tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2998297553526200871..comments2024-03-28T09:30:58.096-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Peering into the Future: AI and Robot brainsDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6840431101590537212014-09-23T15:24:56.151-07:002014-09-23T15:24:56.151-07:00onwardonwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4378838860747046292014-09-23T12:18:08.635-07:002014-09-23T12:18:08.635-07:00Any time someone suggests women are morally superi...Any time someone suggests women are morally superior to men I get suspicious that their real intend is to exclude them from the business of men. I get there are differences, but I think there is some turf protecting going on when people focus too much on the supposed differences in our minds.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-70748461091743521052014-09-23T10:35:02.562-07:002014-09-23T10:35:02.562-07:00(I'm not sure why I italicised "the"...(I'm not sure why I italicised "the" in that last line.)<br /><br />("Seaudy psaltery": Saucy psandwich.)Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-70220357611417323582014-09-23T10:32:06.764-07:002014-09-23T10:32:06.764-07:00Locumranch,
Fashions seem to shift back and forth ...Locumranch,<br />Fashions seem to shift back and forth whether women are proclaimed to be genteel and demure, lustful and demanding, fragile and emotional... the saner, stoic sex or the (literally) hysterical one.<br /><br />(Of course, we also project onto those proclamations our shifting historical stereotypes about <i>the</i> guys making them.)Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71089299799743532742014-09-23T10:11:52.004-07:002014-09-23T10:11:52.004-07:00I think the worst that might be said about locum i...I think the worst that might be said about locum is that he appears easily bored. Periodically he feels the need to 'stir the pot' and see what happens.<br /><br />TheMadLibrarianTheMadLibrariannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79992763813848528982014-09-22T23:25:37.122-07:002014-09-22T23:25:37.122-07:00Hi David
I agree - but I though that last posting ...Hi David<br />I agree - but I though that last posting was really good!<br /><br />Another BIG stepDuncan Cairncrossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19104462555677604662014-09-22T22:48:28.785-07:002014-09-22T22:48:28.785-07:00Duncan be nice. Lately Locum has been very cogent...Duncan be nice. Lately Locum has been very cogent, at least as often as when he's not. And I am starting to get a feel for what makes the difference. A fascinating fellow, actually.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86557666666563311852014-09-22T21:30:54.727-07:002014-09-22T21:30:54.727-07:00Who are you?
And what have you done with Locumranc...Who are you?<br />And what have you done with Locumranch?Duncan Cairncrossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90950616033195523132014-09-22T21:06:38.855-07:002014-09-22T21:06:38.855-07:00recomended: this rube goldberg device based almost...recomended: this rube goldberg device based almost entirely on optics.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nCIzPuLYJA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nCIzPuLYJA</a><br /><br />No fiber optics though, which is a shame.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69290803090522135322014-09-22T20:18:28.974-07:002014-09-22T20:18:28.974-07:00Horace Mann, the founder of the US educational sys...<br /><br />Horace Mann, the founder of the US educational system, believed <br />that women were morally superior to men. This superiority, <br />according to Mann, would permit females to instill their morals <br />in the common school students they taught, allowing them to "remove the evil” that resided within their masculine students and replace it with a feminine virtue, conduct and character more appropriate to republicanism and good citizenship, the converse being likewise true, meaning that 'homo sapiens', by virtue of being 'more evolved' than their brutish and animalistic predecessors, must also be more feminine and/or feminized, insomuch as terms like 'civil', 'moral' and 'proper' have become modern euphemisms for the condition of being feminine.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83475681887219654272014-09-22T19:48:14.609-07:002014-09-22T19:48:14.609-07:00Having spent the first part of 'Zendegi' t...Having spent the first part of 'Zendegi' to describe the communications arms race between an entrenched oligarchy and a popular uprising, Greg Egan uses the second part to depict attempts to 'upload' human awareness. The final conclusion, from the AIs created by this process, is not to do so until it can be done *properly*. I suppose it's the same moral as the tale about the painted fish that demanded a soul.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25138980603398781322014-09-22T17:41:41.649-07:002014-09-22T17:41:41.649-07:00The more I think on it, the more I think the AI fo...The more I think on it, the more I think the AI folks are going to have to crack two problems to reproduce anything remotely like us. There is the obvious problem of simulating the brain and what happens on it. However, we aren't exactly the same kind of human in isolation, so they are going to have to consider the memescape and what languages really are.<br /><br />Ultimately, I think the real distinction between us and our cousin species will come down to the richness of the memescape. Simulate only the brain and you might reproduce homo erectus. We are much too social not to address that space of interactions.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56194329988184081142014-09-22T16:09:03.753-07:002014-09-22T16:09:03.753-07:00Instead of Baby X and human coders, I would have s...Instead of Baby X and human coders, I would have set it up with an FPGA to reprogram itself in response to stimuli.<br /><br />FPGA are chips that can reprogram themselves on the fly. If I was an ace programmer and had a couple, I would totally set that up to run for a few years...FPGA have already been used to create novel algorithms using genetic selection criteria. I think FPGAs or something like will be part of any AI we end up with. Otherwise, you have a static "brain."SteveOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79563806299394671842014-09-22T14:13:56.983-07:002014-09-22T14:13:56.983-07:00Anthropologists have used the terms "gracile&...Anthropologists have used the terms "gracile" and "robust" to indicate "feminine" or "masculine" (such terms recognized as yes, cultural bias) forms. It ranges through many mammals in various epochs, having as much to do with the ability to be fleet and agile as opposed to stand-and-fight as anything else.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78236885176467041362014-09-22T07:41:29.843-07:002014-09-22T07:41:29.843-07:00I'm always amused when digital logic is used t...I'm always amused when digital logic is used to simulate non-linearity. Especially as the transistor is a non-linear device to begin with. I think I'd have used analog computing more, but as a discipline, it got eaten by digital.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58264246172519752972014-09-22T07:26:37.764-07:002014-09-22T07:26:37.764-07:00More like a nagging ache in all the heavily used c...More like a nagging ache in all the heavily used connective tissue, but that's the picture.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25705087982740554382014-09-22T06:36:30.771-07:002014-09-22T06:36:30.771-07:00A terrible pain in all the diodes down your left s...A terrible pain in all the diodes down your left side?Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54686548479575119472014-09-22T06:03:22.836-07:002014-09-22T06:03:22.836-07:00Thanks for that link, Tony. My knees give me the e...Thanks for that link, Tony. My knees give me the excuse to quote Marvin, "I ache, therefore, I am.".Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81385678207822290622014-09-22T00:49:13.305-07:002014-09-22T00:49:13.305-07:00On a less spectacular but very useful note: surgeo...On a less spectacular but very useful note: surgeons are experimenting with <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329852.800-wrecked-knees-nose-cartilage-can-fix-them.html#.VB_T5RaIU_Q" title="No jokes about what provides lubrication, now!" rel="nofollow">replacing worn knee cartilage with nasal connective tissue</a>Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89738102692068940032014-09-21T21:02:08.709-07:002014-09-21T21:02:08.709-07:00@DB Scientists have for the first time grown a com...@DB <i>Scientists have for the first time grown a complex, fully functional organ from scratch</i><br /><br />Assuming we can do this as a standard medical procedure in the future, and that other life extension approaches work -e.g. mitochondrial replacements - how does this square with your general sense that human lifespans are already nearly maxxed out? Or do you consider these artificial approaches separate from natural lifespans?<br /><br /><i>A Cambrian Explosion In AI Is Coming</i><br /><br />Not a new idea, but the brief article does raise the issue of monetization. Interesting. What alternatives might there be? <br /><br />Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49338262955586370822014-09-21T20:41:29.781-07:002014-09-21T20:41:29.781-07:00@ZarPaulus How many people here actually use Siri ...@ZarPaulus <i>How many people here actually use Siri </i><br /><br />As a Brit living in the US, I find Siri has a lot of trouble with my accent. It seems to be getting better, but at this point it is more annoying than useful. In another 5 years however...<br /><br />@locum <i> Neoteny is a well-established evolutionary concept but 'feminization' is not; and, as it is quite unclear how one can differentiate between the feminine and the merely juvenile in the absence of gender</i><br /><br />I agree with this difficulty. Not sure about cultural projection bias, perhaps more wishful thinking? Estrogenic emulators in the environment are feminizing males, both animal and human with measurable characteristics, none of which are skull measurements AFAIK.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74028177397523575262014-09-21T19:41:02.906-07:002014-09-21T19:41:02.906-07:00True North sounds like a significant advance when ...True North sounds like a significant advance when compared to the 0101 binary microprocessor.<br /><br />Baby X does not. It cannot be said to 'learn' because it uses human coders to simulate learning and, since it appears incapable of either self-programming or initiating action, it does not meet AI criteria.<br /><br />On a more biological note, Neoteny is a well-established evolutionary concept but 'feminization' is not; and, as it is quite unclear how one can differentiate between the feminine and the merely juvenile in the absence of gender, it sounds eerily reminiscent of cultural projection bias.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-2133133892221148022014-09-21T15:30:38.842-07:002014-09-21T15:30:38.842-07:00How many people here actually use Siri or Cortana ...How many people here actually use Siri or Cortana (isn't that the AI from Halo?) as anything but a dictaphone?ZarPaulushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10923548883992534673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58180550618370039402014-09-21T14:33:27.967-07:002014-09-21T14:33:27.967-07:00The Gamma Ray burst hypothesis is certainly a comp...The Gamma Ray burst hypothesis is certainly a compelling one.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60124563004772015652014-09-21T12:47:26.899-07:002014-09-21T12:47:26.899-07:00New paper on Gamma Ray Bursts as a solution to Fer...New paper on Gamma Ray Bursts as a solution to Fermi's Paradox.<br /><br /><a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.2506" rel="nofollow">http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.2506</a><br /><br />Puts some numbers on the frequency of GRBs vs location. Basically, the bulk of the galaxy is too crowded, leaving only the outer, thinner regions. And even there, the early galaxy was too small/dense for the first 2/3rds of its existence. Only after a bunch of mergers and expansion would there have been outer regions far enough away from the action for life to develop without too frequent GRBs.<br /><br />Via <a href="http://crowlspace.com/?p=1978" rel="nofollow">Crowlspace</a>: Adam speculates that Earth may have had, and lost, macroscopic life in the Archean, setting evolution back a billion years.<br /><br />["isaympag appears": And all the worlds trembled.]Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.com