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AI and Freedom for Evolution in Energy Science

Adrian Bejan Ph.D.

PII: S2666-5468(20)30001-X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyai.2020.100001
Reference: EGYAI 100001

To appear in: Energy and AI

Received date: 24 February 2020

Accepted date: 25 February 2020

Please cite this article as: Adrian Bejan Ph.D. , AI and Freedom for Evolution in Energy Science,
Energy and AI (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyai.2020.100001

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Perspective:

AI and Freedom for Evolution in Energy Science

Adrian Bejan, Ph.D.

Corresponding Author:
Adrian Bejan, Ph.D.
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina UNITED STATES

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 Artifacts such as AI, written language, science and technology are objects (devices,

processes, methods) that, when added to the homo sapiens, enhance the effect of human effort.

Today we are a “human and machine species” that is monumentally more powerful than the

naked human [1].

The human and machine is just the latest, the most prevalent, omnipotent and not recognized

manifestation of a very broad phenomenon that in biological evolution is called ‘niche

construction’. Like the wall cavity in which the sculptor protects his sculpture (from niche in

French), many animals shape and organize their immediate surroundings to facilitate their living.

The spider web, the bird nest, the nuts buried by the squirrel, and the beaver dam are of the same

nature and built with the same purpose as the human dam built for the hydroelectric power plant.

The word ‘machine’ carries its original meaning: a contrivance that allows for more

effective use of human effort (from mihani in ancient Greek). Without our add-ons we are so

weak that we would vanish in less than one lifetime (Fig. 1) [2]. Here are a few examples:

Power from machines that consume fuels is having a monumental effect on human life,

civilization and the future. Power from fire invaded the world 200 years ago. The annual wealth

of nations is proportional to their annual generation and use of power (cf. Ref. [1], p. 38). Both

indicators, wealth and power, have grown spectacularly during the passed 200 years, hand in

hand with the science of energy: thermodynamics, thermal design, and energy technology [3].

We can’t have enough power from fire.

Agriculture, a human contrivance from 10,000 years ago, had a defining effect on human life

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and population growth. Hand in hand with biology (botany, zoology, veterinarian medicine),

food technology is evolving constantly and enabling us to live healthier, more economical and

longer lives. We can’t have enough of agriculture.

Science, the human contrivance kick-started as geometry and mechanics 2,500 years ago,

continues to liberate and empower people to heights that were unimaginable even a few decades

ago. Science has grown and spread spectacularly on the whole globe. It is improving hand in

hand with the freedom to question, to make changes, and to evolve the current ideas and designs

[1].We can’t have enough of science.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no different, but is it dangerous? There are some who think so,

in fact, it is common to hear that AI is bound to kill and replace us. Well, tell that to those who

need help, because good help is hard to find. They can’t have enough of AI.

In all the compartments of knowledge, people are contriving to make each of us a more

powerful and longer living and moving human & machine specimen. This is no exaggeration.

The old man with hip implants and hearing aids is young compared with the deaf man limping in

pain.

True is that every new technology comes with promising impact and threatening impact.

This is clear if we look at the past, for example:

The development of the steam locomotive, which put trains and railroads all over the globe,

lifted the entire world out of poverty and, at the same time, took land from people who depended

on land for food (grain, fruit, animals). Trains killed people, livestock and wild animals.

That’s the give and take that a new technology offers, the promise and the threat.
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 The second example is nuclear power. It was developed during wartime, and today it is used

peacefully all over the globe. Yet, nuclear power has dangerous aspects that keep us on alert and

challenge us to be imaginative as problem solvers.

The third example is the Internet, which offers great improvements in how people

communicate, learn and keep safe. At the same time, the internet lulls people (especially the

young) into spending too much time in a virtual world, losing direct contact with real people and

the passing of time. From this comes the alarming number of cases of mental illness.

An opportunity for AI is in combatting plagiarism, because in the Internet era cheating in

scientific publishing has become rampant. Original ideas are hard to come by. It is much easier

to take an existing idea, change a few lines in a figure and words in the text, and publish the

same idea as new. The idea, not the exact figure and text. The National Science Foundation

(U.S.) defined academic misconduct this way (NSF-CFR-689): “Plagiarism means the

appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate

credit.”

Publishers and research funding agencies use software to detect plagiarism in pieces of text

reproduced identically and without credit from other sources. That’s wrong headed. Science

writing is not poetry and prose. In science, one does not ‘copy’; one steals the idea by looking.

One day, AI will become ‘intelligent’ enough to detect the unoriginal idea in a new publication.

Until then, the detectives must have human eyes and brains [1].

That’s the way it has always been. The users of new technology must be on constant alert.

The new is good, but too much of it, especially too much in the invisible hands of bad actors, can

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be deadly.

In the future, the new ideas and directions will be impressive because engineers are thinkers

who never give up. Engineers are people who always think “can I do it better”, or “is that the

best that you can do?” To question, and to make changes, one must have freedom [1].

Also true is that new ideas collide with the rigid infrastructure of political correctness. New

ideas rock the boat of the complacent. Creators of new ideas climb out on a limb, fall, and get

punished by the groupthink.

At Davos recently, the reforestation initiative (called “A trillion trees”) drew support from

previously opposed parties and opinions. Why, because it is obviously good for the health,

wealth and advancement of all, which includes the whole planet. But, because this initiative

does not cut explicitly ‘emissions’ it was named “dangerous” in the headline published in MIT’s

Technology Review [4]. Dangerous because now the party line has to compete with a new idea.

The reality is that in evolution everywhere in nature what works is kept. Needed are new ideas

and more freedom to question the current design [1].

Here is a pictorial comment on who we are and why AI is nothing new and here to stay. The

MIT mascot is the beaver, which is on my class ring. When I ask my students why MIT selected

the beaver, most say “because the beaver is an engineer.” Sure, the beaver builds the dam on the

brook to form the lake that becomes its niche, its version of the ‘machine’. That’s obvious. The

subtle is that the beaver is a relentless engineer. The beaver never gives up.

The engineer worth his name is never satisfied with the idea, the contrivance, and the

invention. There is always the urge to do better, as in the makers of Formula 1 race cars. Even if

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their team won the race today, they know that next year they must have a better car, and they

already have ideas of how to achieve that goal.

That’s engineering, and you see it in every place you look and ask. Most engineers do not

know or question why they are relentless. Their urge is shared by all the living: it is the urge to

live better, more easily, longer, healthier, safer, wealthier, happier, with better thoughts and with

greater freedom. In this wonderful story of human progress, AI has an important role to play.

Acknowledgement

This article was written during Prof. Bejan’s term as recipient of the Humboldt Research Award.

Declaration of interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships
that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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References

1. A. Bejan, Freedom and Evolution: Hierarchy in Nature, Society and Science, Springer

Nature, Switzerland, 2020.

2. A. Bejan, U. Gunes and B. Sahin, The evolution of air and maritime transport, Applied

Physics Reviews, Vol. 6, 2019, 021319.

3. A. Bejan, Evolution in thermodynamics, Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 4, 2017, 011305.

4. J. Temple, “A Trillion Trees” is a great idea—that could become a dangerous climate

distraction, Technology Review, 28 January 2020.

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Figure captions

Figure 1 The evolution of the human and machine species, from the naked human to the human

with technology, science and AI.