X-Message-Number: 17965 Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 22:13:04 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Desiring Machines with Desires Thomas Donaldson (#17949) writes: : >Do we want machines with independent desires? I see no reason to >see why we would. Robot pets and dolls, for instance--some will surely want them, and want them to have personalities of their own, not just something copied in from outside. (To get such a personality could involve an on-site learning process whose outcome is not fully predictable.) But I also wonder if independent desires will not develop in other systems we wish to optimize. One case in point is surveillance systems. A cryonics facility watched over by something with the desire to keep the patients safely cold, that thought incessantly and creatively and tried to anticipate problems beyond its original instructions, might do far better than something more pedestrian--though this could backfire too. Self-guided passenger vehicles are another possibility, as are robot soldiers (if we still have need of them, though we wish not). Good posting, at any rate. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17965