http://www.phys.org/news/2019-09-evolution-key-artificial-intelligence.html
As our computing power continues to grow, we find that we can more easily model the world that we live in. This physical modeling is able to capture the behavior of objects, machines, planets, and galaxies, but it can even begin to imitate the behavior of living organisms. Recent advances in machine learning algorithms, memory capacity, and processing speed have even made it possible to simulate the evolution of multitudes of creatures over thousands of generations.
What we have found is that, of course, Darwin was right all along. Creatures with reproductive capability and no specialization for or comprehension of their surroundings can, in a matter of generations, become masters of their environment. With unlimited resources and energy, I would speculate that further research into this phenomenon would result in Skynet (or maybe something that considers us less than ants and disregards us in a similar fashion).
But, if this is true, then it makes me begin to wonder… how rare must it be for chemical life to happen by chance in the universe? If it is true that intelligence is such a natural quality to emulate/engineer in any environment, then why is life, much less intelligent life, so rare in the universe? We have been looking ever since we have been capable of doing so, and yet we haven’t found any other creatures.
I have more thoughts on this, but I’d like to hear what you all think, too. If you’re interested, then I think that this could be a great conversation! So... what say you?