Does arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence mean the end of free will?

27. September 2018

In an inter­view with “Die Zeit” on 20. 09. 18, Yuval Noah Harari, univer­sal histo­rian and best­sel­ling author (“A Brief History of Huma­nity”, “Homo Deus”), says: “There are more and more systems that hack human conscious­ness. The diffe­rence between what people say and what actually happens in their brain­wa­ves can already be demons­tra­ted in labo­ra­tory expe­ri­ments today.”

Amazon, for example, sends products which you have never orde­red because the company is convin­ced that you want it. Such an algo­rithm, based on arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, already anti­ci­pa­tes a free will decision. But, says Harari, “You can still try to know yourself better than Amazon… because our brain is extre­mely complex and vice versa, the Amazon algo­rithm is not God, not perfect either.

His simple and plau­si­ble advice: “Know yourself”. More: “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”, publis­hed by Jona­than Cape, London