Canada in 4th wave, top doc says days ahead of expected election call

It is now perhaps axiomatic to declare that artificial intelligence will revolutionize the world, as researchers and industry insiders are projecting the novel technology to become the greatest technological breakthrough in human history.

There has been a flurry of discussion in both our local and international contexts — and with good cause. We must remain steadfast to ensure our youth, local workforces, and environment are not negatively impacted by this burgeoning technology.

I wish to accentuate, however, a somewhat neglected area of public discussion around AI developments. Specifically, we urgently need to re-evaluate the ethos of humanity, particularly cognizant of the emergence of this digitally superintelligent species.

If artificial superintelligence (ASI) is ultimately achieved, leading academics theorize that these digital agents will be sentient, conscious, and astronomically more intelligent and powerful than us. In fact, numerous scholars believe AI to already possess some level of consciousness in its current iteration. This position is held by eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, for example.

United Kingdom delegates from the aerospace and defence sector are visiting Winnipeg this week for the first Manitoba-U.K. Defence Summit.

Industry executives will discuss trade, investment and collaboration with their Manitoba counterparts, according to a Manitoba Aerospace & Defence news release.

The group started with a conference at the Manitoba Club on Monday. Today, United Kingdom leaders will visit Boeing Winnipeg, StandardAero and Magellan Aerospace, the news release says.

The summit is being led by the Canada-Manitoba Defence Alliance, which the provincial government launched earlier this month.

Other options are closer

Every Winnipeg driver learns this lesson eventually: keep your eyes on the horizon too long and the pothole gets you. Manitoba’s energy debate has the same problem. We keep looking far down the road for the next big project and missing what’s close at hand.

Scott Forbes (Time for 21st-century leadership at MB Hydro, Think Tank, Sept. 24) makes a strong case for more wind and storage. But much of this debate is still measured in thousands of megawatts, generated far from where the power is used.

The more immediate opportunity is close to home.