fyi-responding to your note about obesity being as epidemic as cancer, Gary Taub says America solved the obesity epidemic in 1960, insulin shunts consumed energy into fat, and keeps it there. Fruit keeps people fat, but apparently protein triggers insulin too. Amino-acids don't, d-ribose and creatine help. Also reference The China Study, which is contrary to Taub, but where they meet is where it gets interesting. Lastly see youtube videos with Dr Robert Lustig, and the film Forks Over Knives.
On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:50 AM, Mike Tintner <[email protected]> wrote: > I think there are quite a few programs that give your computer a personal > identity - put some kind of personal assistant on the screen - or maybe give > it some kind of voice. Such programs obviously could be adapted or developed > to become your personal coach, mentor in the work struggle. > > But I don't think they've caught on - though I don't know why. In broad > principle, it sounds like a good idea to use your puter to buck you on - > though nothing to do with AGI - but perhaps there are a lot of difficulties > in the details. Possibly one is that you have to first accept your mentor, > whether a computer or a person - and that may be as hard as accepting the > urgings of your own conscience. > > -----Original Message----- From: Russell Wallace > Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 5:14 PM > To: AGI > Subject: [agi] Killer application > > > For those of you working on AI systems intended to be able to hold > conversations in English, I just figured out a killer application. > > One of the biggest problems the developed world faces today is > akrasia. It's not something we are programmed to instinctively find > scary, but if you add up the cold numbers for the fraction of people's > lives wasted watching television or playing World of Warcraft, the > epidemic of obesity - now a health problem on the same order of > magnitude as cancer - the social problems of drug addiction, the > endless stories about broken resolutions and failed attempts to fix > one's life that get nearly everyone in the room nodding in recognition > - there aren't a whole lot of more serious problems short of death > itself, and it's going to keep getting worse decade by decade as the > world moves further from the environment in which our motivation > systems evolved. > > The most powerful weapon against akrasia is social pressure. Our minds > are programmed to act based on encouragement and discouragement from > other people, not to operate autonomously; but the old social > institutions have largely broken down. One man went so far as to hire > someone to sit beside him and slap him every time he started goofing > off (1). His productivity quadrupled. But despite the demonstrated > success of this option, most people won't take it, because hiring > people is expensive and has social complications of its own. > > The solution may lie in another quirk of the human mind: our tendency > to anthropomorphize; we instinctively attribute personhood to all > sorts of things - including, in some circumstances, computer programs > (2). > > In other words, a companion AI program would not have to be good > enough to pass the Turing test. It would only have to be good enough > to *feel* like a person. To make your motivation system *feel* as if > it were a person encouraging you to stop reading reddit and get back > to work, to put down that cookie, to go to the gym. Leechblock doesn't > try. Microsoft Bob failed. But Eliza succeeded by accident, albeit in > a different domain, so it can be done. > > One of the world's biggest problems is there for solving. We are now > at the point where a program capable of solving it could run on a cell > phone. I think there's a few billion dollars up for grabs by a team > that can deliver - and you'd be making the world a better place. > > (1) > http://hackthesystem.com/blog/why-i-hired-a-girl-on-craigslist-to-slap-me-in-the-face-and-why-it-quadrupled-my-productivity/ > > (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA > > > ------------------------------------------- > AGI > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/6952829-59a2eca5 > Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > > > ------------------------------------------- > AGI > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/23601407-ccf7ca1d > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com -- ~~ Warmly, Micah 7 1 4 ) 6 9 9 - 4 2 1 3 (voicemail and texting same digits) ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-c97d2393 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-2484a968 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
