X-Message-Number: 14778 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 07:19:26 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: once more on intelligent creatures Hi everyone! Yet more on identity: 1. In response to Brent Thomas: the system of artificial neurons in no way equals the ability of living neurons to rewire themselves. The problem is one of volume, not just the ability to rewire. 2. I actually hold with the notion that we are primarily patterns. However when you look in detail about how brains work, it's quite clear than NO computer built up to now really imitates the way we work well enough to make it enough like us that we could consider it living AND intelligent. Will we someday make devices capable of doing that? If we choose to do so, though I would put that time much farther in the future ... and we may well not choose to do so, simply because doing so creates a threat with no benefit. 3. Intelligence (to any degree you wish) does not by itself create an animal or device that could compete with us. Our lower brains may be simple, but they are essential to our operation as independent living creatures. We do not solve the problem of creating an independent creature simply by giving i intelligence. We have to give it independent feelings, too. If we do not do that, then we merely have a very intelligent tool, nothing more. Such devices would be very useful for many of our purposes, and will very likely be made. But they would remain useful machines, no more. 4. In some of the books I listed (Pollack, HOW TO BUILD A PERSON, in particular) there's a strong suggestion that the structure of an intelligent being must have a certain type. Basically Pollack's model had many neural nets working independently, with a top order neural net providing consciousness. Because it was top order, it dealt only with higher level events, and remained unconscious of many lower-order events. Such a structure may ALSO be needed to create any independent creature. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14778