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Is there any specific term to describe a phobia about future of relationship between humans and (intelligent) machines? One may think it could be Cyberphobia or Mechanophobia, however these options are far different from what a top scientist such as Stephen Hawking warns about: "the development of full artificial intelligence [AI] could spell the end of the human race."

No matter how much such a prediction is true and possible, how should refer to that?

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  • I haven't come across an official term for that as yet and you will most likely have to coin a neologism.
    – Kris
    May 27, 2016 at 7:45
  • BTW, what the OP talks about is not "futuristic" phobia, but a phobia of things futuristic.
    – Kris
    May 27, 2016 at 7:46
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    If we are going for a neologism, I submit "mechanarchiphobia," a fear of being ruled by machines.
    – quelcjlx
    Jun 21, 2016 at 2:32

2 Answers 2

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Given that Homo Sapien essentially translates to "Wise like us" I think that a new sentience would be labeled as Sapien Superius and as such the ideal term for the unreasonable fear there of would be Sapiophobia, a fear of the wise. That is what I think it ought to be.

As it so happens there is Prosophobia, an irrational fear of progress.

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TechnophobiaM-W

noun fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices and especially computers

RobotophobiaRobots and Androids

Robophobia is an anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has an irrational fear of robots, drones, robot-like mechanics or artificial intelligence.

It frequently results in a panic attack and can be triggered by certain stimuli or situations, such as viewing a robot, being near a robot, or even just talking about robots. Some robophobic patients with find their anxiety levels rise when they are near most any autonomous machine, especial human-looking robots. This is similar to fears of luddites, but more specific to robots and AI.


Further reading only:

Technological singularity is an existential threat that someday these machines will turn against their masters (humans). It is a frequently appearing trope in movies. The construction "existential threat" is strange because it means ‘threat to existence’, rather than ‘threat that exists’.

Wikipedia — The technological singularity is a hypothetical event in which an upgradable intelligent agent (such as a computer running software-based artificial general intelligence) enters a 'runaway reaction' of self-improvement cycles, with each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an intelligence explosion and resulting in a powerful super-intelligence whose cognitive abilities could be qualitatively as far above humans, as human intelligence is above ape intelligence.

Interesting article: Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates Warn About Artificial Intelligence

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  • Downvote, wow! :(
    – NVZ
    May 27, 2016 at 6:07

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