This evening's topic matter: Artificial Intelligence! (as inspired by Catsmeow's journal A.I.)
Catsmeow got me thinking more about a topic I've been able to shake, artificial intelligence. This nagging was spawned after I'd watched "Robocop" on television which has a surprisingly good script for such a poorly directed film. In any case, after the movie I was left with the question: what benefit is there in using a human brain as part of a cyborg? If you have the technology to make such a mobile robot, why not use an artificial mind?
This got me thinking about aliens and advanced genetics and nanotechnology (think artificial factories on a microscopic leve) and artificial intelligence and where we'd wind up as a species in hundreds if not thousands of years from now (provided we haven't obliterated ourselves). To varying degrees, this technology is available today but where does it go tomorrow?
It's only a matter of time before we develop artificial intelligence that surpasses our own ability to think. Computers can make calculations millions (if not billions) of times faster than we can, but they can't relate things with as much detail, in the spatial manner we can. At some point we'll break that barrier and computers will not only be smarter than us but they could potentially possess the power to learn and create themselves. Catsmeow pointed out that when Asimov wrote his Robot books, the robots were programmed with the directive to never harm humans.. but ah, how easily we could turn that against ourselves. It's only a matter of time before this comes to pass; after all, it's human nature to create new things in our own image (see: cloning).
What happens when we teach computers to research for themselves and run, at least to some extent, autonomous of us? Do we wind up as a footnote in history, like humans in "The Matrix" or "Terminator"?
Conversely, perhaps scientists will instead understand genetics well enough to begin creating super-human races, capable of thought processes far beyond what we can currently do. Being the selfish creatures we are, the wealthy and obsessed will undoubtedly want to create genetically "perfect" children. Will we be living in a world like "Gattica" where only the genetically superior are allowed to survive? After all, it costs too much to keep the invalids alive.
I'd like to travel in a time machine, even if it remains stationary in space. Think of all the fantastic discoveries we'll have made and the technology we'll have employed. We'll have changed the face of the world many times over. And maybe we'll have destroyed it too. Maybe, when that time machine merry-go-round whirls to a stop, I'd just be standing in a desolate and cold place that had been laid to waste by humans many millennia prior.
I'm horribly curious to know.
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Word of the day - Luddite (n.): one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest; broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change.
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Q: Cats or dogs?
Catsmeow got me thinking more about a topic I've been able to shake, artificial intelligence. This nagging was spawned after I'd watched "Robocop" on television which has a surprisingly good script for such a poorly directed film. In any case, after the movie I was left with the question: what benefit is there in using a human brain as part of a cyborg? If you have the technology to make such a mobile robot, why not use an artificial mind?
This got me thinking about aliens and advanced genetics and nanotechnology (think artificial factories on a microscopic leve) and artificial intelligence and where we'd wind up as a species in hundreds if not thousands of years from now (provided we haven't obliterated ourselves). To varying degrees, this technology is available today but where does it go tomorrow?
It's only a matter of time before we develop artificial intelligence that surpasses our own ability to think. Computers can make calculations millions (if not billions) of times faster than we can, but they can't relate things with as much detail, in the spatial manner we can. At some point we'll break that barrier and computers will not only be smarter than us but they could potentially possess the power to learn and create themselves. Catsmeow pointed out that when Asimov wrote his Robot books, the robots were programmed with the directive to never harm humans.. but ah, how easily we could turn that against ourselves. It's only a matter of time before this comes to pass; after all, it's human nature to create new things in our own image (see: cloning).
What happens when we teach computers to research for themselves and run, at least to some extent, autonomous of us? Do we wind up as a footnote in history, like humans in "The Matrix" or "Terminator"?
Conversely, perhaps scientists will instead understand genetics well enough to begin creating super-human races, capable of thought processes far beyond what we can currently do. Being the selfish creatures we are, the wealthy and obsessed will undoubtedly want to create genetically "perfect" children. Will we be living in a world like "Gattica" where only the genetically superior are allowed to survive? After all, it costs too much to keep the invalids alive.
I'd like to travel in a time machine, even if it remains stationary in space. Think of all the fantastic discoveries we'll have made and the technology we'll have employed. We'll have changed the face of the world many times over. And maybe we'll have destroyed it too. Maybe, when that time machine merry-go-round whirls to a stop, I'd just be standing in a desolate and cold place that had been laid to waste by humans many millennia prior.
I'm horribly curious to know.
=====
Word of the day - Luddite (n.): one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest; broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change.
=====
Q: Cats or dogs?
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
did you ever read "the moon is a harsh mistress"? it is sort of about a computer that can think.
on another topic, i have a bottle of paxil sitting in front of me, but i am a little afraid of it. it was going to be 6 weeks before i could see a counseler, and my heart has been feeling like it is going to beat out of my chest, so my PCP perscribed the paxil. what kind of side effects have you had with it? do you still drink?
Sporks should be bigger here, I don't get it. They are so functional, cut down on dishes... A lazy man's dream! Why do you think they are so big in Japan?
Anyway, Q: Cats or dogs? A: Neither for me. I live in too small an apartment and am allergic to both.
Q: AI. Actually, the problem IMHO with AI is that we are approaching it incorrectly. We are trying to define too much in the way of "programing". Animals and basic life functions are all controled by simple rules that evolve into complex action.
I guess what I am trying to say is that we are trying to put run before we can walk. We need to let AI evolve over time rather than try to build human inteligence straight off. This is really the command sets they are starting to work on with nano, etc. Some cool biological work being done to comprehend what happens on the small scale, that leads to behaviour.
Take baby sporkboy... I seek food. I try to eat everything. I find that some things don't fit in my mouth or can't be broken down. Some go down but don't stay there. Some stay there and hurt my tummy. Some just taste good and give me energy to continue to seek food. I like tasty, my thoughts evolve to - I Eat more tasty. I combine tasty to make new tasty. Viola.. Bacon Cheeseburger!
Start simple, let the commands build themselves. It is the individual experiences that add up to personality ... Intelligence. Animals have several command sets (eat, procreate, shelter) that combine to create more complex or odd ball behaviour. Look at all of us on this site!
Q: Genetics. Humanity will stop evolving if everyone is allowed to live. No culling of the weak. Genetic flaws are passed on and do not disappear from the gene pool. Weak traits are allowed to survive and stop humanity from reaching its full potential. Granted this will take AGES.
Fortunately, for us, we are nowhere near this genetic doomsday and it continues to get farther and farther away as genetic information is being shared, passed and moved around the world, finally, with interracial marriages, more mobile individuals (Not living in the same 10 square miles your whole life), etc...
Fortunately, as well, humans have this odd thing about fashion and taste. We constantly desire to be different from each other. Genetic perfection is unattainable because it will keep shifting and changing. Next year's model will come with green hair, last year's model had webbed feet... What is hot, sexy, smart, desireable changes. Again, look at the people here.
It is all about change! How apt is the Word of the Day, Luddites cannot/do not accept change.
Genetic, Technological and Idiological diversity is a great strength, not a weakness. Mutts are the future!! Half-breeds unite! (or quarter-breeds, etc...)