CALIFORNIA’s governor once starred in the Terminator movies, in which self-aware computers try to destroy humanity. In a bid to stop life imitating art, artificial intelligence researchers are now exploring the “dark side” of their discipline (see “Artificial Intelligence researchers confront sci-fi scenarios”). Similarly, psychologist Susan Blackmore says computer networks could foster a potentially dangerous form of evolution, based not on the gene or meme but on a technological equivalent. She needs help naming this “replicator” (“The third replicator is among us”). We reckon it should be called an “Arnie”.
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