rlmunoz at mediaone.net wrote in comp.ai.philosophy on 12 Jul 1999:
> Well here it goes!
> For the last few days I have been reading and attempting
> to follow the discussion as it develops here in cyberspace
> (excuse the cliche) I will not pretend to have the formal
> training or background as many of you, yet my curiosity
Oh, no! The less formal training, the better. Then no one
has told you what is impossible; no one has threatened to
cut off your funds; no collegial back-stabbing; no publish-
or-perish; no pecking order of pecksniffery. Curiosity rulz.
> transcends my lack of formal academic training in the
> subject of AI or related fields, namely philosophy.
> Beyond what I read in the various colloquies and
> one-up-man-ship type statements, I sense a real purpose
> in the discussions here, and therefore try to avoid
> taking too seriously what seems to me circular arguments,
> or defining this or that for the sake of argument only to
> question the definition and continue to agree or disagree
> with the postulates.
> Never the less my relentless curiosity leads me to ask some
> fundamental questions: Why do we seek to to discover a means
> and manner of creating Artificial Intelligence?
> Is there an overriding reason to attempt to duplicate gods work?
> Does it help to make us feel God like? I have posed the ethical
As someone who codes AI and sees the first stirrings of the ghost
in the machine (*pace* Tracy Kidder), ah have been to the mountain-
top and ah can tell you, Oz, that you do get that feeling of being
"creatus in imaginem Dei" or of being "created in the image of God,"
because He created us and now We are creating not our bodily images
all over again but our quintessentially mental images as software.
> question and as yet have had no response. This leads me to believe
> that either my question is too simple to answer or too difficult.
Oh, no! It's too *embarrassing*! That's the problem (for most).
> Either way, Im still not sure that this endeavor is good
> for all mankind, not that I have much to say about it.
Oh, no! You have our profound enthralled attention, because,
as the Romans used to say, "Rem acu tetigisti," which is Latin
one-ups-manship for, "You hit the nail on the head."
> Here again, I pose the question why? and I can answer, why not?
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix/vinge/vinge-sing.html Vinge
argues in the most important AI document ever published, "Techno-
logical Singularity," that the advent of AI is unavoidable, and so
even though human society maybe *should* stop AI in its tracks, I
take comfort from Vinge's persuasive argument of inevitability.
> Is it a mountain to be climbed...because it is there? I am
> intrigued by the notion of AI and impressed by the progress
> that has been made to unravel the mystery of our conscious,
> subconscious, dream states and various other human mental states.
> It occurs to me that if we were more precise in determining
> what purpose ai would serve and how we might employ or deploy it,
> perhaps we might discover an algorithm capable of this challenge.
Uh, well, um, gee, here goes DNK et omnes fatui alii jumping all
over me, but algorithms abound. See for instance Steps to DIY AI
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/7256/pdai.html for Robot AI.
The problem is the implementation of the algorithms, and people
heretofore have been so timid about coding the algorithms, but
now they have something to react to and spur them on in the form of
http://www.scn.org/~mentifex/aisource.html Amiga Mind.Forth AI
as described in the ACM Sigplan Notices 33(12):25-31 (1998)
(which I just love to quote because it lends an aura of official
most-serious-computer-publication-ever approval to Mentifex AI).
> I suggest, thinking out of the box even more than is being thunk now.
> I am aware there is no such word as thunk. But it serves my purpose
> and therefore in my mind natural to use. This is what I mean.
> Set aside for a moment all our ego driven motives for scientific
> and intellectual discoveries and dream what life would be like if
> we could one day know the truth. That my dear friends is what i
> believe artificial Intelligence can tell us. Unless of course,
> we somehow manage to figure out how to create a heart and soul
> for this monster.
> Im frankly ambivalent regarding the journey, yet I wouldnt miss
> it for the world. I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to
> witness the fist steps toward this unknown destination.
> Oz
