文本选自：The Guardian（卫报）
作者：Steve Rose
原文标题：Five ways AI might destroy the world
原文发布时间：7 Jul. 2023
Five ways AI might destroy the world
"If we become the less intelligent species, we should expect to be wiped out."It has happened many times before that species were wiped out by others that were smarter. We humans have already wiped out a significant fraction of all the species on Earth. That is what you should expect to happen as a less intelligent species – which is what we are likely to become, given the rate of progress of artificial intelligence. The tricky thing is, the species that is going to be wiped out often has no idea why or how.
Take, for example, the west African black rhinoceros, one recent species that we drove to extinction. If you had asked them: "What's the scenario in which humans are going to drive your species extinct?" what would they think? They would never have guessed that some people thought their sex life would improve if they ate ground-up rhino horn, even though this was debunked in medical literature. So, any scenario has to come with the caveat that, most likely, all the scenarios we can imagine are going to be wrong.
We have some clues, though. For example, in many cases, we have wiped out species just because we wanted resources. We chopped down rainforests because we wanted palm oil; our goals didn't align with the other species, but because we were smarter they couldn't stop us. That could easily happen to us. If you have machines that control the planet, and they are interested in doing a lot of computation and they want to scale up their computing infrastructure, it's natural that they would want to use our land for that. If we protest too much, then we become a pest and a nuisance to them.
人工智能可能会毁灭世界的5个方式
精听党背景导读
一位澳大利亚国会议员声称，人工智能的兴起正好与教育的衰落相吻合。这是令人担忧的原因，风险分析师将人工智能（AGI）列为全球关注的重点。
据报道，朱利安·希尔在澳大利亚议会的一次演讲中表示：“如果你开始思考，很快就会意识到未经驯化的AGI带来的破坏性和灾难性风险是真实的、可信的，而且很容易想象。AGI有可能以我们无法想象的方式彻底改变我们的世界，但如果AGI超越人类智能，如果其目标和动机与我们自己的不一致，可能会对人类造成重大伤害。”
文本选自：The Guardian（卫报）作者：Steve Rose原文标题：Five ways AI might destroy the world原文发布时间：7 Jul. 2023关键词：人工智能 灭绝 物种
精听党带着问题听
1.“濒危物种”用英语可以怎么表达？2. 如何理解段二中的“ground-up”？3. 西非黑犀牛为什么会灭绝？
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
Five ways AI might destroy the world
人工智能可能会毁灭世界的5个方式
destroy
vt. 破坏，毁灭；杀死，人道毁灭（受伤、生病或危险的动物）；
段一
“If we become the less intelligent species, we should expect to be wiped out.” It has happened many times before that species were wiped out by others that were smarter. We humans have already wiped out a significant fraction of all the species on Earth. That is what you should expect to happen as a less intelligent species – which is what we are likely to become, given the rate of progress of artificial intelligence. The tricky thing is, the species that is going to be wiped out often has no idea why or how.
intelligent adj. 聪明的；有智力的；智能的；1. intelligent design 智能设计；2. Susan is a very bright and intelligent woman who knows her own mind. 苏珊是一个非常聪明的女人，她有自己的想法。
species n. （动植物的）种，物种；种类；（具有相同特征的）一类人；1. endangered species 濒危物种；
wipe out 彻底摧毁；消灭；1. wipe out unemployment 消灭失业；2. wipe out the poverty 消除贫困；
a significant fraction 相当大的一部分；1. significant adj. 显著的，相当数量的；重要的，意义重大的；2. fraction n. 分数，小数；小部分，微量；
rate of progress 进步的速度；1. progress n. 进步，进展；前进，行进；（社会的）进步；
tricky adj. 难对付的，棘手的；狡猾的，诡计多端的；1. Parking can be tricky downtown. 在市中心停车会很难。
参考译文
“如果我们沦为智力较低的物种，就应做好被淘汰的准备。”许多物种被更聪明的物种所淘汰，这在之前已经发生过很多次了。人类已经让地球上大部分物种灭绝了。作为智力较低的物种，这就是你可能面临的未来——而这正是人工智能进步速度所带来的结果。棘手之处在于，即将被淘汰的物种往往不知道灭绝的原因和方式。
段二
Take, for example, the west African black rhinoceros, one recent species that we drove to extinction. If you had asked them: “What’s the scenario in which humans are going to drive your species extinct?” what would they think? They would never have guessed that some people thought their sex life would improve if they ate ground-up rhino horn, even though this was debunked in medical literature. So, any scenario has to come with the caveat that, most likely, all the scenarios we can imagine are going to be wrong.
rhinoceros n. 犀，犀牛（栖于非洲和亚洲）；
extinction n. 灭绝，消亡；（债务的）偿清；消光；1. An operation is beginning to try to save a species of crocodile from extinction. 一项拯救一种鳄鱼免于灭绝的行动正在展开。
scenario n. 设想，可能发生的情况 ；（电影、戏剧等的）剧情梗概；（艺术或文学作品中的）场景；1. worst case scenario 最糟糕的情况；2. scenario planning 情景规划；3. usage scenario 使用场景；
ground-up adj. 碾碎的；磨成粉的；
rhino horn 犀牛角；
debunk vt. 揭穿…的真相，证明…是错误的；1. debunk the medical treatment 揭穿医药治疗的真相；
caveat n. <正式>警告，限制性条款；<法律>预告登记（尤指遗嘱检验中，非告知本人而不得进行某行为的通知）；
参考译文
以西非黑犀牛为例，这是一个最近被人类灭绝的物种。如果你问它们：“在什么情况下，人类会把你们这个物种灭绝？”他们会怎么想？他们永远不会想到，有些人认为吃犀角粉可以改善他们的性生活，尽管这在医学文献中被证明是错误的。因此，任何情况都必须附带一个警告，那就（最有可能的）是，我们所能想象的所有情况很可能都是错误的。
段三
We have some clues, though. For example, in many cases, we have wiped out species just because we wanted resources. We chopped down rainforests because we wanted palm oil; our goals didn’t align with the other species, but because we were smarter they couldn’t stop us. That could easily happen to us. If you have machines that control the planet, and they are interested in doing a lot of computation and they want to scale up their computing infrastructure, it’s natural that they would want to use our land for that. If we protest too much, then we become a pest and a nuisance to them.
clue n. 线索，提示；理解，想法；
chop down 砍倒；砍下；
rainforest n.（热带）雨林；1. The rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate. 雨林正以惊人的速度消失。
palm oil 棕榈油；1. palm n. 棕榈树；
align with 与…一致，与…保持一致；
scale up 扩大规模；按比例放大；按比例增加；
computing infrastructure 计算基础设施；1. infrastructure n. 基础设施，基础建设；
pest n. 害虫，有害动物；
nuisance n. 麻烦事，讨厌的人（或事物、情况）；损害，妨害；1. He could be a bit of a nuisance when he was drunk. 他喝醉的时候会有点讨厌。
参考译文
不过，我们有一些线索。例如，在许多情况下，我们灭绝物种只是因为我们想要资源。我们砍伐雨林是因为我们需要棕榈油；我们的目标与其他物种不一致，但因为我们更聪明，他们无法阻止我们。这种情况很容易发生在我们身上。如果你有控制地球的机器，并且它们有兴趣做大量的计算，他们想扩大他们的计算基础设施，很自然地，他们会想要使用我们的土地。如果我们抗议太多，那么我们就会成为他们害虫和麻烦制造者（讨厌的东西）。
精听党每日单词
destroy
/dɪˈstrɔɪ/ vt. 破坏，毁灭；杀死，人道毁灭（受伤、生病或危险的动物）；
intelligent
/ɪnˈtelɪdʒənt/ adj. 聪明的；有智力的；智能的；
species
/ˈspiːʃiːz/ n. （动植物的）种，物种；种类；（具有相同特征的）一类人；
wipe out
彻底摧毁；消灭；
a significant fraction
相当大的一部分；
rate of progress
进步的速度；
tricky
/ˈtrɪki/ adj. 难对付的，棘手的；狡猾的，诡计多端的；
rhinoceros
/raɪˈnɑːsərəs/ n. 犀，犀牛（栖于非洲和亚洲）；
extinction
/ɪkˈstɪŋkʃ(ə)n/ n. 灭绝，消亡；（债务的）偿清；消光；
scenario
/səˈnærioʊ/ n. 设想，可能发生的情况 ；（电影、戏剧等的）剧情梗概；（艺术或文学作品中的）场景；
ground-up
/ɡraʊnd ʌp/ adj. 碾碎的；磨成粉的；
rhino horn
犀牛角；
debunk
/diːˈbʌŋk/ vt. 揭穿…的真相，证明…是错误的；
caveat
/ˈkæviæt/ n. <正式>警告，限制性条款；<法律>预告登记（尤指遗嘱检验中，非告知本人而不得进行某行为的通知）；
clue
/kluː/ n. 线索，提示；理解，想法；
chop down
砍倒；砍下；
rainforest
/ˈreɪnfɔːrɪst/ n.（热带）雨林；
palm oil
棕榈油；
align with
与…一致，与…保持一致；
scale up
扩大规模；按比例放大；按比例增加；
computing infrastructure
计算基础设施；
pest
/pest/ n. 害虫，有害动物；
nuisance
/ˈnuːs(ə)ns/ n. 麻烦事，讨厌的人（或事物、情况）；损害，妨害；
精听党文化拓展
知名风险投资家马克·安德森 （Marc Andreessen） 以“软件正在吞噬世界（software is eating the world）”而闻名。在谈到人工智能时，他声称人们应该停止担心并持续创造。
安德森从对 AI 或机器学习的理解开始，称其为“应用数学和软件代码来教计算机如何以类似于人类的方式理解、综合和生成知识”。
他说，人工智能是没有感知力的——尽管它模仿人类语言的能力可以理解、愚弄一些人。事实是，它接受了人类语言的训练，并在该数据中找到高级模式。
“人工智能不想，它没有目标，它不想杀死你，因为它没有生命，”他写道。“人工智能是一台机器——不会比你的烤面包机更有生命力。”
安德森写道，目前在 AI 世界中有一堵“散布恐惧和末日论的墙”。在没有点名的情况下，他可能指的是知名技术领导者声称该技术对人类构成生存威胁的说法。上周，微软创始人比尔·盖茨、OpenAI 首席执行官萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）、DeepMind 首席执行官戴米斯·哈萨比斯（Demis Hassabis） 等人签署了一封来自人工智能安全中心的关于“人工智能灭绝的风险（the risk of extinction from AI）”的信。
安德森还写道，科技公司的首席执行官们有动力宣扬这种世界末日的观点，因为“如果建立监管壁垒，AI 供应商范围就会受政府保护，免受新创业公司和开源竞争的影响，他们就会赚更多的钱。”
精听党每日美句
Time heals all wounds.
时间会冲淡一切伤痛。