[extropy-chat] Reading "The Singularity is Near"

[Marc Geddes]

Reason,
 
Fascinating, fascinating.  
 
>Progress towards general (and/or strong) artificial intelligence (AI) - a
>grail for many transhumanists and other futurists - has been slower than
>we'd like. The level of difficulty has been consistently underestimated in
>the past, and I see this as one part of a larger underestimation of any form
>of complexity management.
 
And the Singularity cheer-leaders are still understimating the diffculty today I think.  When I started thinking about FAI stuff I suspected that nothing less than (at least some degree of) understanding of the deepest, most general principles underpinning reality would be required.  That was why I opted to strike out at a TOE (theory of everything, or reality theory).
 
Made no mistake, the Yudkowsky's and Goertzel's are still a million miles away from what it takes.
 
I'll continue to stick my neck out and say that I've finally spotted the nature of the beast (at least in a vague, fuzzy sort of way).
 
The secret I think is this:  A general recursively self-improving friendly AGI is an AI which understands the *true* nature of mind.  So to initiate Singularity, we simply design the AGI to understand the *true* nature of mind and the rest (friendliness etc) follows automatically as secondary consequences.
 
I shall clarify.  To be a friendly seed AGI, complete self-awareness and self-understanding is *not* enough.  That is not what I meant by 'understands the true nature of mind'.
 
By 'understands the true nature of mind', I mean the AGI not only has complete self-awareness and self-understanding but also *understands the general relationship between Mind and Reality*.  It is this starred property, I believe, that would produce a friendly seed AGI.
 
And it's this *relationship between Mind and Reality* that I define to be equivalent to a TOE (theory of everything),  So:
 
Mind  ------ relationship  ---- Reality
 
You have M and R (Mind and Reality).  The TOE is the theory that integrates mental and physical concepts into a single explanatory framework and so explains the nature of that relationship.  Knowledge of such an explanation, I posit, would instantly create a friendly seed AGI.
 
Now if I'm right, then we humans cannot be fully capable of comprehending the TOE (since we are not recursively self-improving), but we should still be able to obtain *some* degree of understanding (enough to build the AGI).
 
There are 4 levels of 'awareness' for minds:
 
Level 1: Fragments

Low-level disorganized qualia. No self-awareness or awareness of the external world. Examples: Rocks. Rights: None

Level 2: Agents

Rudimentary goal-directed systems. Little-no self-awareness but can form models of the external world. Examples: Animals. Some kinds of computer program, human infants. Rights: Right to be free of suffering. 

Level 3: Sentients

Entities with full self-awareness. Can form models of self and the external world. Cannot understand the *true nature* of mind though - not a full general intelligence. Examples: Human adults. Rights: Full property rights- right to control own mind and body - right to liberty.

Level 4: Trans-sentients

Entities capable of fully understanding the *true nature* of mind - the relation between Mind and Reality (has awareness of 'The Theory Of Everything' or TOE). Capable of true general intelligence and recursive self-improvement. Examples: FAI - Friendly Artificial Intelligence. Rights: Who knows?
 
We are stuck at Level 3.  Level 4 is the FAI.  
 
So for a trans-human (like an FAI) knowledge of the TOE (theory of everything) would be just as obvious as knowledge of Self (Self-Awareness) is to us humans.  Indeed if I'm right, awareness of the TOE *defines* what a transhuman is, just as awarenss of Self (Self-Awareness) *defines* what we humans are compared to animals.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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Please vist my website:
http://www.riemannai.org

Science, Sci-Fi and Philosophy

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THE BRAIN is wider than the sky,  
  For, put them side by side,  
The one the other will include  
  With ease, and you beside. 

-Emily Dickinson

'The brain is wider than the sky'
http://www.bartleby.com/113/1126.html
		
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