What is Life 3.0?

What do we mean by life? The question has been asked a million times before, but with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and potent computers, it is getting harder and harder to answer.

As you read, consider these questions:

• How would you classify the various forms of life on Earth?
• When do you suppose that Life 3.0 will reach Earth?
• What is it about Life 2.0 (Humans) hardware and software that allows them to rule Earth?

Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist, and machine learning researcher Max Tegmark tackles this massive question in his book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. A professor at MIT and the president of the Future of Life Institute, Tegmark demonstrates that the question “How do we define life?” is actually wrong on its face since there is more than one type of life. He embarks on a journey to explain three stages of life that make up the universe: Life 1.0, Life 2.0, and Life 3.0.

“Like our Universe itself, life gradually grew more complex and interesting…I find it helpful to classify life forms into three levels of sophistication: Life 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.”

The Problem of Defining Life

The inability to categorize future intelligent machines or extraterrestrial civilizations as life forms is one issue with defining life with extremely specific parameters, such as the composition of cells.

Life can be broadly characterized as a process that reproduces and maintains its complexity. The information describing how the matter is organized is being copied, not the matter itself. When a bacteria copies its DNA, for instance, it doesn’t create any new atoms; instead, a new set of atoms are arranged in the same way as the original.

This implies that life can be viewed as a self-replicating information-processing system, with its information — or, to put it another way, its software — determining both its behavior and hardware.

When Life First Appeared

Life evolved together with the complexity and curiosity of our universe. Where and when did it originally appear, though? Although there is much disagreement among societies over this issue, the evidence points to the beginning of life on Earth at around 4 billion years ago.

The most successful people in this world outperformed the others in numerous forms. These organisms are referred to as “intelligent agents,” or things that employ sensors to gather data about their surroundings before analyzing them and taking appropriate action.

This information processing may include basic hardware and software, or it may be extremely complicated, such as using your eyes and ears before speaking to another person.

Simple Yet Complex Forms of Life

An excellent example of a life form that makes advantage of this information processing is bacteria. Numerous kinds of bacteria use a sensor to gauge the amount of sugar in the liquid surrounding them.

Additionally, they float around using structures called flagella that resemble propellers, and a particular kind of algorithm regulates their behavior. The bacteria know to turn around if the sugar concentration is too low.

The bacteria failed to pick up on this. Their DNA served as the inspiration for the creation of both their software and hardware, such as sugar sensors and flagella. The algorithm was hard-coded into their DNA throughout their evolution through trial-and-error rather than learning to swim toward sweets.

Life 1.0 — The Bacterium

Life 1.0 is a kind of bacteria. These life forms’ hardware and software, instead of being designed, have evolved over time.

Life 1.0 is not particularly adaptable or flexible. It gradually adapts by changing over many generations. Although bacteria that are exposed to a lot of drugs over many generations may become drug-resistant, the individual bacterium cannot alter its behavior.

Life 2.0 — The Human

A form of Life 2.0 is people. While our software is largely pre-designed, our hardware changes over time. What exactly does software mean? We base our decisions on the information processed using all of the algorithms and knowledge that we gain through using our senses.

When we are born, we are not capable of performing activities like walking, reading, writing, or singing. As we age, our brains become imprinted with all of this software through learning. Our software was initially designed by our teachers and family, but later we started to create it ourselves.

Life 2.0 is a lot smarter and more adaptable than Life 1.0 since it is capable of designing its own software. The adaptability of Life 2.0. Life 2.0 can adapt to a changing environment by updating its software, and this is what has allowed it to dominate Earth and other life forms.

Life 3.0 — The Machine

Life 3.0 has the ability to choose its hardware and software. Life 3.0 overcomes the hardware restrictions that the previous two life forms still have, which prevent them from living indefinitely. It is not constrained by evolution and is the master of its own destiny.

These Life 3.0 systems are the artificial intelligence (AI) devices of the future.

Evolution of Life Forms

Although cosmic evolution has been occurring for 13.8 billion years, the rate of growth on Earth has increased significantly. Life 1.0 appeared about 4 billion years ago, Life 2.0 appeared about 100 millennia ago, and Life 3.0 is about to appear.

Many AI researchers predict that this will happen within the next century, which means that many of us may eventually coexist with Life 3.0.

That’s the end of this blog. Give it a clap if you really enjoyed it.

Happy Reading..!!