Deus Ex Machina

I've been listening lately to Stephen Hawking's book Universe in a Nutshell, and today he began to muse about the growing complexity of our own evolution and the evolution of our "electronic" creations. It made me realize once again that there is a great fear that our machines (computers, robots, refrigerators, what have you) will overthrow their creators (again, us) and rule the world. Now most of the time this is a proposition, that while ominous, which is jolly fun; just look at the Matrix and Terminator movie franchises if you think otherwise! But in musing today, I now wonder if this is just an irrational fear. The argument, to me, seems to fall into three flavors:

1. I'm an Idiot Theory - It seems that most people assume that humans, in general, are idiots. That we make things with no regard to their meanings, implications, or even results. And that eventually we will stumble across making a machine with enough intelligence to clone itself, overtake us, and either enslave or kill humanity outright. Now, I'm not one to defend the intelligence (or lack of) of the human race; certainly we can all come up with examples, either individually or as a group, of people being idiots. But to project that upon every member of society seems an overgeneralization. I've got to believe that some of the people who are not idiots are also some of the people involved with A.I., computer design, and programming. Hopefully they'll be intelligent enough to pull the plug? This idea is also a bit contradictory - it states that while we may be smart enough to build a complex, thinking machine, we're not complex enough to protect ourselves from them. Call me crazy, but the protection instinct seems WAY less complicated than a microchip - all I need to take out my laptop is a sturdy hammer...
2. Fear of Creation Theory - Let's call this my Frankenstein Theory. It works a little off the above "I'm an Idiot Theory" and looks something like this: Man makes creation, creation gets pissed that it's creator isn't perfect, creation rips creator to shreds (either literally or metaphorically). So why are we so scared of our own creations? Is it a fear of the imperfections of ourselves? I mean, if we actually met "God" (in whatever incarnation you prefer), which would we do: a) fall down in a mixture of awe, disbelief, and/or praise that we'd met our creator, or b) rip him to shreds because we found our Junior High years SO imperfect? So then why do we think that our creations would be so pissed at us that they'd eradicate us or our way of life? Sounds a bit Freudian to me...
3. Logic is God Theory - This one comes straight from the Enlightenment, the idea that the universe is some expression of supreme logic and order (whether divine or otherwise). And since we build computers and such in the spirit of mathematical logic, they will eventually replace us because they, as it were, are closer to the language of God. And that they'll just create even smarter computers - we won't stand a chance and go the way of the Cro-magnon. Okay, haven't we learned already that it's hard, very hard, to create something from scratch that is better than you in every way? When's the last time you've had a philisophical discussion with your computer? Or composed poetry with it? Or romance? Sure, my computer whips me every time we play chess, but let me tell you that that's not too hard! The only creations we make that can sometimes surpass us are our children, and even then it's a crap shoot. And we didn't use blindingly elegant logic, it had to do with a messy thing called sex and years of trial and error, not to mention millions of years of evolution. Yet we seem to fear that once the computer is given free reign, not only will they comprehend themselves to clone themselves but that they'll improve on the design and replace us...

Now, I'm as paranoid as the next body, and loved having my wits scared by those squidy things in the Matrix. But it does seem that imminent predictions of our demise by the machines sells human potentiality short. Still, I might consider keeping a wooden bat next to my CPU, just in case. And watch out if they co-opt our pets in the cause; then we'll really be in trouble!