In the field of science and technology, an unprecedented moment may be quietly happening, and this moment will determine the future direction of mankind. It all seems to have started with an interview at a factory in California on March 27, 2023. The protagonist of this interview is, of course, the high-profile figure, Tesla founder Elon Musk.
In this interview, Musk mentioned an alarming idea: replicating human brains onto robots. The concept seems to come from science fiction films, where consciousness can be lodged in machines or even integrated with networks.
Musk, on the other hand, is convinced that this is no longer a distant future, but a possibility. He referred to Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus Prime launched last year and said: "One day, we can download those unique things, such as personalities, memories, into the robot body, which will be a different way of immortality." ”
However, Optimus Prime is not just a vision of the future, it has become a reality. The industrial robot is about 1.72 meters tall, weighs about 56.7kg, has a display in its face, and its limbs look like humans, but it actually uses 40 electromechanical actuators for balance and agility.
Optimus Prime uses Tesla's various AI and chip technologies, including Autopilot's camera as a perception system, built-in Tesla's self-developed chip, and multi-camera video neural network.
Initially, Optimus Prime's main task was to deal with repetitive, boring, or dangerous jobs, jobs that humans don't want to do. But over time, Musk gave it more everyday orientation, like doing housework and even dancing. Musk believes that Optimus Prime could also help alleviate the problems caused by the declining birth rate, because in the more distant future, personality consciousness can be "downloaded" or "stored" on Optimus Prime robots, achieving a different kind of immortality.
However, all this raises a profound question: if robots are more and more deeply integrated into human society, will it eventually lead to humans being replaced by AI? Musk believes that at least it will not be achieved through brain-computer interfaces, because current technology is only used to solve problems such as brain or spinal injuries.
In the interview, Musk also mentioned the concept proposed by Google engineering director Ray Kurzweil in his famous book "The Singularity is Imminent" - the singularity moment. This concept predicts that by 2025, computers will have more processing power than the human brain, and human intelligence will become increasingly non-biological.
Musk believes that while future transitions may not strictly follow this timeline, we have seen rapid advances in technology, such as our memories stored in phones and computers to make free video calls on both sides of the world.
However, beyond the tech world, the interview touched on many other topics. Musk expressed concern about the declining human birth rate, the AI crisis and religious extremism. He believes that humans living too long could "suffocate" society.
Finally, when asked about his most pressing project right now, Musk didn't hesitate to answer: "Fully autonomous driving."