[Tyler]

Hubert L. Dreyfus, Philosopher of the Limits of Computers, Dies at 87
2 May 2017, 9:59 pm

Professor Dreyfus’s 1972 book “What Computers Can’t Do” made him a scourge and eventually an inspiration to researchers in artificial intelligence..

Source: NYT > Artificial Intelligence

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[Art]

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately it's a path we all must eventually take.

Oddly enough, I still have my original copy of that very book in my collection. I really didn't know as much about computing back then but I knew that I disagreed with his philosophy about computers and their limits.

We're still not done seeing just how much they are capable of accomplishing.

R.I.P. Mr. Dreyfus.

[Korrelan]

We're still not done seeing just how much they are capable of accomplishing.

Very true… in a few years they will even make your first comment moot.

Unfortunately it's a path we all must eventually take.

 

He was a colourful character; if a little miss guided lol.

 

[Art]

Are you saying that in the future computers will allow us (humans) to cheat death? If so please enlighten me as I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with that concept. Every living thing eventually dies. It is the law of the universe and the only thing that will truly last forever is...Time.

[Korrelan]

Are you saying that in the future computers will allow us (humans) to cheat death?

I’m a realist and I know that it sounds far fetched and out in the realms of science fiction but once we have true AGI’s this barrier will fall. 

We invented mathematics… the machine overtook us…take the game of ‘GO’ as a another simple example… we humans have spent hundreds of years perfecting our playing style/ version of the game and believed it would always be a bastion of human intellect that machines would never be able to master… recently a narrow AI beat the worlds best players easily… in a matter of milliseconds on the scale of our human evolution.

As humans we build and understand our machines to the extent that if required we could keep them functioning indefinitely given the impetus and resources, this is a reflection of our intelligence.

With a true AGI we are talking in the terms of a machine more intelligent than all the humans who have ever lived… or ever could live given our slow evolutionary progress, ignorance and propensity to periodically annihilate ourselves.

We are just bio-chemical machines; extremely complex machines but machines never the less.  Extreme complexity to us… will be ‘child’s play’ to the AI machines we are now designing/ building.  Our Biology and human longevity will be researched/ understood and manipulated by an AGI as easily as we wire a plug.

Keeping a human alive indefinitely will be simple; it’s just a another biological/ chemical problem to be solved.

Every living thing eventually dies. It is the law of the universe and the only thing that will truly last forever is...Time.

Time is an observer relative phenomenon… with no one around to observe the passage of time… would time still pass? Lol.

An AGI will absorb all our current research and knowledge as a starting point; and then forge its own new/ deeper understanding of… everything. 

 

[Art]

If nothing died we would be vastly overpopulated in a very short time.  From 1900 to 2000, 100 short years we went from a little over 1 billion people to 6 billion people worldwide. It is projected to be between 10 to 16 billion by the year 2100, based on UN historical estimates.

Human reproduction is such that Global life expectancy at birth, which is estimated to have risen from 46 years in 1950–1955 to 65 years in 2000–2005, is expected to keep rising to reach 75 years in 2045–2050. In the more developed regions, the projected increase is from 75 years today to 82 years by mid-century.

This will eventually lead to some serious problems in many areas like shelter, food, medical, education to name a few.

But I digress, if an AGI were to be in control, given that it is an extremely advanced entity (being), it should reach the logical conclusion that aside from some routine maintenance kinds of things, that it really has no need for humans at all. They are just littering and cluttering the planet. While our life expectancy is slowly increasing I still contend that we will not live forever (unless the AGI selectively wants some of us to do so).

This AGI will actually be a new species of being(s). If it is considered as version 1.0, the chances are that we would not witness version 2.0. It would just simply happen and while it might select a few changes to itself that some remaning humans would not notice, they would still happen.

That would be the last creation man ever built, an AGI with power to diagnose and self-correct. The ability to modify itself for even better control, like tendrils growing and spreading across the globe.

It might be a good time look at where we are and where we are now headed. Then again, there are some who believe our destiny is already predetermined. Whichever case applies to your way of thinking, make your choice and hold on...the future is coming.

For some enlightening reading in this area I would strongly suggest "Our Final Invention - Artificial Intelligence And The End Of The Human Era" - by James Barrat - Thomas Dunne Books - St. Martin's Press.