James Cameron on deep sea exploration, artificial intelligence

Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker James Cameron met with his long-time mentor Dr. Joe MacInnis to discuss everything from deep-sea exploration to the threat of artificial intelligence, in an event organized by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society at its headquarters in Ottawa.

The discussion, which you can watch in the video at the top of this article, marked the opening of the exhibit "PRESSURE – James Cameron into the Abyss.”

It features Cameron’s “Deepsea Challenger” submersible, which he piloted to explore the deepest part of the ocean in the Mariana Trench in 2012 — a venture during which MacInnis served as advisor and medical director.

It became a life-changing relationship for Cameron. MacInnis inspired him to pursue his interests, no matter how difficult and distant they seemed to him as a young boy.

“You don’t think such amazing things are possible,” he said, while taking the opportunity to highlight the importance of empowering young people.

“I never could have imaged I’d be a filmmaker in Hollywood. I never could have imagined that I’d actually work with deep submergence work, that I’d dive to the Titanic.”

The conversation included information on Maclnnis’ role as a mentor for Canadian explorers like Cameron, who have dedicated their time to ocean observation and research.

Following the event, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society also awarded the famed filmmaker and explorer a gold medal in recognition of his “outstanding contributions to the field of geography,” which Cameron called “an incredible honour.”

Here are some of the takeaways from Cameron’s conversation with MacInnis.

HUMAN BRAIN STILL SUPERIOR TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Cameron was asked earlier in the day — in a Canadian exclusive one-on-one interview with CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos — whether he agrees with many so-called godfathers of artificial intelligence that the technology is a threat to humanity.

Cameron, who directed and co-wrote the 1984 science fiction action film “Terminator,” about a cyborg assassin, said he “absolutely” shares those concerns.

In response to a question from Dr. MacInnis about his “fierce ingenuity” and “radical thinking,” Cameron said while he thinks the human brain often works in a rational, linear way, similar to a “complex quadratic equation,” he also believes “there's another level of the human brain that works like a quantum computer.”

“I think we work at both a linear, rational level and not as much as we think we do, by the way, and I think we also have this ability to sort of free associate with all of these variables simultaneously, and then come to a conclusion,” he said.

“Some people call it instinct, but I think it's the most powerful form of human computation that we have,” he added. “And by the way, anybody that's worried about AI being better than us, you can have a conversation with a chatbot and it sounds kind of human, but it's an acre of processors, pulling 10 to 20 megawatts. It probably weighs several thousand tonnes, and we're doing it with three pounds of meat.”

OCEAN CONSERVATION IMPACTS FUTURE OF CIVILIZATION

Part of the exhibit’s focus is also on other aspects of ocean exploration, such as overfishing, pollution, climate change and the need for conservation—the importance of which Cameron touched on during his conversation with MacInnis.

In response to an audience question about the “blueprint for ocean conservation,” he said that his perspective has changed on the issue in the decade since he piloted his submersible to the Mariana Trench.

Cameron said humans are facing “certain existential risks as a species right now,” and he believes there is a pressing need to shift focus from exploring new depths of the oceans to understanding how the oceans themselves impact human life and the planet.

For example, he said, more research needs to be done to understand the relationship between the water column, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean acidification.

“It's a complex problem of really understanding the things that are going to affect us and the outcome of our civilization,” he said. “So it's not as sexy an answer, because it's not about going deeper or discovering some new species way down in a trench — that's cool, I love that, but I don't think that's where we need to be putting our money right now.”

PARALELLS BETWEEN TITAN AND TITANIC

Because of his several trips to the Titanic wreckage, Cameron has also been asked many times what he thinks of the Titan submersible tragedy.

Operated by OceanGate, the Titan submersible lost contact with the surface less than two hours after it descended into the ocean on the morning of June 18. Following an international air and sea search effort, the imploded sub's remnants were discovered near the Titanic on June 22 by a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Cameron told reporters the Titan tragedy as an “extreme outlier” after more than 50 years of safe deep-sea exploration.

Dr. MacInnis, during the conversation between the two, called the incident a “failure of psychology,” with too much “magical thinking” taking place, and believing the sub was “invincible.”

Cameron added one “can’t forget humility.”

“How can you dive to the Titanic without remembering the fundamental lesson of the history of Titanic, which is human arrogance and hubris, pride goeth before fall,” he asked. “So now there's two wrecks sitting side by side, and they both are there for exactly the same reason: the human propensity to believe your own narrative and your own invincibility and not be humble before the environment.”

“If you're going into space, you have to be humble before what space is and how daunting that is,” he also said. “If you're going into the deep ocean, you have to be humble before the force of water, the pressure, the innate challenges of that world, and not be arrogant.”

Cameron also said he understands the desire to be innovative and push boundaries, but deviation from “tried and true ways of doing things” demands explorers be “doubly rigorous.”

With files from CTVNews.ca’s Daniel Otis and Dorcas Marfo