Artificial Intelligence and the Age of Emergence

The universe is made up of things that interact. From microscopic particles in space, to human minds on the internet, these interactions can lead to incredible examples of “emergence”. As physicists, our basic understanding of emergence is still relatively poor, as demonstrated by a laundry list of yet-unexplained emergent phenomena found throughout nature. In this lecture, I will examine the thread of emergence which connects different mysteries, such as superconductivity, universality, life, consciousness, and the appearance of internet memes. The most striking recent example of emergence — artificial intelligence — could itself be the key to unravelling the thread behind these mysteries. In this talk, Melko will demonstrate how, like other emergent phenomena before it, AI is now being used to help build the next generation of technology; in this case the technology needed to control quantum computers. Perhaps, the future of physics lies in a better understanding of hierarchies of emergence in interacting things. This could allow us to harness emergence as a resource, potentially transforming science, technology, and society once again.