X-Message-Number: 18987 Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:27:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott Badger <> Subject: Re: The end of science? - Yeah, right. Practically everyone who read the End of Science and wrote a review on amazon.com noted that they don't believe we have come to the end of science, but agreed the book was thought provoking. From one of the positive reviews: [The author's assertions are] "1. Is science moving away from pure research to profit driven applied science? Yes 2. Will science be able to continue its progress forever? The real answer I believe is yes, but the author contends - no. Why? He states this not because he believes science can't continue, he is merely stating(I believe) that society as a whole is ignorant and indifferent to pure scientific research. He states that all fundamental discoveries of nature have already been found and everything else is merely details. I disagree with this, but I agree that society will not be willing to dish out money to fund the scientific endeavors of the future unless they are profit driven." This goes to the heart of why AI and the singularity will happen, IMO. I was promised by futurists when I was a child that I'd have a flying car and a jet pack by now. They're not here because their not economically feasible when one compares cost and utility. The profit and utility potential of AI is enormous. I suspect very few people ever worked on the flying car. Many are working and will continue to work towards achieving AI though. There's plenty of funding. Government wants it, military wants it, corporations want it. I think that we've advanced to the point where we have very complex and difficult problems that we can't fully understand or solve, but we want and need the problems solved so we're going to build something that solves problems better than we do. If we were still in the cold war and we thought russia was close to achieving AI, we'd be there sooner ... but sooner or later, it makes little difference. The other point I want to address is that AI and nanotechnology will probably not require any fundamental scientific discoveries. The breakthrough will be software-based, and no new laws of nature will be required. I must admit, though, this is a presumption on my part. You can believe what you want about the liklihood of singularity. AFAIK, there's nothing you can do about it and nothing will prepare you for it, so do and think as you please. Scott Badger __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18987