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Shepherd who predicted the danger of artificial intelligence 161 years ago: “We give them more power every day”

byadmin
January 13, 2025

Although the rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology has great potential, the concerns it brings with it are increasing day by day. Scenarios such as machines gaining consciousness and controlling people were among the fears of humanity not only today, but also in the past. A letter from a New Zealand shepherd published in a newspaper in 1863 contains one of the earliest examples of this concern. Here is what the shepherd wrote who predicted the danger of artificial intelligence 161 years ago.

Artificial intelligence, one of the fastest advancing areas of technology today, also brings with it concerns. Increasingly, the debates were on the agenda of humanity not only in the modern age, but also in the past.
A letter written by a shepherd from New Zealand 161 years ago, in which he wrote about his fears about machine evolutions, has emerged. In his letter, the shepherd worries that machines will eventually gain consciousness, and says that this situation will threaten people.
The letter, published in The Press newspaper in Christchurch on June 13, 1863, shows that the concern about artificial intelligence that is popular today held an important place in the public mind even 161 years ago.
The author of the letter, New Zealand shepherd Samuel Butler, in his article shared with the public through the newspaper under the pseudonym “Cellarius”, expresses his concern that machines could develop consciousness and eventually replace humans. Drawing a parallel between the famous biologist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the rapidly developing nature of machines, Butler warns that machines could take control and position humans as an inferior race.
Butler says, “We create our own successors. Every day we give them more power and by all sorts of creative mechanisms we give them the power to self-organize, to move on their own, which means intelligence for the human race.”
The letter predicts that machines will initially appear on the scene as “caretakers” who assist humans, and that humans will become dependent on these technologies. However, Butler likens the human-machine relationship to the relationship with pets; but points out that in the future, machines will reverse this equation and take control of humans.
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