Letting yourself remember, forgetting to forget—is such a thing possible, the latter? Does such imply an effect of remembering (which seems correct, to be honest; it seems more likely that things are always-remembered rather than typically-forgotten) as natural? And therein lies the question, yes: what are some of the fundamental processes by which memes (M’s) … [Read more…]
This essay is in response to The End Is A.I.: The Singularity Is Sci-Fi’s Faith-Based Initiative. In futurist circles there’s the idea of the Singularity, a point in time when artificial intelligence grows so intelligent that it can make itself even more intelligent, causing it to rapidly surpass human intelligence. The term “singularity” is inherently … [Read more…]
To think of a human as a physical body is completely backward. Humans are not bodies. Humans are minds. Humans are technology. When you pick up a rock and use it as a hammer, it’s mind that’s doing that. When you use Google to tap the intelligence of the Internet, it’s mind doing that. There … [Read more…]
Artificial intelligences will probably diversify and talk to each other, just like we do. So you could have communities of AIs, each with niches, all trying to propagate themselves into the future, just like we do.
I believe minds are strange loops: level-crossing feedback loops. My understanding is that they are systems that edit how they edit themselves. This post is about self-improving artificial intelligences, which I believe are strange loops. The question is, could there be a class of strange loops that tend to increase in complexity? What environment would … [Read more…]
Let’s talk about evil artificial intelligence. From Terminator to The Matrix, humans have feared computers taking over the world. I think there are great reasons why that’s unlikely: 1. Intelligence is hard to model. 2. Self-improving intelligence may be even harder. 3. Intelligence requires cooperation. 4. Intelligence grows. It is not a switch that is … [Read more…]
How many generations would it take for an isolated group of ignorant humans, unable to speak or read, to bootstrap themselves and develop these technologies again?