[ExI] AI Motivation revisited

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 11:46:46AM -0400, Richard Loosemore wrote:

> You assumed ...... what? ..... that it had to be duplicated with  
> accuracy down to the neuron level?  Synapse level?  Molecular level?  On  

I'm looking at the right level to be probably adequate to track
information-processing relevant changes in the space between our 
ears in the right time frame (~1 ms). It might be not enough, it 
might slightly too much, but it is very many orders of magnitude 
removed from a PC to illustrate why it's ludicrous. Why a PC? Why 
not a pocket calculator, like TI-83?  I mean, where's the limit?

The whole field of AI is full of ridiculous pronouncements like
this. Even these wild-ass guesses show a distinct number creep
though.

> what basis would each of these choices be made (i.e., what forces us to  
> assume that proper functionality requires that level of detail)?
>
> The point is that there are choices here.  My own work tends to indicate  
> that something around the cortical column level of functionality would  
> be sufficient for most of the processing.  Now, if that were true then  

It currently takes a Blue Gene to (poorly) model a very crude model
of a cortical column. Not exactly in realtime.

> an AGI could very well be built using something within an order of  
> magnitude of a current PC.

Can I see a realtime model of your cortical column on a PC? 

> I don't think anyone pays sufficient atention to this little issue.   
> Does anyone reading this post truly realize that the implication is that  
> if cortical columns are the relevant functional level, and if someone  
> figured out what the functionality is, that means someone could build an  
> AGI that would fit in (probably) a single server rack, and do so by the  
> end of the year...? 

You will not fit a human hardware equivalent in a rack by end of
this year. Or in ten years.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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