I think we're already getting to a stage where the basic artificial intelligences are discovering moral systems. I think, in many ways, moral systems are simply things that we have programmed into ourselves, either through childhood or just through genetic, ingrained ideas. So the same thing applies when you talk about machines.

We didn't evolve through billions of years to remain animals.

Maybe we want to keep A.I. to the level of a 16-year-old or a 17-year-old adolescent, rather than some fully maxed-out artificial intelligence that becomes 10,000 times smarter than us in just a matter of years. Who knows what could happen? It could be a very dangerous scenario.

I advocate as a futurist and also as a member of the Transhumanist Party, that we never let artificial intelligence completely go on its own. I just don't see why the human species needs an artificial entity, an artificial intelligence entity, that's 10,000 times smarter than us. I just don't see why that could ever be a good thing.

Transhumanism literally means "beyond human." It's using science and technology to radically change and improve the human species and experience.

My goal is to try to tell the public that America could use more science and technology in all aspects of its life.

Science and technology can solve all the world's problems, and historically it has been shown to make the world better and better.