Re: Paradox--was Re: Active shields, was Re: Criticism depth, was Re: Homework, Nuke, etc..

From: xgl (xli03@emory.edu)
Date: Sun Jan 14 2001 - 08:15:41 MST

On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, John Marlow wrote:

> >
> > On this planet *right now* there exists enough
> > networked computing power
> > to create an AI.
>
> **Now, forgive me if I've missed something here
> (please point it out)--but isn't AI a matter of
> quality rather than quantity?
>

        since intelligence is not an atomic essence but an emergent
property, sufficient computational capacity is one of its pre-requisites;
not only does more computational capacity make intelligence easier,
without enough computational capacity, intelligence would probably be
*impossible*. i take this to be eliezer's point here.

>
> while
> > success in nanotechnology doesn't help AI. In fact,
> > nanotechnology
> > provides for computers with thousands or millions of
> > times the power of a
> > single human brain, at which point it takes no
> > subtlety, no knowledge, no
> > wisdom to create AI; anyone with a nanocomputer can
> > just brute-force it.
>
> **See above--quality v quantity (brute-force).
>

        ditto.

-x

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