[ExI] From Arms Race to Joint Venture

[Ben Zaiboc]

Bill W wrote:

"Are AIs somehow to be equipped with superhuman emotions?  What would 
that mean?"


Yes, they are, but not by us. And of course, we have no idea what that 
would mean. This is, at least to me, the entire point of AIs: They will 
be our successors, the next generation of self-aware, intelligent beings.

I think it's a big mistake to use the concept of current computers and 
current software when thinking about the AI systems of the future. 
That's like thinking of humans purely in terms of molecules. There are 
many layers of complexity, built on one another, between the molecules 
and their actions, and Bob the Quantity Surveyor and his concerns about 
his tax return. Yes, they are connected, and one is actually built from 
the other, but you can't really talk about one in terms of the other.

Advanced AI's won't simply be programs running on microprocessors, just 
as we aren't simply ribosomes joining nucleotides together. They will 
have many layers of complexity, just as we do.

So when considering advanced AIs, thinking about our current computers 
and their software is just as relevant as thinking about how ribosomes 
work when you're considering Bob's ability to complete his tax returns.

Saying "AIs will never have emotions because computers aren't capable of 
feeling emotions" is like saying "Bob will never be able to understand 
his tax forms because ribosomes aren't capable of reading tax forms".

-- 
Ben Zaiboc