Re: <nettime> Re: Pew: Experts assess Future of Internet

["Jon Lebkowsky" <jon.lebkowsky@gmail.com>]

On 9/28/06, carl guderian <carlg@vermilion-sands.com> wrote:
>
> Machine intelligence has always been "just around the corner," after
> the next invention (Zeppelin Tube, Positronic Brain, holographic
> chip, or quantum computer) or a refinement of present ones
> (transistors, integrated circuits, silicon chips, etc.). "From 2020"
> is meaningless because it's open-ended.


The concept of AI as "conscious machine" is, in my opinion, bogus.
So often we hear terms like "machine intelligence" or "artificial
intelligence" where "intelligence" is undefined, and the implication
is that somehow machines will become "conscious." To me, that's
like saying once we have a critical mass of light switches in the
world, thrown in just such pattern, the electrical grid will become
"conscious."

So the reason machine intelligence is persistently predicted but
never quite manifest seems clear to me. You can build the golem and
you can assume that the more like a man you make him, the more likely
he is to self-animate and do a little dance. However he n ever quite
moves, because replication of human form is insufficient... just
as machines that mimic intelligence are not truly intelligent, and
machines that may seem to be 'conscious' really aren't, unless you
redefine consciousness to fit machine reality.

My friends Max More and Natasha Vita-More are more sensible about the
singularity - it's not about machines becoming like humans, but about
the increasing cyborgization of humans - we become increasingly closer
to our machines, and we enhance our capabilities as a result. But
we won't become machines and machines won't become human. Our robot
fantasies are probably just an indication that we don't quite know
what it means to be human.

~ Jon

-- 
Jon Lebkowsky
Consultant, Author, Generalist
jon.lebkowsky@gmail.com

Chairman, AssistOrg  | President, EFF-Austin | Consultant to
WorldChanging.com
http://assistorg.org | http://effaustin.org  | http://worldchanging.com

Web site and blog: http://weblogsky.com

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