From: Robert Owen (rowen@technologist.com)
Date: Sun Oct 31 1999 - 01:20:57 MST
phil osborn wrote:
> >From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@www.aeiveos.com>
> >Subject: Re: AI motivations & Self-rewiring
> >Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 20:10:27 -0700 (PDT)
> >I think incrementally ala the Moravec suggestion of neuron by neuron
> >functional replacement [inside-out replacement]. I do not see how this
> >cannot work (given advanced technology) unless there is something very
> >unusual (magical) about neurons we currently don't understand.
>
> What no one here seems to understand is that the "mind" is much more
> than the wiring. I'm talking about hormones, thousands of different
> neurotransmitter and modifier substances, all of which are released both
> generally and in specific areas of the brain and are essential to mental
> focus, motivation and action. The mind is not a logic engine; it is part
> of a living system.
You might be interested, Phil, in "The Neurobiology of Morals" by Charles
Jennings to provide a test case for the application of your judgments and
assess whether you still conclude that Robert's (i.e. Moravec's) proposal
is conceptually inadequate. The online paper features the research of
Anderson, S.W., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D. & Damasio, A.R.
"Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in
human prefrontal cortex", Nature Neuroscience 2, 1032-1037 (1999).
I agree that neuron replacement as an exclusive strategy for the con-
struction of synthetic intelligence ("human mentality" including both
cognition and conation) is probably insufficient. But Robert's claim that
neuron replacement is feasible I find reasonable. So do you regard the
synthesis of neurotransmitter chemistry impossible? The cybernetic
aspect of e.g. signal control requires the operation of antagonistic
agents -- is it possible to simulate the control mechanisms which
regulate the release and re-uptake of, say, serotonin by monoamine
oxidase chemistry? Or do you think these feedback processes are so
complex that we simply cannot artificially replicate them?
There is also in this paper a brief discussion of the relationship
of prefrontal cortical damage to the etiology of sociopathy.
At any rate, here is the the URL:
http://helix.nature.com/nsu/991021/991021-6.html
=======================
Robert M. Owen
Director
The Orion Institute
57 W. Morgan Street
Brevard, NC 28712-3659 USA
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