From: Emlyn (emlyn@one.net.au)
Date: Mon May 28 2001 - 22:14:46 MDT
Eliezer wrote:
> Spike Jones wrote:
> >
> > Suppose instead of aliens landing on a ruined earth, we
> > send the map to them. This map is of a structure that any
> > apparatus we would call intellingent would recognize. The
> > simplest one I know of that fits this description is Sagan's
> > list of primes as described in Contact.
> >
> > Now suppose one wishes to beam some kind of message
> > analogous to a list of primes, except we want to demonstrate
> > that the sender is *really* intelligent, not just a simple list of
> > primes. What do we send? spike
>
> Send them the most impressive computer program humanity has been able to
> write so far. Programming is the purest expression of intelligence.
>
Well, I'd say that mathematics is probably a purer expression of
intelligence.
> Send them a generally intelligent AI, if you have one; this demonstrates
> self-awareness and self-understanding as well. Progress in the cognitive
> sciences is the purest expression of technological enlightenment. (But
> don't send a *seed* AI, because then they don't know how much of the AI
> *you* wrote and how much the *AI* wrote.)
Careful... sending a general purpose intelligence might be seen as a direct
threat.
Emlyn
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