
Scary predictions are a thriving business but that does not make them a road map to the future:
In Salvo 46, we looked at the artificial intelligence doomsdays prophesied by media magnates like Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) and Elon Musk (“more dangerous than nukes”).
Media
do not, as a rule, examine such claims carefully. There is a market for them, after all; why damage the brand? Debunking thus falls to comparatively obscure sources.But what a land of opportunity awaits! The AI industry faces major, open, unsolved problems with the dream of replicating human intelligence. Some insights from ID thinkers and sympathizers can help us unpack the breathless claims.
First, what is intelligence? Intelligence enables us to know things. But what does it mean to “know” something?
We know things in the sense that our “selves” are aware of them. When we talk about knowledge, we assume a “knower,” a self to which the information is apparent. Absent a self as the subject of the experience of knowing, knowledge—in the sense in which we usually use the word—does not exist. As neurosurgeon Michael Egnor says, “Your computer doesn’t know a binary string [of code] from a ham sandwich. . . . Your cell phone doesn’t know what you said to your girlfriend this morning.”Denyse O’Leary, “It comes naturally” at Salvo
See also: Stephen Hawking and the AI Apocalypse
Noted astronomer envisions cyborg on Mars
AI machines taking over the world? It’s a cool apocalypse but does that make it more likely?
Software pioneer says general superhuman artificial intelligence is very unlikely The concept, he argues, shows a lack of understanding of the nature of intelligence
and
Machines just don’t do meaning And that, says a computer science prof, is a key reason they won’t compete with humans
Given the falsified claims that humans will never be able to (insert your favourite), I would not be willing to go out on a limb and claim that human like intelligence will never be created artificially.
While it is true that in some cases the science fiction of yesterday became the science/ reality of today, that is not always the case.
We don’t even know what makes us what we are. So until we figure that out, I don’t see how we can transfer what we don’t know to a machine such that it understands as we do. 😎
EG, what is intelligence? What does it mean to reason (not merely to compute)? What is warrant that grounds knowledge? KF
KF@3, those are the big questions. But if we can answer them, doesn’t that bring us closer to being able to create an AI that is truly intelligent?
EG:
EG, before you make the grandiose claim that man will eventually make a machine with genuine human like intelligence, perhaps it is would be best for someone, anyone, to make a ‘simple’ self replicating cell from scratch?
EG, don’t let your pride in man’s “made in the image of God” accomplishments here on earth blind you to just how infinite God is in his creative power over and above us.
Quote and verse:
BA77
Why would I make such a claim. All I said was that I would never make the claim that we will never do it.
But I am willing to go out on a limb and make the claim that we would never “admit” that an AI had true human like intelligence. Our ego would never permit it.
6 in one hand, half a dozen in the other.
Of note to “when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,”
OK, wait- “never say never” is not the same as “it’s going to happen”.
I will never say that the Cleveland Browns (or whatever loser team) will never win a Super Bowl. And I will definitely never say they are going to win one.
If there is one thing we are learning is that “Eureka” moments happen. We are an unpredictable lot.
ET
Agreed.
Sheesh:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/jiFfM.jpg
BA77@10, nice concise response. Thank you. 🙂
EG, we sometimes get carried away by the results of automated computation and cybernetic controls. We forget that they are programmed and organised, functioning in a GIGO-controlled mechanical fashion. They have in them the functionality built in and programmed in, modified by blind chance contingencies. They are blindly mechanical, processing digitally coded or analogue signals without insight, complex creativity, actual understanding. If badly set up, they will blindly do nonsense until something goes crash. Active, insightful, creative, innovative, intuitive, judging, conscious, conscience-guided intelligence is categorically different from that. KF