http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083 examining transformative technology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:23:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859482 Peter Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:59:42 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859482 Trouble is, we have a whole lot of people who cannot drive a nail or fix a window. Whole sections of cities are rubble while bands of armed thugs who cannot, or will not, speak standard English. Even armed police don't go into entire neighborhoods alone. So, some of us get smarter, many others just get dangerous. Trouble is, we have a whole lot of people who cannot drive a nail or fix a window. Whole sections of cities are rubble while bands of armed thugs who cannot, or will not, speak standard English. Even armed police don’t go into entire neighborhoods alone. So, some of us get smarter, many others just get dangerous.

]]> http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859481 Jacobite Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:59:41 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859481 Sure, I believe that everything we know is picked up from the world around us. Everything we are is partly influenced by the environment (particularly instruction and example from our family) and partly from hard-wired behavioural tendencies (human nature). The latest brain science is discovering behavioural differences between the sexes in newborns. Physical structural differences in brain tissue also exist between males and females. Someone who believes in 'the mind' or 'the soul' has no problem with this, but materialists are painted into a corner. How can physical organs which think, function identically when they differ in structure? Sure, I believe that everything we know is picked up from the world around us. Everything we are is partly influenced by the environment (particularly instruction and example from our family) and partly from hard-wired behavioural tendencies (human nature). The latest brain science is discovering behavioural differences between the sexes in newborns. Physical structural differences in brain tissue also exist between males and females. Someone who believes in ‘the mind’ or ‘the soul’ has no problem with this, but materialists are painted into a corner. How can physical organs which think, function identically when they differ in structure?

]]> http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859480 Instapundit » Blog Archive » THOUGHTS ON the software of civilization. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:17:03 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859480 [...] THOUGHTS ON the software of civilization. [...] [...] THOUGHTS ON the software of civilization. [...]

]]> http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859438 Trent Waddington Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:50:37 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859438 Building a generic AI "engine" requires the opposite of engineering. In engineering you start by gathering requirements, choosing technologies and available off-the-shelf components, and estimating the funding/resources you'll need to get it built. If your estimates are right, and too high, the project doesn't go ahead. If your estimates are low, the project may go ahead but fail. With an AI engine, the goal isn't to make a system, it's to make a component. Trying to make a component without clearly defined requirements (that's being generous, define "intelligent") is just tinkering. Tinkering only works on the small scale, and AI is a huge scale task. Building a generic AI “engine” requires the opposite of engineering. In engineering you start by gathering requirements, choosing technologies and available off-the-shelf components, and estimating the funding/resources you’ll need to get it built. If your estimates are right, and too high, the project doesn’t go ahead. If your estimates are low, the project may go ahead but fail. With an AI engine, the goal isn’t to make a system, it’s to make a component. Trying to make a component without clearly defined requirements (that’s being generous, define “intelligent”) is just tinkering. Tinkering only works on the small scale, and AI is a huge scale task.

]]> http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859436 The Software of Civilization | Everything News Portal! Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:30:43 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3083#comment-859436 [...] Read more … [...] [...] Read more … [...]

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