May 29, 2007 at 11:22 am - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Singularity, Quote of the day
Eliezer Yudkowsky, in the newly launched Singularity Institute Blog:
“Intelligence is the source of technology. If we can use technology to improve intelligence, that closes the loop and potentially creates a positive feedback cycle. Let’s say we invent brain-computer interfaces that substantially improve human intelligence. What might these augmented humans do with their improved intelligence? Well, among other things, they’ll probably design the next generation of brain-computer interfaces.”
May 7, 2007 at 1:14 pm - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Singularity, Quote of the day
Vernor Vinge, who coined the word “Singularity”, interviewed by Computerworld:
It seems plausible that with technology we can, in the fairly near future, create (or become) creatures who surpass humans in every intellectual and creative dimension. Events beyond such an event — such a singularity — are as unimaginable to us as opera is to a flatworm.
April 23, 2007 at 3:24 pm - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Misc
Inkblot earth has released the results of an online poll asking people if they are afraid of future “Intelligent Machines”. More than 6,000 people have responded, giving these numbers:
16.7% Yes, I find the idea of intelligent machines frightening (1002 votes)
27.1% No, I don’t find intelligent machines frightening (1632 votes)
56.3% I’m not afraid of intelligent machines, I’m afraid of how humans will use the technology (3366 votes)
The poll did not use a representative panel though, as noted by the author:
“16% of voters fearing AI is quite high. I can only imagine that this percentage would rise sharply if the poll was subjected to people with less knowledge of tech and/or science.”
Indeed.
April 21, 2007 at 8:35 am - Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Quote of the day, Consciousness
Michael Cox, of BBN Technologies, in Newsweek:
“There is nothing magical, mystical, spiritual or uniquely human about introspection and metacognition.”
April 14, 2007 at 10:07 am - Tags: US, Research, Artificial Intelligence, Singularity
In a short and mind-blowing essay published a few days ago, “Artificial General Intelligence: Now is the Time“, Ben Goertzel explains why Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) may exist “sooner than you think”. In his introduction, he states that:
“I believe that the creation of a superhumanly intelligent AI system is possible within 10 years, and maybe even within a lesser period of time (3-5 years). Predicting the exact number of years is not possible at this stage. But the point is, I believe that I have arrived at a detailed software design that is capable of giving rise to intelligence at the human level and beyond.”
Giving a few updates on his startup, Novamente, whose goal is to develop advanced AI systems, he suggests that this kind of research could be boosted if more people were pursuing the same objective:
“If the US government created an ‘AI Manhattan Project’—run without a progress-obstructing bureaucracy, and based on gathering together an interdisciplinary team of the greatest AI minds on the planet—then we would have a human-level AI within 5 years. Almost guaranteed, assuming Novamente or some other viable design were adopted. It is a big project, but not nearly as big as building, say, Windows Vista.”
Then he explains the “two paths” that could lead to AGI, details a few noticeable projects as well as the possible risks implied by AGI and concludes:
“One of these years, one of these AGI designs—quite possibly my own Novamente system—is going to pass the critical threshold and recognize the pattern of its own self, an event that will be closely followed by the system developing its own sense of will and reflective awareness. And then, if we’ve done things right and supplied the AGI with an appropriate goal system and a respect for its human parents, we will be in the midst of the event that human society has been pushing toward, in hindsight, since the beginning: a positive Singularity.”
The whole piece is definitely worth reading!
