Hugo de Garis

Hugo de Garis (born 1947) is an Australian retired researcher in the sub-field of artificial intelligence (AI) known as evolvable hardware. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he performed research on the use of genetic algorithms to evolve artificial neural networks using three-dimensional cellular automata inside field programmable gate arrays.<ref name="degaris96">Template:Cite book</ref> He has written about his belief in an coming war between the supporters and opponents of intelligent machines, with the potential for the elimination of humanity by artificial superintelligences.<ref name="v072">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Career

De Garis originally studied theoretical physics, but he abandoned this field in favour of artificial intelligence. In 1992 he received his PhD from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

From 1993 to 2000 de Garis was a researcher at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kansai Science City, Japan. At ATR's Human Information Processing Research Laboratories (ATR-HIP), he aimed to create a billion-neuron artificial brain he called a "cellular automata machine brain" (CAM-brain) by the year 2001. He predicted CAM-brains could scale indefinitely and could be used to create asteroid-sized brain-like computers.<ref name="degaris96"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> De Garis moved to Starlab in Brussels in 2000, and the HIP laboratory was closed in February 2001.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Starlab went bankrupt in 2001. De Garis published his last "CAM-Brain" research paper in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

He was associate professor of computer science at Utah State University from 2001 to 2006. Starting in June 2006 he was part of the advisory board of Novamente, a commercial company which aimed to create artificial general intelligence. After 2006 he was a professor at Xiamen University and Wuhan University where he taught theoretical physics and computer science. In 2008 he received a 3 million Chinese yuan grant (around $436,000) to build an artificial brain for China as part of the Brain Builder Group at Wuhan University.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> He served on the editorial board of Engineering Letters.<ref name="q373">Template:Cite web</ref> De Garis retired in late 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Beliefs

The Artilect War

During his work on CAM-Brain, De Garis began publicly expressing concerns about existential risk from artificial intelligence.<ref name="degaris96" /><ref name="v072" /><ref name="l369">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2005, he published the book The Artilect War: Cosmists vs. Terrans: A Bitter Controversy Concerning Whether Humanity Should Build Godlike Massively Intelligent Machines.<ref name="aw">Template:Cite book</ref> In his book, De Garis predicts that by the end of the 21st century artificial superintelligences, which he calls "artificial intellects" or "artilects", will threaten to attain hegemony over the Earth. He foresees a major war between supporters of artilects and their opponents, resulting in billions of deaths.<ref name="aw"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=artiwar>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:AnchorThe supporters he calls "Cosmists", who will support artilects that they expect to colonise the universe, leaving Earth and humans behind to a sooner-or-later extinction. The opponents, "Terrans", will focus on the fate of Earth and its inhabitants, and the existential risk posed by artilects. Differences between the two groups will be irreconcilable, leading to war. He also predicts a third group, "Cyborgs", who aim to become artilects themselves by altering their own human brains, rather than falling into obsolescence.<ref name=artiwar/> Although de Garis makes arguments in favor of each side throughout the book, he concludes that he is a Cosmist.<ref name="v072" />

Religious Studies professor Robert M. Geraci describes The Artilect War as a religious apocalyptic scenario.<ref name="x402">Template:Cite book</ref>

Writings

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External links

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• Notes from de Garis' presentation to the artificial general intelligence research institute
• Man vs. Machine – article from Utah local newspaper
• Building Gods – rough cut of a documentary which details, amongst other things, the personal beliefs of Hugo de Garis and Kevin Warwick on the possibilities of artificial life
• Human v 2.0 – programme from the BBC Horizon series featuring discussion between Ray Kurzweil and Hugo de Garis
• Cosmism and brainbuilding. Template:Webarchive – Article by de Garis.
• Interview
• Interview with H+ Magazine