X-Message-Number: 14578 Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 13:37:35 +0200 From: Henri Kluytmans <> Subject: Lanier views on was "the singularity" "Joseph Kehoe" wrote : >An interesting article with replies from some luminaries... Regarding Lanier's article "The Third Culture", where he introduces the term "cybernetic totalism", this article is full of misconceptions! This Lanier seems to assume that there only exist computing systems functioning like Turing machines i.e. having a serial architecture. (Maybe, because almost all contemporary computing systems function like that.) And indeed computer systems like these are prone to malfunctions because of programming faults. However the artificial brains that many transhumanists envision for the future will probably be more like an electronic neural network system. An architecture similar to the human brain. He doesnt seem to be aware of this. On page 4 he also assumes that we will have to write the software for an artificial intelligence. But it's fairly likely that this is not the way an AI will be created. Neural networks are trained and not written. It's likely that AIs will be evolved using genetic algorithms. Then he continues with examples about the unreliability and poor intelligence of current PC software. However this is not relevant because future AIs will be based on a very different architecture. On page 6 he compares the quest for proving computer sentience to the proof of God's existence !!! (I wouldnt use the term "computer" sentience.) However we dont have to prove that artificial sentience is possible. It is only a question of technology, not science. According to physics there are no special qualities to organic matter that should make it the only possible substrate for sentience. (And on page 7 I can recognize that typical trait, one that many philosophers share, to reason in circles. Never mind.) The other pages, I only skimmed... Grtz, >Hkl Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14578