[ExI] AI Motivation revisited

[Mike Dougherty]

2011/7/2 john clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net>
> So you want us to believe that if you were to say something like "AI will likely bring on the extinction of biological human beings and lead to computers able to engineer the universe" you worry that people will misunderstand you and think you are referring to "run-of-the-mill AI", so purely in the interests of clarity you will use "AGI" instead, a recently made up term that virtually nobody is familiar with. I flat out don't believe you.

I don't worry that people will misunderstand me.  I pretty much expect it.

We are in agreement on the "dilettantes" dreaming up obscure words.  A
recent new hire is apparently a Battlestar Galactica fan because when
he is frustrated to the point of swearing he loudly exclaims "Frak!"
I have considered responding with the more-popular expletive "Fuck"
but there's probably some work policy that forbids it.  Instead I
consider it a beacon indicating his membership in a small group with
their own language.  (He also swears in Klingon in addition to Italian
and Spanish)

If my audience already assigns some nuance to AGI, then yes I'd use
that term.  If not (which should be assumed to be the default) then
I'd probably express the special property of general intelligence
possessing cross-domain-cleverness with commonly agreed-upon words if
I really wanted to be understood.  We both (all) know the meaning of
AGI in the context of an artificial intelligence email list.  Every
domain has reserved words, doesn't it?  When a mechanic informs you
that you need a new tranny you probably should not assume he's
suggesting you acquire for yourself a man that dresses as a woman.  An
electrician says he needs a new pair of dykes; he wants wire cutters.

I wasn't trying to make an opposing argument.  Perhaps more of a
perpendicular comment.  Maybe something else... something less right
than exactly ninety degrees...