On Christmas Eve 1940, MIT mathematics professor Norbert Wiener received $2,325 in defense funding to build a system for the location of enemy aircraft. The amount of funding is a bit shabby, but it was very exciting to be able to participate in the fight against the Axis powers.
As early as during the First World War, it was realized that as the speed of flight increased, the operators of ground-based air defense systems would gradually become incompetent, and people became the weakest link in the operational chain. Humans manually have to exit from the entire sequence of operations.
However, it was a bit difficult, and Wiener spent a lot of time studying factors such as the psychology of the pilots, trying toBy studying the structure of an organism, the future behavior of the organism is determined, which he believes will be the closest mechanized approach to the physiological behavior of pilotsHowever, in the face of the lagging progress and the full-page formula submitted by Wiener, the National Defense Committee looked too big and finally stopped the project.
Among the many other projects that have been funded, the VT fuse was born, which allows the shell to decide the timing of the projectile during flight according to the received signal. Towards the end of World War II, Germany developed the V1 missile capable of attacking from a distance and with an improvised autopilot system. This sparked widespread fear at the time, which led to the V1 being called an "autonomous bomb". However, anti-aircraft artillery with VT fuses was very competitive, shooting down about 79% of V1 missiles. This duel also became the first time in human historyA battle in which machines make autonomous decisions about life and death
Although the attempt during World War II was unsuccessful, the experience had a profound impact on Wiener. In 1948, Wiener published Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, which was the epoch-making Cybernetics. Cybernetics proposes that both animals (including humans) and machines rely on the transmission and processing of information to maintain and regulate their functioning. This theory pushes the boundaries of traditional disciplines and proposes a new approach to understanding complex systems, not only for mechanical and electronic systems, but also for living organisms and social organizations.
Under the influence of cybernetics, many automation projects were born, including the American aviation automation management system, the semi-automated ground defense system, and the navigation system of the Apollo spacecraft. Among them, the CyberSyn project in Chile is particularly eye-catching. This system is fusedBig data, machine learning, and DAOsthoughts, trying to passA machine-led approach automates the management of the country's economy。However, due to technical and political constraints, this ambitious project ultimately failed.
CyberneticIt breaks the boundaries between the physical and the spiritual, the natural and the artificial, the living and the indifferent。As the scientific community gradually accepted the idea that humans and machines are essentially similar, they began to delve into building machines with human-like intelligence. In 1950, Turing published the groundbreaking "Computing Machines and Intelligence" in the field of artificial intelligence, which was influenced by cybernetic ideas to a considerable extent. And Pitts, one of the founders of neural networks, was once Wiener's assistant. His research on neural networks was heavily influenced by and inspired by Wiener.
While the origins of AI cannot be directly attributed to cybernetics, the two share a common interest and theoretical basis in exploring the imitation or replication of human intelligence and behavior by machines, and have also intertwined and influenced each other for a long time in history.
The cybernetic craze of the 20th century had a profound impact on culture, especially in the counterculture movement. This effect manifests itself as:A strong belief in innovation and change through technologyThis belief has also become one of the core characteristics of Silicon Valley culture.
The word cybernetics is actually translated very strangely. The word "cybernetics" is derived from the Greek word "kybernētēs", which means "helmsman". The term was originally used to refer to the management and control of a ship or **. In the early days of cybernetics, it was translated as "The Theory of the Mechanical Brain", but eventually the name cybernetics was accepted.
And because of this translation, it is difficult to associate the relationship between the word cyber and cybernetics in the Chinese context. The term cyber was born out of cybernetics, and after decades of evolution, it has become closely associated with concepts such as cyber culture, virtual reality, and digital identity. Cyberspace represents a virtual world built with digital technology.
Geeks saw cyberspace as a new, free, desirable realm, but soon the United States stepped in and tried to control it. This behavior was intolerable to the geeks, and they rebelled, and this was the crypto war that lasted throughout the nineties.
Cypherpunks were also born during this period, and it was a group of advocacy initiativesUse cryptography to promote personal privacy and freedomActivists and technologists. The power of the community, represented by cypherpunks, eventually triumphed. Advanced encryption, once classified as an arms control, was finally opened up to the world, and everyone was granted the right to use it.
In their struggle, U.S. courts ruled that open source** was part of free speech, providing solid legal protections for contributors to the global open source community and promoting the development of a vibrant open source ecosystem. These achievements eventually gave birth to the rapid development of information technology, bringing a prosperous Internet era to the world. What's more, crypto-savvy geeks are able to have their own little piece of utopia in cyberspace.
The cryptographic industry not only pursues the privacy of communication, but also wants to create a payment system based on encryption technology, fully protected privacy and not controlled by authority. In the context of the "crypto wars", these tech geeks have made many innovative attempts. D**id Chaum developed DigiCash, an early digital currency, and even came close to settling a deal with Microsoft at one pointNick Szabo designed BitGold and first introduced the concept of smart contractsDai Wei proposed the concept of b-money, which was commemorated by Ethereum more than 20 years later in the smallest unit "wei". Although none of these early projects lasted, they laid an important foundation for the growth of the crypto ecosystem.
Ten years after the end of the crypto wars, a mysterious figure has made his own innovation based on these predecessors. His true identity is still unknown, but the world has long been very familiar with his pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Although encryption technology and artificial intelligence have their own characteristics in terms of technical architecture and philosophy, theyThey share a closely linked historical origin and pursue similar goals in many ways, especially in the pursuit of "autonomy".
We envision a future where AI is autonomous, where various agents work autonomously and use technology to break through the limitations of human beings in handling complex and repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and innovation. The crypto world we envision is also autonomous, with networks, protocols, and organizations operating autonomously through consensus, and achieving fairer, transparent, and more secure system management through decentralization, thereby preventing the improper use of resources and the abuse of power. Despite their different focuses, they are both committed to the optimization of social functions and the rationalization of power structures through technological innovation.
After decades of isolated development, AI and crypto are now converging into an even more powerful force, leading a new era of technological revolution.
By contributing resources, individuals can build a more powerful decentralized computing network and benefit from it. Models can continuously improve their capabilities by encrypting network connections and using more data. AI creators use encrypted networks to protect their creations and distribute benefits among stakeholders in a transparent and fair manner. And more AI** will soon be integrated into this encrypted network, and even create an encrypted network belonging to AI, to obtain a more friendly environment and interaction capabilities, they will interact with humans and other AI, bringing a lot of scenarios and funds.
With a huge increase in productivity, people will have more time to work on what they are truly passionate about. People will join various culturally driven DAOs where they pursue deeper meanings and values. And this collective effort and spirit of collaboration has the potential to lead to a new Renaissance that will create unprecedented artistic, cultural, and technological achievements.
These diverse and infinite possibilities come together to form a grand stage for future technological development. We are witnessing not only a technological revolution, but also a reshaping of the entire social structure and way of life.
This is a historical review and an introduction. I'll be running a series over the next few months to see how AI and crypto are closely intertwined and co-developed in the future.