I apologize for the length here. I've been waiting a while to have a conversation like this, so here are my pent-up thoughts on the whole business.
We already can emulate the Brain in terms of storing and recalling information. Performing calculations, too. That's what computers do. The Mind, well, that's different. The key to developing A.I. does not simply lie in development of a binary computer system complex enough to support a consciousness. Speed isn't an issue either. Which is not to say that our current systems are as fast as the human brain, but that all we need to do on that front is bide our time. Computers today would choke and stall on the hilariously inadequate processing power of even the most top-of-the-line PC from twenty years ago. Hell, the systems that helped American astronauts to orbit and beyond on the Apollo missions had less computing capability than a modern Texas Instruments graphing calculator. So I don't worry about that. Speed will come.
What we have to figure out is the Mind. Even the best-equipped computer around today must be told what to do at least once before it will accomplish anything. ****** hit on something here, I think, when he said
it's just a question of making a computer that can modify its own low-level configuration drastically...
In order to create an artificial intelligence we need to figure some way to provide a computer with the ability to program itself based on a set of "instincts." It's what we humans do. Somewhere in there is the question of desire, too. Much of what we do is derived from either an instinctive need, like avoiding a hot oven, or from an emotional desire, like reading a book or having a conversation.
So that's the difficulty...not just to create a computer than can change itself, but one that will - in effect - want to do so. What do you think?
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