Welcome back to A.A. Rustom’s Bioverse and the Deep Dive.
Today we’re looking at what might be the single biggest source of anxiety in the modern world. And I’m not talking about the economy or the climate or politics.
I’m talking about that creeping suspicion that we’re busy building our own replacements.
It’s the narrative of the century, isn’t it? The idea that AI is catching up, that the singularity is just around the corner.
You’ve got everyone from Elon Musk to the ghost of Stephen Hawking warning us that it’s, you know, only a matter of time before the machines are smarter, faster and maybe more alive than we are.
It’s the wetware theory.
The idea that you and I were just biological computers. We’re made of meat instead of silicon, but the code is basically the same. And if that’s true, then yeah, eventually the silicon computers are going to do the job better.
But... and this is why I was so excited to tear into these sources today, we have a counter-narrative. And the best part is it’s not coming from a poet or a priest or someone who hates technology and lives in a cabin in the woods.
Quite the opposite.
If you were looking for the person most qualified to tell you that computers will never be alive, you really couldn’t pick a better candidate than Federico Faggin.
This is the twist that hooks you.
The first microprocessor that sparked the digital revolution.
For the listener who doesn’t know the deep history of Silicon Valley, let’s establish who this guy is.
Because he isn’t just an engineer. He’s basically THE engineer.
Titan is the word that comes to mind. But even that feels a bit light. Federico Faggin is a physicist born in Vicenza, Italy, who came to the U.S. in the late 60s. And to put it bluntly, the device you are listening to this on right now, it exists because of him.
Federico Faggin developed the MOS silicon gate technology, the first microprocessor that sparked the digital revolution. And Faggin explains why AI systems are zombies that will never be conscious.
Thanks for tuning in to the Bioverse!
~ A.A. “Alfie” Rustom
For a deeper exploration of Faggin’s distinctions between human and machine intelligence, you can read my earlier piece: “Federico Faggin’s Distinctions Between Human & Machine Nature.”
For history buffs: Computer History Museum: 1968 Silicon gate technology developed for ICS
