From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Tue Jun 18 2002 - 21:48:03 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> On Tuesday, June 18, 2002, at 12:06 am, Brian Atkins wrote:
>
> > You're missing my point, which is that something as "super-smart" and
> > "super-
> > fast" as you were talking about should be able to make the VR realistic
> > enough (hence my use of the word "emulate") to completely do any needed
> > testing in that arena.
>
> No, I got your point exactly. I simply disagree with it. That doesn't
> mean I understand it. You think that emulations can get so good that we
> don't need to verify our results. I say, no matter how good your
> emulation gets, it is still "unverified" until it is observed the real
> world. It may have a high probability of working the same in the real
> world as it does in your emulation, but that probability is not 100%.
There will always be a final, real-world test for any device that actually
is needed for the SI to drive a fast Singularity. This does not change
the idea that it can do 99.9% of the work in software.
(see my posts to Anders for other answers to your post)
> > Or do you believe uploading is impossible? The
> > same level of emulation capabilities are required in either case- if it
> > can do one it can do the other it would seem?
>
> I don't see the connection here. I do believe that uploading will
> eventually be possible. All we have to do is simulate reality.
> However, simulating something is totally different from predicting
> reality. I can simulate dice on a PC, but predicting die rolls is a lot
> more difficult. I can simulate atomic and subatomic particles, but
> predicting their exact locations and momentums is a lot more difficult.
> Perfect prediction at the atomic level may be theoretically impossible.
> Even with perfect simulations, I don't expect it to parallel the real
> universe forever without diverging. It must be kept in synch with
> real-world observations and verification.
>
Who said anything about doing long term predictions of reality? The
discussion was about relatively simple and straightforward bits of
technology that would be required to be developed to drive a fast
Singularity to the point of transhuman (AIs and posthumans) intelligence.
-- Brian Atkins Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence http://www.singinst.org/
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