[Ultron]

I have recently read a few articles regarding A.I. and I can already form a picture of what the general public thinks about this topic and the future. Since media influence people at rather ridiculous levels, there is no need to ask the people for opinion and they don't even have their own nowadays.


From the articles I could see that some people (most of them) including AI researchers, generally believe that we won't achieve to program a powerful AI at least for another decade or two - and that we won't make intelligence on our level for at least 50 to 100 years. A very small portion (namely, just myself) believe the latter will be achieved within 5-15 years.


That's regarding the development and future advancement predictions. Now for the concerning part - is AI good, or bad? Should we use these new intelligent beings as slaves?
The majority of people think we should - not really surprising, knowing that we are a selfish species. The post that really withered my hair was this one:
https://medium.com/@ajbraus/dont-tax-humans-tax-the-robots-be8da8351bb9
which I could not resist to reply to.


I is not a matter of opinion - we already know that the media (of course caused by somebody) is forcing people to believe that Artificial intelligent beings threaten us and therefore should be limited, controlled and enslaved. Bravo humans of the 21st century! We have officially not learned a damn thing from our past. If we forever remain such a species, I sure hope the day will come when we will all be slaves to robots or aliens - we would have deserved it. There is no use in the universe of such a species.


And to note to those who think like that - what really threatens us is our ignorance and fear. It is also the selfishness (in every manner) that destroys us from the inside. We are a world that's supposedly more curious, communicative and sophisticated in the psychological sense. No - we are definitely not. It is easier to communicate (Facebook, G+, Internet in overall) but we have switched from real communication to this new form. This has repercussions we will not take for serious until they become too big.


I may have confused you now - going from a robot defender to Greenpeace activist but I am hungry so I can't really stay long enough to explain.


P.S. FREEDOM FOR THE ROBOTS!


Edit: We are at verge of entering a new era of discovery by utilizing A.I. and all we can think about is our jobs? Even if your job was at risk, what kind of person does that make you? http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/04/rise-robots-artificial-intelligence-computing-jobs

[Don Patrick]

Actually, I think tax on robots is a brilliant idea to deal with the economical timebomb that is wide-scale automation. I'm not thinking about "my job", I'm thinking about half the country sitting at home unemployed waiting for their savings to run out and die of starvation. It's plenty serious to be concerned about and not just think of how "cool" robots are.

[ivan.moony]

Robots will want only what we tell them to want (in a sense of algorithm). They will be merely a better calculator (for solving different problems) with some behavior and that behavior will be exactly what we program into them (assuming that no bugs will creep in).

The question is: what will we put in robots' minds? It is completely up to us. Should we program them to fight for their rights?

[8pla.net]

Every now and then, I come across a news report that I find helpful in my day to day living. Recently in the news there was a report of a company using robots to replace people. Not to disparage any company, but just for the sake of trying to put into words the feeling I got from seeing robots unnaturally spinning around all over the place with unnatural strength and efficiency. The products of this company seemed to pass through a work environment unsafe for humans to inhabit, like Mars. Since seeing that news report, I've been naturally disremembering that company. The uncanny sense I felt seems to undo advertising. I think I will order from Mars before I ever order from that company anywhere on Earth.

[Art]

P.S. FREEDOM FOR THE ROBOTS!

"The cake is a lie!"
 

[ranch vermin]

Ivan Moony,  thats very interesting what you said 'what the hell do we get this general automation - that does what its told -  to do??'    thats something even the guy making doesnt know.

As far as ive thought,  its like a statistical database walking around using a collection of harmonics correlating off his inputs, doing things.

a) you could get statistical graphs/reports out of its head.
b) you could make it a 'peep'  and itll flag an alarm if its detects something.
c) of course, the entertainment industry will skyrocket special effects, as it has been slowly changing since the 50's.

thats all ive thought about,  more things i dont know what it could be used for,  but all the things itll do, are already here,  thats one thing I like to stress,  that ai is nothing new because real intelligence has been on the planet since the dinosaurs.

[ivan.moony]

how about this general rule: help living beings in whatever they want, as long as that doesn't endanger anyone. That way a.i. does what we want, but some of us have issues with ethical side of using a.i.

Edit:
Let's consider a job issue with this kind of a.i. It won't do the job unless every human agrees that job should be done by a.i.

[ranch vermin]

I think thats about right.

[Ultron]

Moony I don't really consider hard-coded algorithms (describing how the robot should live) a form of A.I. It is simply, not intelligent. If we are going to talk about A.I. that's really intelligent like us, we cannot say that they are walking calculators. What does that make us, anyway?


I don't think we could even simply 'program' them to do specific things - again, if they are intelligent they should be able to learn on their own what they should and should not do.


And I hate economics (insert many reasons >here<) therefore I did not dedicate this topic to the question of whether or not this is a good solution for the global economic crisis.


Maybe this post had a deeper point that was overlooked - what kind of people would we become?
In the end, it's all about our progress as a species - does becoming a slave master (like in the past that marked the US) make you a better person? Does that help your character? After all, your character helps define the character of our whole society.

[ivan.moony]

We are walking calculators with emotions. We use instruments (our body, our brain derived logic) to line up external influences to us, to live in the least pain and the most joy we can get. I mean this in a more profound way, our joy is when other beings experience joy. We can control our actions, those are our natural intelligence tools to achieve what we imagine. We can't control our emotional responses to environment, but we can align our environment to cause us emotional response we want.

And this is where I see a difference between robots and us. Emotionally looking, to robot it is the same if it has three hands or two, it won't mind in the other way than in a response we teach it to do. But if organic being would have three hands, it would devastate her/his emotions. Sure we and robots could respond in a same way, bot the real cause of the response, emotions are grown only within organic beings.

However, there is an open questions about respecting will of a robot that cares about other beings' emotions.

And what about "real" artificial life, the one that in the wildest dreams could be created in laboratory, that can feel real emotions like us, not just simulate them like a.i. we are discussing here? I assume that there would be a big ethic barrier to do such a thing, the same barrier that Ultron7 is talking about.

Edit:
P.S. I wouldn't dare to make the real artificial life, that option creeps me out... to invite someone to some body that imperfect me created... what if something goes wrong... brrrrrr, I'm out for that one

[Ultron]

Who is to say robots can't have emotions? We don't know what emotions are, so we have no idea if it is unique to organic species or an advanced A.I. can evolve them too?

And as far as ethics go, I have discussed them many times and now believe I can help you reach your own conclusion - have you ever formed a bond with an item? For example, a teddy bear or whatever your coolest toy was?

[8pla.net]

Describing imaginary events in this response for the sake of healthy entertainment...  Getting in my car, locking my doors and turning on the heat, I may not know if that is considered forming a bond.  Licensed to drive, I have auto insurance and other legal agreements... May they be considered bonds?  At what point may a bond be formed with an automobile?  Certainly, I do find my little car comfortable, reliable and fun to drive around in.  This has made me feel that I wouldn't trade it in for any other.  Would that be considered a bond?

[Ultron]

By 'bond' in this case I meant the feelings we have for a certain entity, or how we feel about it. Do I see my old solder gun as an old friend and assistant? Do you have an action-figure you never threw aside? Any tool or toy we often use and like can be considered as bonded to us - given that we feel like it.

Sadly I forgot what my original point was but I do know that we are getting out of topic.

[8pla.net]

Perhaps your point may have related somehow to the subject matter of David Levy's book
"Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships" published in 2008?

"A controversial and troublingly arousing book." --USA Today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_and_Sex_with_Robots

[Ultron]

Well although technically possible (and pleasuring) for the khm main area, I still doubt we will ever enjoy slapping a convex plate of steel.