about what an intelligent species can be, before we believed ourselves ready to “build” intelligence from scratch. But it seems at least half a century too late for this now.
I’d put a reasonably high probability (5%) on orcas and several other species having all the necessary raw mental capacity to be “uplifted” in just a few (<20) generations with technology (in the wider sense) that has been available for a long time. Being uplifted means here the ability to intellectually engage with us on a near-equal or even equal footing, to create culture, to actively shape their destiny. Humans have been training, selecting, shaping other animals since before the dawn of history. Whenever we did so, it was with the goal of improving their use as tools or resources. Never, to my knowledge, has there been a sustained effort to put these abilities to use for the sole purpose of the mental and cultural flourishing of another species. It is my belief that many other universal learning machines beside the human brain have been produced by evolution, but just lack or lacked the right training environment for the kind of run-away development the homo genus went through, for various reasons.
Could “uplifted” orcas outperform humans on hard scientific problems? Would they care to? I don’t know, but I’d love to find out.
Indeed, I would have very much preferred to see other animal minds elevated before we turned to the creation of artificial ones. To explore a wider space of minds and values, to learn more about what an intelligent species can be, before we believed ourselves ready to “build” intelligence from scratch. But it seems at least half a century too late for this now.