Marx And Engels’ Machine View And Its Enlightenment To The Development Of Artificial Intelligence

With the rapid development of a new generation of artificial intelligence represented by deep learning technology,artificial intelligence technology is gradually infiltrating into all aspects of human production and life,prompting society to accelerate into the intelligent age.The rapid development and wide application of artificial intelligence have brought many practical problems worth thinking about to human society.Artificial intelligence is the latest product of the development of traditional machines so far,and how to deal with the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence has become an urgent problem.Although Marx and Engels did not face the ever-changing development situation of artificial intelligence technology in the time they lived,they had conducted in-depth analysis and research on issues related to industrial machines based on the industrial age and capitalist production mode,which provided valuable experience and beneficial enlightenment for correctly handling the relationship between intelligent machines and human society.Therefore,it is necessary to systematically explore and interpret Marx and Engels’ view of the machine,and to analyse and refine the dialectical relationship between the machine and nature,society and human beings in the context of Marx and Engels,so as to find the enlightenment of harmonious development,integration and mutual promotion of artificial intelligence and human society.Since the first industrial revolution,machines had been widely used in major factories and become an important pillar of industrial production.Because of the inherent proliferation nature of capital in capitalist society and the greedy nature of capitalists’ endless pursuit of surplus value,machines gradually penetrated into people’s production and life and developed into a huge machine system.According to Marx and Engels,the machine system was the product of their times.They explored the historical transformation of the means of labor from hand tools to machines in terms of technological forms,distinguished the specific roles of machines at different stages of production,and provided a profound theoretical interpretation of the nature of machines.Marx and Engels believed that machines under the application of capitalism had accelerated the irresponsible exploitation of natural resources and caused serious damage to natural ecosystems.Marx pointed out that the machine should have been used as a tool to help workers lighten their physical load and shorten their labor time,creating more leisure time in order to achieve labor emancipation.However,under the control of capitalism,the machine brought endless misery to workers.In the process of capitalist production,the relationship between workers and machines had been alienated,and workers’ spirit had lost its independence.Machines replaced human labor in the process of production activities,and workers had become accessories of machines.In addition,Marx pointed out that as a product of the development of science and technology,if the machine can form a new social form from civilization,the machine will get rid of the shackles of capital,so as to maximize its liberating significance.Based on this,at a time when smart machines are being widely used in the age of intelligence,Marx and Engels\view of machines provided us with useful enlightenment to see through the development of artificial intelligence and correctly handle the relationship between artificial intelligence and people.Although artificial intelligence is a kind of simulation,extension and expansion of the human brain,it still belongs to an "upgraded version" machine technology beyond simple manual labor.Like the industrial machine in Marx and Engels’ era,artificial intelligence is also a "double-edged sword".On the one hand,artificial intelligence technology had greatly improved the productivity in all fields of society,and brought convenience and comfort to human production and life through its digital,automatic and intelligent functions.On the other hand,the development of artificial intelligence also exposed potential social risks and negative effects,such as unemployment caused by the employment substitution of workers and threats to social stability and public governance.Facing the dual nature of artificial intelligence,we should base on Marx and Engels’ machine view,especially stick to their critical views on machines,clarify the dialectical relationship between artificial intelligence and nature,society and human beings,study the future direction of artificial intelligence,avoid the privatization and improper application of artificial intelligence,and fully tap and utilize the liberated nature of artificial intelligence.