Nikhil
Thomas
Before we begin to see how artificial can impact mankind in the future, we first must understand what exactly is artificial intelligence and how it really came to be. Like mentioned earlier, artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that is concerned with making computers behave like humans. Computer science is a scientific and practical approach to the idea of studying computers and the computational systems. When it comes to computer scientists, they deal mostly with software and software systems, which includes their theory, design, development and as well as their application. The University of Maryland computer science mentions that areas of study within Computer Science range from artificial intelligence, computer systems and networks, security, database systems, human computer interaction, vision and graphics, numerical analysis, programming languages, software engineering, and so on. Although knowing how to program is essential to the study of computer science, it is only one element of the field. The problems that computer scientists encounter range from the abstract, such as determining what problems can be solved with computers and the complexity of the algorithms that solve them to the more easier task of designing applications that perform well on handheld devices, that are easy to use, and that uphold security measures. It is said that Blaise Pascal was one of the first inventors to use the basic form of computer science in order to create a device known as Pascal’s Calculator, a device that simply used to add and subtract two numbers. Because of his invention, it was the basic stepping-stone needed for other devices to be created and after a couple of hundred of years the idea of artificial intelligence was created.
It was in the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College that computer scientist John McCarthy announced the idea of artificial intelligence and how he and a group of researchers have started to do research on the development on artificial intelligence. According to NLI News, while being a professor of computer science at Stanford University, McCarthy created a program known as Lisp. Lisp was known as a standard programming language that is used in robotics and other application as well as multiple Internet based services, which include from detecting credit-card fraud to airline scheduling. Another major thing that McCarthy invented was an early form of a computer time-sharing. The computer time-sharing or also known as a computer network allowed people to share data and logistics with each other by linking to a central computer, and around 1960 he voiced his idea on a program that would allow the data to be shared as a public utility. Because of this key invention it paved the way for a key invention that we use today known as “the cloud” a computer program that allows us to store videos, photos, documents in a public area that allows us and other to access it with the proper credentials. During McCarthy’s time at Stanford University he was able to find and create an artificial intelligence laboratory, in which he worked on multiple different inventions as well as early versions of a self-driving car. He also created documents with research on robot consciousness and free will and started to work on creating programs that allowed the idea of artificial intelligence that understood and mimicked human common sense as well as our ability for decision-making in a more effective manner. However, the one thing that allowed McCarthy to be the leader in the field of artificial intelligence was when he hosted a series of computer chess matches between him and rivals in Russia via telegraph. It is because of John McCarthy’s first steps and inventions in the field of artificial intelligence that allowed us to develop them in such an advance state for us. Now that we know how artificial intelligence came to be and how it started out, we can now start digging into their potential for mankind. How will they benefit us? Does it hurt to have a future where artificial intelligence is domain? Can we control the purpose for artificial intelligence? These are all the different type of question that many people have in mind as the technology around us keep developing at a faster rate and these are questions that are not supposed to be taken lightly.
