Week 2 - Group A - Phil Brubaker

Our group defined an intelligent building as the following:

“Use of computer technology to follow the progress from design to construction for a project.  It can keep track of the features within the building for both client and drafter.  Allows for easy interaction between various disciplines.  Combines various systems such as HVAC, structural, architectural, etc.”

In the attached article below James D. Miller, an Associate Professor of Economics at Smith College discusses the future of technology with regards to artificial intelligence.  First he discusses how in the past all inventions, such as the wheel, the printing press, automobiles, televisions, etc. can from the human mind.  Miller believes that by unlocking the genetic codes which make us the basis of human intelligence, we will be able to successfully create various forms of artificial intelligence.  Miller states that in the engineering fields artificial intelligence could drastically improve computer hardware creating a greatly improved standard of design.

It is my belief that in terms of design and construction, artificial intelligence may be able to unlock new methods which may minimize cost and possibly eliminate hazards to workers.  If it were possible for machines to construct entire buildings with minimal to no errors or flaws, the limits of what we can build would significantly expand.  Unfortunately, it is my belief that if machines were utilized in the construction of buildings, the number of construction workers that would be out of jobs creates a larger problem than the overall benefits.  The impact that eliminating so many jobs would have on the economy would be enormous and quite possibly irreversible. 

Miller also discusses the growing belief in a period of time in which artificial intelligence in equivalent to that of humans, and at which point the artificial intelligence will either increase human intelligence or completely separately remake civilization.  This future event is known as Singularity and many people in the fields responsible for researching artificial intelligence believe we are coming very close to such an event.  I believe that we are certainly getting closer and closer to a time when technology is so advanced that our lives will become so much easier than they already are. 

Sources:

Miller, James. "The Rise of Intelligence Amplification and Artificial Intelligence." HPlusMagazine. (2013): n. page. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. <http://hplusmagazine.com/>.