From: Karsten Bänder (kbaender@bigfoot.com)
Date: Mon Nov 23 1998 - 04:22:36 MST
> How would you define "identity"? The possession of a unified set of memories?
> A single set of goals? A single thread in a multithreaded process? A
> Cartesian consciousness? A unit having its own copies of basic reasoning
> faculties which can come to conclusions distinct from those of other units?
> All of the above? None of the above?
An identity is the smallest possible fraction of any group. One single human is an identity, any part of him works towards the common goal of the whole body - survival of the whole, survival of his genetic materiel. In a more abstract way, any identity is defined by any number of subsystems which are organized to work towards a common goal. A distributed AI would also be one identity, because all computers which make part of this AI are not single autonomusly working units but only parts of the whole. Only together they are an AI, an entity. When cut of from the whole, a computer is just that - a computer. One human (assumed he is mentally sane) is one conscious identity, possessing one set of memories, one set of goals, one set of reasoning faculties which can come to conclusions distinct from those of other units. But it's not a single thread in a multithread process. It is the multithread process, in which each idea, each thought represents one thread.
> Until you've decided what the distinction is between "many" and "one", you
> certainly can't figure out which the Singularity will be.
Many is anything more than one. A long as you can divide, it is more than one. One single entity cannot be divided. It's a simple question of discrete mathematics.
> Bonus question: Why do you care?
To discuss Singleton and singularity, you need to know what "single" is. Well, you need exact definitions. Without clear definitions all discussion is obsolete.
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kbaender@bigfoot.com
http://members.ivm.de/~Kasimodo/
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"Viele Leute glauben, daß sie denken, wenn sie lediglich ihre Vorurteile neu ordnen."
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