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When does technology become artificial intelligence?

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When does technology become artificial intelligence?
OnceFlewOver
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Posted 08/13/04 - 09:06 AM:
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#1
When you think about 2001: A Space Odyssey, the first tool used was a hammer made of some femur. It was simple, easy to use, and the mass intelligence could understand it or learn how to use it. The intelligence of technology is based on compilatiion, while human intelligence unfortunately is not. Collectively, as technology becomes more and more advanced, humans' understanding stays at the same level. (500 years ago you could easily understand the everyday tools around you, while now, how many people know how a microwave works? They know how to use it, yet do they know HOW it works?)

So as technology becomes more and more esoteric, could laymen, ignorant of the world about them, be manipulated and subjected to no escape simply through their own creation?

Free will also comes in to play with artificial intelligence. So far, we can only program computers to act according to a specific set of prerecorded actions, if A then B, if not A then C. And technically, as long as computers cannot make choices, then they have not become artificial intelligence. (Then again, don't humans also act on a more complex prerecorded set of... nature?) Computers could choose randomly, yet it's never been proven, and that's really just probability, not choice.

What do you think?
zephos
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Posted 08/13/04 - 09:22 AM:
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Not sure exactly sure what questions your looking to have answered.

When does technology become A.I.? When it passes the Turing test. a.k.a. When it can successfully fool the average human in conversation for an indefinite amount of time.

I think the bigger question that you bring up deals more with whether or not one can prove that human thought is not bounded by the very same 'prerecorded actions.'

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Reformed Nihilist
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Posted 08/13/04 - 09:40 AM:
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zephos wrote:
Not sure exactly sure what questions your looking to have answered.

When does technology become A.I.? When it passes the Turing test. a.k.a. When it can successfully fool the average human in conversation for an indefinite amount of time.

I think the bigger question that you bring up deals more with whether or not one can prove that human thought is not bounded by the very same 'prerecorded actions.'


I always thought the Turing test was too easy an answer. It describes without actually defining. It's like if I asked you to define an orange, and you said "anything you can make orange juice from".

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Sduibek
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Posted 08/13/04 - 09:53 AM:
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I don't think this will ever happen.. the new generations which grow up with it will always be accustomed.

Look at the personal computer... my folks are frightened and made insane by it.. but to me it's like a third hand into the world.

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zephos
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Posted 08/13/04 - 09:54 AM:
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Reformed Nihilist wrote:
I always thought the Turing test was too easy an answer. It describes without actually defining. It's like if I asked you to define an orange, and you said "anything you can make orange juice from".
Ironically I agree with you. I hate the idea of the Turing test but I'm sure of a very practical alternative.

The Turing Test and the Chineese room problem give great concern about the validity of human thought. I don't feel comfortable saying human thought is just one big equation, but I find it hard to dispute.

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zephos
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Posted 08/13/04 - 10:00 AM:
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Sduibek wrote:
I don't think this will ever happen.. the new generations which grow up with it will always be accustomed.

Look at the personal computer... my folks are frightened and made insane by it.. but to me it's like a third hand into the world.
Well I think the point is that you may be able to use the personal computer, but do you know the EE and CS aspects of the machine that you use? Do you understand the OS enough to alter it to your needs, or the hardware. If you car stops working do you have the skills to fix it.

I think that if we are to automate the means of production so much to the point that no humans are even in the process at all, we as a society could become "slaves" to technology. In "I, Robots" you have 'intelligent' robots building robots and other things. If the technology ever gets to the point where it can further itself without human intervention, there could be problems.

[Not that I find this future likely, but it is an interesting thing to think about.]

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Sduibek
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Posted 08/13/04 - 10:39 AM:
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I think the primary key is robots building robots. I mean, there will ALWAYS be a group of people that is totally skilled at using the newest gadgets smiling face

But if the robots can control the rate at which we gain new gadgets.. well... you start getting 10 leaps in gadgetry per generation and things start getting tricky. Then it's not "the new generation udnerstands this gadget, the old does not" So much as "Holy CRAP there's all these gadgets we don't udnerstand!" smiling face

When you say "slave".. what do you mean?

I understand we are powerless when we don't understand how to use a tool, but do you imply that, left to their own devices (no pun intended), robots would in a sense "Evolve" and somehow subjugate or enslave us as a species?

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zephos
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Posted 08/13/04 - 11:01 AM:
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Sduibek wrote:
I think the primary key is robots building robots. I mean, there will ALWAYS be a group of people that is totally skilled at using the newest gadgets smiling face

But if the robots can control the rate at which we gain new gadgets.. well... you start getting 10 leaps in gadgetry per generation and things start getting tricky. Then it's not "the new generation udnerstands this gadget, the old does not" So much as "Holy CRAP there's all these gadgets we don't udnerstand!" smiling face

When you say "slave".. what do you mean?

I understand we are powerless when we don't understand how to use a tool, but do you imply that, left to their own devices (no pun intended), robots would in a sense "Evolve" and somehow subjugate or enslave us as a species?
I'm not pretending to say that robots will become evil and forcibly enslave us. I meant it more in a complete dependence on technology [even if voluntary dependence] so that if one day we woke up and all the technology was gone would we [as a species] still be able to survive.

So if technology gets to the point where we need water filtration, air filtration, etc then we are slaves to that technology. Without it we would die. As much as I hate to bring it up, The 2nd Matrix movie touched on this subject slightly when Neo goes to the basement of Zion with the mayor.

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Sduibek
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Posted 08/13/04 - 11:07 AM:
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zephos wrote:
so that if one day we woke up and all the technology was gone would we [as a species] still be able to survive.

Probably not.

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OnceFlewOver
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Posted 08/13/04 - 11:21 AM:
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Sduibek wrote:
I think the primary key is robots building robots. I mean, there will ALWAYS be a group of people that is totally skilled at using the newest gadgets smiling face

But if the robots can control the rate at which we gain new gadgets.. well... you start getting 10 leaps in gadgetry per generation and things start getting tricky. Then it's not "the new generation udnerstands this gadget, the old does not" So much as "Holy CRAP there's all these gadgets we don't udnerstand!" smiling face

When you say "slave".. what do you mean?

I understand we are powerless when we don't understand how to use a tool, but do you imply that, left to their own devices (no pun intended), robots would in a sense "Evolve" and somehow subjugate or enslave us as a species?



Perhaps. What if that group shrinks down to one... architect?
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