vnunet.com
�Thursday 22 May 2003 | 6:44 PM
news centre products centre downloads centre advice centre careers centre

news centre

News areas



WHERE ARE YOU?
Ebusiness /Strategies /News

Humans extinct by 2040, says BT boffin
By Chris Lee [19-12-2001]
Telco's futurologist enters into the Christmas spirit

The human race will be extinct by 2040 unless it puts serious controls on its own technological advances, according to BT 'futurologist' Ian Pearson.

Speaking exclusively to vnunet.com, Pearson, of the telco's BTexact development arm, said that scenarios envisioned by science fiction movies such as Terminator were no longer mere fantasy.

"In 1900 there were only a few ways for the planet to be wiped out: comet, disease etc. But in the last few decades we have amassed a whole plethora of possibilities: nuclear, environmental, biological, and a lot of future threats will come from computing," he said.

According to Pearson, artificial intelligence (AI) will soon make robots that are more intelligent than humans, and which will pre-empt human actions and possibly assume control of critical assets.

"We've managed to get ourselves into a position where the statistical chances of extinction will soon exceed one per cent. It means that sometime in the next 100 years the human race will be wiped out somehow," he said. "By 2011 we estimate that an AI body will have passed GCSEs, A Levels and gained a degree."

"Given this and the rate of technological advancement, I think the human race could be extinct within the next 30 to 40 years," he concluded.

All in the name of scientific vanity. What the world needs now is love, as someone once said.


Related articles
Frankenstein found working in Switzerland
��� http://vnunet.com /News/1134522� [22-08-2002]
IBM pushes into 'autonomic' computing
��� http://vnunet.com /News/1130864� [12-04-2002]
Bionic man becomes a reality
��� http://vnunet.com /News/1127877� [20-12-2001]
Robot traders outsmart City slickers
��� http://vnunet.com /News/1124596� [09-08-2001]
� Discuss 'Humans extinct by 2040, says BT boffin' in the Ebusiness forum

Sniff out today's real news with the Mole
"When it comes to employee satisfaction, the computer industry has much to learn from the confectionery trade... read on"
printer-friendly versionsend-to-a-friend
SPONSORED LINKS
AN ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM
vnunet.com



Click Here!
Click Here!







��Personal computing magazines:�Computeractive | PC Magazine | Personal Computer World | Webactive | WhatPC?

About vnunet.com | Privacy policy
Terms & conditions
� 1995-2003 VNU Business Publications Ltd. All rights reserved
vnunet.com network
Click Here!