[lawnchair]

We cannot create a system smarter than ourselves. "Garbage In Garbage Out".

For instance, a lot of the current subprime joy has come from the fact that we took people out of the mortgage biz (who were indeed morons mostly), and substituted some pretty advanced expert systems like "Desktop Originator" and "Loan Prospector". But, those systems were gamed and based on certain expectations that did not continue.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', 'W')e cannot create a system smarter than ourselves. "Garbage In Garbage Out".

[Dreamtwister]

AI may not be needed, but I can very easily forsee the need for wetware in the near future.

The information wee are currently teaching college students in their first year is obsolete by their third year, and the pace is increasing. We are already seeing the results of people's inability to understand the world around them. Without some sort of additional processing power, it will only be a matter of time before information overload causes a disaster.

[Revi]

The human brain may be smart enough to deal with what we need to deal with. I can't see AI helping very much. We use the culture as an external brain anyway. We live the morals we are taught, have lots of information on computers, etc.

I agree with the other posters who say we have to learn to live within our limits. We need to create green culture. That might help to affect the kind of change we need. AI is just a tool. We have lots of tools. We need to learn how to use them again.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kakkerlak', '
')The reason it's going bad with the world is because everybody is trying to find weak excuses to justify bad behaviour. Nobody is taking responsibility for themselves. Nobody is saying: "I am the problem." and that's why its going bad with the world. And that's also the solution.

[outcast]

Awesome stuff

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ince 1972, scientists have known there are four basic circuit components, but if you've spent any time in an electrical engineering classroom, you probably only have experience with three: capacitor, inductor, and resistor. The fourth basic component, the memristor, had remained stuck in the domain of theory--a nice idea that even the theorists thought had few practical uses. Last year, scientists at Hewlett-Packard (HP) demonstrated the first functional solid-state memristor, made from thin films of TiO2, and discovered it had an abundance of unique and highly promising properties.

A study released Monday by The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that these same TiO2 memristors can be fabricated into functional and reprogrammable integrated circuits. Scientists at HP combined a crossbar architecture of memristors with field effect transistors (FETs) to produce a convincing proof-of-concept device that includes circuits that can dynamically reprogram themselves, acting a bit like a solid-state nerve cell-like operation--a holy grail of electrical engineering.

[jasonraymondson]

Great, just lovely .. chips that can reprogram themselves.

nah, that can't end badly.

[outcast]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', 'G')reat, just lovely .. chips that can reprogram themselves.

nah, that can't end badly.

[Carlhole]

I'm surprised that that article hasn't made it onto Kurzweil's site yet.

But, here's one that has.

A.I. comes of age

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FutureWatch', 'J')anuary 26, 2009 (Computerworld) "Stair, please fetch the stapler from the lab," says the man seated at a conference room table. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Robot, standing nearby, replies in a nasal monotone, "I will get the stapler for you."

Stair pivots and wheels into the adjacent lab, avoiding a number of obstacles on the way. Its stereoscopic camera eyes swivel back and forth, taking in the contents of the room. It seems to think for a moment, then approaches a table for a closer look at an oblong metallic object. Its articulated arm reaches out, swivels here and there, and then gently picks up the stapler with long, rubber-clad fingers. It heads back to the conference room.

"Here is your stapler," says Stair, handing it to the man. "Have a nice day."

These are indeed nice days for artificial intelligence researchers...

[Carlhole]

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NYT', 'A') robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously.

Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone.

Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences.

As examples, the scientists pointed to a number of technologies as diverse as experimental medical systems that interact with patients to simulate empathy, and computer worms and viruses that defy extermination and could thus be said to have reached a “cockroach” stage of machine intelligence.

While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors.

[outcast]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou wouldn't have to have generally intelligent or conscious computers to surpass the abilities of most people

[hardtootell-2]

warm and fuzzys

[Dreamtwister]

Computers are only now approaching insect-level intelligence, and they are already capable of a frightening level of autonomous capability. John Robb talks about this all the time.

We're just fortunate that such applications are either still in development, or highly restricted. Once that power (and the understanding of how to exercise that power effectively) disseminates, we're screwed. They don't need smarter-than-human intelligence. The power is there right now.

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'O')bserve a fly for a minute. If you can. And then show me a machine that can do the same. Find it's own food. Mate. Procreate.

Fly up and land on a ceiling. Upside down.

[Dreamtwister]

1 and 3 work fine for me. The second link is at Geocities and seems to be having problems at the moment, try again in an hour or so.

[Carlhole]

At Secret Conference, Scientists Consider the Possible Rise of Autonomous Killer Robots

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he regular use of unmanned Predator drones to do our bombing and robots developed to increasingly resemble human traits might have some dangerous implications if left unchecked. With the rush of advancements in artificial intelligence, scientists worry that we may be approaching, faster than we realize, the point at which robots begin to operate without human direction. And while robots have accidentally killed humans before, if one of our weaponized robots were to become autonomous, the results could be disastrous.

[timmac]

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man



This statement is already true, I have ran into a few folks that were not smarter than a tin can let alone a machine.

There is also a few on this site as well, but I will refrain from stating there names..

[Carlhole]

Popsci

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ay Kurzweil's concept of the Singularity rests on two axioms: that computers will become more intelligent than humans, and that humans and computers will merge, allowing us access to that increased thinking power. So it only makes sense to begin the conference with discussions of those two fundamental concepts. No one disputed the emergence of intelligence beyond our own, but they did give me plenty of reasons to worry about how that process might take place.

According to Anna Salamon, a former NASA researcher who now works for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence that hosts the conference, artificial intelligence greater than our own is inevitable and dangerous. Salamon argued that biological brains have finite intellectual capacity. Just as a goldfish can't appreciate opera and a cat can't learn quantum mechanics, so too will humans soon confront problems beyond the comprehension of our slimy, mortal brains.

[SeaGypsy]

Gregory Stock published 'Metaman' in 1993. Effectively a thesis; he predicted that the crucial point in artificial intelligence would come as a race between the humans (now reduced to controlling only the power switch) and the megabrain computer 'who' has realized the greatest threat to it's survival and control is the human holding the power switch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaman

[Arthur75]

More Sci Fi junk posing as science ...

Disgusting

Nothing but a reflection of US peasant religiousness