[extropy-chat] Re: Any progress towards AI at all?

J. Andrew Rogers andrew at ceruleansystems.com
Mon Oct 10 05:11:59 UTC 2005


On 10/9/05 3:26 PM, "Russell Wallace" <russell.wallace at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/9/05, Brett Paatsch <bpaatsch at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>> Can you think of any clear instances of positive *progress* towards the
>> goal of building an AI?
> 
> Concrete progress, delivered results? No.
> 
> What we do have is this: in 1998, we hadn't the foggiest notion how to build
> an AI. Now... we have a foggy notion. From the inside, that feels like a lot
> of progress, though I can certainly understand skepticism and pessimism on the
> part of outside observers!


I am adding a "me too" here. I would like to reiterate what Russell stated.

To an outsider, little has changed in the last decade in AI.  To an insider,
theoretical progress in the last five years or so has been hyperactive and
qualitative.  This sea change just is not something that is easily seen or
appreciated unless one is intimately involved.  The vast, vast majority of
the population is simply not in the position to appreciate or understand
genuinely important progress when it happens, and likely will not notice it
when it becomes a part of their reality except in retrospect.  At which time
they will hail it as the greatest thing since sliced bread, a day late and a
dollar short.

This is to be expected; it is the trajectory of most revolutionary
technologies in the public consciousness.

J. Andrew Rogers





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