[extropy-chat] A quick AGI question

[Robert Bradbury]

On 11/9/06, A B <austriaaugust at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Q) If I understand correctly, the algorithms responsible for human thought
> are supplied by the physical arrangement of the "active" hardware of the
> human brain. So, is the premise behind AGI that the active *software*
> functions by pre-specifying the physical arrangement of the hardware (by
> specifying which transistors are active at what time for example) and that
> the AGI "thoughts" follow from this point onward? In other words, the actual
> "thoughts" of the AGI are always secondary to the hardware arrangement
> supplied by the software, and that in both cases it is *ultimately* the
> *hardware* that results in the mind?

No this doesn't sound right at all.  I was just reading today about
the specific "hardware" neurons that are responsible for dictating
being asleep and being awake and the feedback loops that must be
involved -- your brain knows it has a sleep deficit to wake up.
Minsky's Society of Mind is good at pointing out how many complex
algorithms may be evolved into brains to do even some of the simple
things we manage to do.

But whether you are implementing the algorithims in software or
hardware is a speed-cost tradeoff.  You can think of machines like the
Transmeta chips which as I understand it could compile "better" code
on the fly.

I would suggest you read the books by William Calvin.  They are some
of the best I've encountered that explain how "thinking" may work.
They are also quite readable without having to know a lot of
neuroscience. (Brain structure (anatomy) hurts my brain).

What I like to think of being an "AGI" is being able to have lots of
information at your disposal and select some of it which has an
"unusual" pattern.  Precisely what part(s) of the brain play the key
role in selecting something of interest or having that "ah-ha" moment
I am unsure.  There has to be some discrimination going on in the
brain to prevent all of the bad ideas overwhelming the few good ideas.

Robert