By AsiaToday reporter Kim Yoo-jin & PD Kim Yoo-min - The human-robot coexistence era is already here. The historic Go match between Go player Lee Sae-dol and AI AlphaGo was like the prelude of a new era.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are being developed all around the world. AI helps human doctors diagnose, selects things on behalf of humans who have problems with decision making.

There is even an AI that can write a novel while creativity has been considered by most to be an essential part of human intelligence. How should humans respond to the development of artificial intelligence?

In an interview with AsiaToday on April 4, Emanuel Pastreich, Professor at Kyung Hee University, said, "There is a need for us to step away from the computer screen and think more deeply about what the larger implications are of this new potential and this new challenge." He said, "There must be profound meditation on our part about what technology is, and what is effective upon our society will be."

Describing the match between Lee Sae-dol and Google DeepMind's AlphaGo as a "historic event," he said, "The defeat of Lee Sae-dol proposed profound challenge for humanity as we face the exponential evolution of these new technologies and they are certain that computers will continue to evolve."

He continued, "The fact that the master was able to win one of the rounds using his imagination and his creativity suggest to us that it is possible for us using our culture, our imagination, and our creativity to create new civilizations which are appropriate to technology and which can lead this evolution in a positive direction, even if we cannot control the exponential development of technology itself."

"Ultimately, the question of how we respond to the exponential explosion of technology will not come from the field of electrical engineering, but rather we must return to our roots in art, in literature, in philosophy, and above all in moral philosophy or ethics to find the true solutions."

"When technology reaches the ultimate height of its development, we must turn rather to the humanities as we look for more profound solutions," he said.

Here is the full text of Emanuel Pastreich's interview. 

The recent defeat of the paduk (that is Korean term for “go”) player Lee Se-dol by Google's DeepMind AlphaGo was a historic event. The computer defeated the master Lee Sae-dol 3 out of 4 matches and proposed profound challenge for humanity as we face the exponential evolution of these new technologies and they are certain that computers will continue to evolve.

At the same time, the fact that the master was able to win one of the rounds using his imagination and his creativity suggest to us that it is possible for us using our culture, our imagination, our creativity to create new civilizations which are appropriate to technology and which can lead this evolution in a positive direction, even if we cannot control the exponential development of technology itself.

There must be profound meditation on our part about what technology is, and what is effective upon our society will be. There is a need for us to step away from the computer screen and think more deeply about what the larger implications are of this new potential and this new challenge.

Moreover, or a conclusion I would suggest, that ultimately the question of how we respond to the exponential explosion of technology will not come from the field of electrical engineering, but rather we must return to our roots in art, in literature, in philosophy, and above all in moral philosophy or ethics to find the true solutions.

That is to say, when technology reaches the ultimate height of its development, we must turn rather to the humanities as we look for more profound solutions.