Warwick Collins

In the following viewpoint, Warwick Collins argues that intelligent computers are rapidly evolving, independent of human control, into a vast network that could potentially destroy the human race. Collins warns that humanity should soon consider and debate the possibility that, within a few decades, a computer network could act preemptively to defend itself against humans and could ultimately vanquish them. Collins is the author of the book Computer One.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How do neural networks of computers operate, and how do they simulate human thought, according to Collins?
2. In Collins’s opinion, what is the danger of instructing an advanced artificial intelligence system to self-repair?
3. What does the author believe could lead to a computer preemptive response against humans"

In a story set in the 1970s, Dial F...