From: The Low Golden Willow (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Mon Oct 06 1997 - 19:54:03 MDT
On Oct 6, 10:00pm, "Nicholas Bostrom" wrote:
} The idea is that what one may call a universal intelligence algorithm
} might well be very simple.
} It doesn't even seem implausible to me that some
} genetic algorithm or neural network architecture/learning rule that
} might be so simple that it could be written on the back on an
} envelope could achive superintelligence, given enough hardware and
} unlimited interaction with the external world.
I think we have one already. Do a bunch of things; see what happens;
pick the thing that worked best; repeat. It works for creating
lifeforms, building immune systems, running anthills, and Hofstadter's
creative thinking programs. It explains a lot about how my mind works,
I feel. I've called intelligence "evolution uploaded" before, and I'll
stand by that.
The tricks, of course, are in the representation of ideas and the
selection process. I'm not sure if those are part of the universal
algorithm or part of the hardware. If you call them hardware, though,
then we do know the algorithm to produce superintelligence, because the
algorithm of evolution will have produced us, our brains, and the ideas
which designed the superintelligence. You just need to run the program
long enough on enough hardware with enough interaction with the external
world.
A dog won't discover to general relativity because its hardware is
constrained. Unlike Hal, I think a normal, or at least not very far
above average, human might. But I'm optimistic about human genetic
potential and pessimistic about our education system. I learned calculus
in 8th grade; "gifted" 8th graders are lucky to take algebra. Learning
calculus then was fairly logical after learning algebra in 5th grade.
How? My parents fought for it. Did anyone else get the chance to take
algebra in 5th grade? Nooo...
Merry part,
-xx- Damien R. Sullivan X-) <*> http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix
Jeane L. Dixon, world renowned psychic, died Saturday (1/25) at age 79.
There was almost universal sadness and lament throughout the world of
celebrity psychics. Contacted at her home, Dionne Warwick's spokeswoman
said that "[Miss] Warwick is beside herself -- none of us expected this
to happen."
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