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rob05c  ·  3782 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Can We Live Forever?

mit.edu has a great collection of Minsky's papers.

One of my favorites is Communication with Alien Intelligence, wherein he attempts to demonstrate that it will be possible for us to communicate with any alien intelligence we meet. In doing so, he reveals some very interesting deductions about intelligence itself.

    the only way superintelligence can arise is through the collective network we are creating on the Internet
I'm inclined to believe that intelligence as we understand it requires input. But I'm not convinced the "massive network" is necessary. If natural evolution produced intelligence with only physical sensory input, why couldn't an artificial intelligence be achieved with only software, some motors, and a camera?

    it would almost certainly be "friendly"
I think an artificial intelligence and the environment that produces it will be so complex as to make predictions implausible. I think predicting any aspect of an AI's personality, including hostility, would be as complex as predicting the stock market or hurricanes.

On the tangent of AI personalities, the comic Dresden Codak has a great AI story with an unusual twist. Rather than being benevolent or malevolent, the AI simply has its own interests and humanity becomes redundant. The definitive line of the Mother AI is, "We can give you anything you want, save relevance." The beginning is here, defining quote is here.