[ExI] Oxford scientists edge toward quantum PC with 10b qubits.

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Richard Loosemore
Subject: Re: [ExI] Oxford scientists edge toward quantum PC with 10b qubits.

spike wrote:
>> ... On Behalf Of Richard Loosemore
> ...
>> ...  My question is more pragmatic.  Let us not worry for now about
having 
> created intelligence, but rather the more practical and pragmatic
question:
> 
>> How far are we from creating software that will serve as an adequate 
> companion for the partially impaired elderly person?
> 
>> We need machines which can tirelessly carry on stimulating 
> conversation.  With the Watson experiment, I feel we are getting 
> tantalizingly close to that now... spike

>...But that is *exactly* my point.  We are not getting tantalizingly close,
we are just doing the same old snake-oil con trick of building a system that
works in a ridiculously narrow domain, and which impresses some people with
the sheer breadth of information it stores inside it...

Ja, and that is exactly my point as well.  It impresses *some* people,
perhaps the people we need to impress, in a ridiculously narrow domain.  We
have seen how gullible teenagers can carry a conversation with Eliza.  There
are plenty of people who were well past game playing by the time Eliza
showed up in the 70s.  These are now elderly and in many cases lonely.  I
would think we could harness Eliza or Watson and come up with a sorta
humanish companion.  It wouldn't be great, but there would be real time
interaction that would be far better than nothing, and far better than
daytime TV.  A snake-oil con trick might work just fine for this
application.

For the better situated (financially) elderly, we can imagine coupling this
conversation ability with an attractive young sexbot.

Hmm, on second thought, that might not be such a good idea.  I would be
tempted to wait until dad takes his nap, turn off her volume and take
advantage of her.  Ok scratch the sexbot notion.  But we could imagine
building a conversational robot without simulated sex organs, even if the
conversation is contrived and Eliza-ish.

>...Watson does not contain the germ of an intelligence, it contains a
dead-end algorithm designed to impress the gullible... Richard Loosemore

Ja but keep in mind this isn't for you Richard, it is for your grandmother.
She needs companionship after she starts developing dementia.  Often humans
won't bother conversing with an Alzheimers patient: it is too goddam
frustrating.  They make the same comment over and over and over, sometimes a
dozen times in an hour, until the family flees.  Then the patient doesn't
even know what he or she said, and doesn't understand why no one wants to
talk.  A most cruel disease is Alzheimers.  

Machines would patiently keep repeating the same answers.  I see it as one
hell of a breakthough, even if we know it isn't artificial intelligence.  I
don't care if it isn't AI, all I want is something to keep my parents
company 10 yrs from now.

spike