Hey, I'm no fan of this, either. I was just discussing it for the hell of it.
The reason I brought up that heroin thing was that I remember hearing how someone was in trouble for child abuse because she shoot up when she was pregnant with her daughter. As I just realized, she won anyway, so that's not a very good point to make.
...This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old...ultraviolence.
Is there anything approaching true AI? I've seen it argued that even the most sophisticated of computers approach decision-making on a form of pre-programed IF THEN statements. Humans (and animals) can learn and make decisions. A computer can be programmed for limited learning (so I've been told), but it can never make decisions on its own, unless the programming within it has told it which decision to make and based on specified criteria, otherwise we see some kind of error. In short, I will define true AI by saying the machine given the ability to learn beyond its design and programming, making decisions even the designers and programmers could not have foreseen. Is there such a thing?
John 3:16-18 Warwolves G2
The University of North AlabamaLions!
jegs2 wrote:Is there anything approaching true AI? I've seen it argued that even the most sophisticated of computers approach decision-making on a form of pre-programed IF THEN statements. Humans (and animals) can learn and make decisions. A computer can be programmed for limited learning (so I've been told), but it can never make decisions on its own, unless the programming within it has told it which decision to make and based on specified criteria, otherwise we see some kind of error. In short, I will define true AI by saying the machine given the ability to learn beyond its design and programming, making decisions even the designers and programmers could not have foreseen. Is there such a thing?
AI is very hard to define since intelligence is difficult to define. You can train a dog to fetch a stick, play dead and so on, but some things are simply beyond it like calculus. Same with chimps and even humans may have limits where we simply cannot comprehend what is going on.
If there was a true AS (sentience, not intelligence) then it may be far more intelligent than humans, though we may not notice it at first. AIs for now need to be programmed like Windows which is still AI, just not amazing. Heuristic AIs that learn from a bottom-up method as opposed to the top-down method other systems use, will be the first true creations able to match or outstrip us intellectually. Whether it becomes sentient is another thing.
We've made artificial 'life', or at least, digital constructs that mimic things we define as 'life' in the real world(Think of a computer worm: It invades a computer and uses it to endlessly replicate. Kind of like a real-world virus.). Artificial sentience is going to be just as possible.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
SirNitram wrote:We've made artificial 'life', or at least, digital constructs that mimic things we define as 'life' in the real world(Think of a computer worm: It invades a computer and uses it to endlessly replicate. Kind of like a real-world virus.).
Computer viri are programmed to attack specific weaknesses and exploit them, are they not? For example, can one kind of virus or worm completely mutate into another type of virus or worm that attacks a completely different piece of a computer system unless that code is pre-programmed into the virus or worm?
John 3:16-18 Warwolves G2
The University of North AlabamaLions!
All this engineering talk is assuming it is POSSIBLE to engineer such a thing into a human being. Yes, genes are important - but they aren't everything. Identical twins may be genetically identical but they are NOT interchangable! They are distinct entities with identifiable differences - in some cases, extremely different tastes, preferences, beliefs, etc.
You might engineer someone with a tendency to accept servitude, but it would have to be coupled with the proper environment to further nurture that mindset. And even then, it might not take.
And that's assuming, like I said, it's possible to do this at all on a mass basis. I doubt most mental traits are based solely on just one gene, and the more genes involved the more complex the problem.
SirNitram wrote:We've made artificial 'life', or at least, digital constructs that mimic things we define as 'life' in the real world(Think of a computer worm: It invades a computer and uses it to endlessly replicate. Kind of like a real-world virus.).
Computer viri are programmed to attack specific weaknesses and exploit them, are they not? For example, can one kind of virus or worm completely mutate into another type of virus or worm that attacks a completely different piece of a computer system unless that code is pre-programmed into the virus or worm?
I specifically refer to computer worms, not viri, because a computer viri doesn't exist primarily to replicate. A worm does. As for the mutation you ask about, no, not unless given the ability to exhibit mutations(See genetic algorithims thread).. Expecting it to do otherwise is to make a viri that will always produce the exact same DNA and asking if it will undergo any change. The answer is no.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
SirNitram wrote:We've made artificial 'life', or at least, digital constructs that mimic things we define as 'life' in the real world(Think of a computer worm: It invades a computer and uses it to endlessly replicate. Kind of like a real-world virus.).
Computer viri are programmed to attack specific weaknesses and exploit them, are they not? For example, can one kind of virus or worm completely mutate into another type of virus or worm that attacks a completely different piece of a computer system unless that code is pre-programmed into the virus or worm?
Actualy theres is a type of computer viruses that do exactly this to make them difficult to detect. However the code to do so programmed into them. A computer virus can not randomly change like a biological virus, the code for doing so must be supplied by the programmer. Also small random changes in the executable code quickly reneder it unstable. This is different from DNA where small changes can have good effect.
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
