A comment I made on another thread recalled to mind a thought I had many years ago about artificial intelligence. It concerns my son, who is now eighteen.

One evening, when he was about three, my wife went in to his bedroom to kiss him goodnight. He was sitting up in bed holding his hands like claws on the blanket. After my wife told him goodnight he asked her to say goodnight to his crabs. "Your crabs?" He held up his hands. "These are my crabs, a daddy crab and a mommy crab."

I'll believe in artificial intelligence the day a machine pretends. If I go to my computer and ask it a question and it says, "I'm not a computer, I'm a crab." then I'll know we've gotten there. But not before.

 

I see your point, but is that the only proof of artificial intelligence?

I am under the impression (and I can be corrected on this) that artificial intelligence is one which can "learn" as it goes, without being directly commanded to do something. I would consider pretending to be a part of this but certainly not the epitome of artificial intelligence.

Imagination is a part of pretending, so I guess that's perhaps one of the bigger parts of TRUE artificial intelligence. However, there are hundreds of computer games now that adapt themselves to the style of play of opponents. Do you consider this artificial intelligence?

I mean, where do you draw the line? Is it truly artificial if it's been coded/programmed to learn, or must it learn spontaneously? Is this even possible?

I'm just a confused person.

 

Of course artificial intelligence is possible. Do you think we're "real" intelligence?

- Warren

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by chroot
[B]Of course artificial intelligence is possible.

 

I think you're alluding to artificial imagination. I think intelligence can be separate from imagination and creativity.

 

Hip? Hip Hop? Hip Hop Ananamus?

- Warren

 

Artificial Intelligence is possible....the question to ask is two-fold:

Is Alien-Intelligence possible? We can get a computer to make logical choices like we, as human creatures, do in everyday life. Example, walking to the edge of a cliff...do we continue to walk forward, or do we make a 90 degree turn and then walk?

Alien-Intelligence is the intelligence that we cannot rationalize...can a computer come to a conclusion on a question that we, as human creatures, could not come up with our rules of logic...as we understand logic.

The second question to ask is: Is intuition possible? Asking this question shows that in quest to answer some questions some illogical thought comes into play when answering questions or finding solutions. Why must/should you remember your wife's birthday year in, year out? Why must/should you bring home flowers and/or a gift for that day?

 

Luder,

I have no idea what you just said.

- Warren

 

Same here.

 

I thought Luder's post was pretty self-explanatory. He was merely saying there are many facets of intelligence - i.e. AI is not a singular concept, or stated more simply AI exists in some forms already.

The AI in computer games is programmed to adapt to the person playing. Thus adaptation, one element of AI, is possible. In this case, the programmers know the answer, except the answer is different for each person playing.

However, Alien AI (as Luder calls it) would be a computer coming to a conclusion that a human mind can not achieve, without the direct input of a human. Examples might include an extremely advanced proof of a concept in Physics (that requires several yet-to-be-proven concepts as underlying principles), or a method of extracting power from controlled cold fusion - in other words, things we humans don't have an answer to.

Intuition, being able to sense something that is not clearly evident and logical, is a whole different ballgame. Magician's crab example of imagination and creativity falls into this same realm, as does Luder's birthday/flowers example (forget something Urmil? ). Programming a computer to build something with Legos or be an architect or fashion designer are other examples. These are things without an answer, they are done for the sake of doing, and there is never a "right" or "wrong" answer (obviously some are better than others). There is no formula for what makes a nice house, and there is no (mathematical) logic behind remembering your wives birthday.

OK, maybe I haven't cleared it up any, but I guess the point is that AI is not just one thing...