X-Message-Number: 30215
From: 
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:38:36 EST
Subject: implications of "self development"

Apologies to those who think all this is a waste of time, as it probably  is.
 
Anyway, Flavonoid wrote:
 

>The  simple fact is that no "malign conspiracy" is required for  a
>development team to engender a non-friendly super-AI.  All they  need do
>is proceed on with their usual  R&D, right to the  point where their
>software becomes self-developing.  At that  point, the computer is in
>control, has more power than its developers,  and will show the human race
>just how "friendly" it  is.


He persists in assuming or implying a whole lot of unwarranted  conclusions. 
 
First of all, many programs already are "self-developing" yet innocuous.  
What is crucial is precisely in what manner the self development occurs, and  

what unchangeable underlying rules, if any, there may be, and other aspects of
the permitted relations between the computer and its environment. 
 
The mere fact of  being self modifying does not automatically put a  computer 
"in control" of anything except its permitted and required  development. 
 
Flavonoid simply assumes, on no basis that I can see, that almost any kind  
of high level computer will at some point "go autonomous" or "wake up"  and  
develop its own agenda, which will include an insatiable lust for power. In  
effect he is assuming in advance the very thing he is trying to prove.
 
R.E.
 



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