It would rapidly become all-powerful, and we are as capable of understanding what a machine like that could do as a worm is of comprehending Stephen Hawking's immense intellect.

How close are we to that basic thinking machine? Simple artificial intelligence is already being harnessed to design electrical circuits that we dont fully understand. Some antennae designs produced by genetic algorithms, for example, work better than those conceived by humans and we arent always sure why because they're too complex.

Combine this software intelligence with robot bodies and a malevolent motivation and you have a gory science fiction film. But because every aspect of our lives is controlled by computers, such a super-intelligence wouldn't need arms and legs to make life unpleasant.

You can argue that we could do AI experiments on computers isolated from sensitive systems, but we dont seem to be able to keep human hackers in check so why assume we can outwit thinking machines? You can also argue that AI may prove to be friendly, but if they treat us the way that we treat less intelligent creatures then were in a world of trouble.

There were fears that the first atomic bomb tests could ignite the atmosphere, burning alive everyone man, woman and child on Earth. Some believed that the Large Hadron Collider would create a black hole when first booted-up which would consume the Earth. We got away with it, thanks to the fact that both suggestions were hysterical nonsense. But whats to say that one day we wont attempt an experiment which actually does have apocalyptic results?

A decade ago they seemed like distant sci-fi to most people, but were all familiar with 3D printers now: you can buy them on Amazon. Next-day delivery.

We're also creating 3D printers which can replicate themselves by printing the component parts for a second machine.

Imagine a machine capable of doing this which is not only microscopically small, but nanoscopically small. So small that it can stack atoms together to make molecules. This could lead to all sorts of advances in manufacturing and medicine: inject a few thousand into a patient and they'll dissolve a tumour into harmless saline. Millions could float in your car's engine oil, replacing worn metal on vital components and removing the need for human maintenance.

But what if we get it wrong? A single typo in the source code and instead of removing a cancerous lump in a patient these medi-bots could begin to indiscriminately churn out copies of themselves until the patient is converted into a pile of billions of the machines. Then the hospital, too, and the city its in. Finally the whole planet.

This is the grey goo scenario. There would be no way to stop it.

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Four ways that technology could destroy mankind