From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sun Dec 30 2001 - 12:26:01 MST
From: "Greg Burch" <gregburch@gregburch.net>
> I agree that if any company in the world has a motivation to fund such work,
> it would be West; but your employer has been notoriously slow to adopt
> technological innovation -- perhaps because of their long history of
> monopoly.
Monopoly tends to oppose technological innovation only to the extent that
monopoly does not *need* technological innovation in order to continue to
defend itself. For example, Microsoft (or some other company) could
conceivably develop automated jurisprudence software, patent it, and have a
monopoly. To defend that monopoly, Microsoft (or West Legal Group, MS Software
Division) may then develop cutting-edge and innovative technology in the form
of lawyer-bots and human-competitive expert systems that could win in court.
So, would WLG want to bury the Singularity, or own it? I think they (or a
borganized future group) are already well on the way to owning it. To
paraphrase Moravec, we'll learn to love the borg... it will be so much nicer
than civilization.
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment, malevolent AI,
non-sensory experience, SETI
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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