[I wondered whether to post this; then seeing Bob M's post, I decided to} Ben: Richard, Though we have theoretical disagreements, I largely agree with your analysis of the value of prototypes for AGI.Experience has shown repeatedly that prototypes displaying "apparently intelligent behavior" in various domains are very frequently dead-ends, because they embody various sorts of "cheating."
Edison stuck it on his labs: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labour of thinking." Make that "creative thinking" here. Dennis is right: "The best investing practise is to invest only into such teams that produced working prototype already" Not a full, but a small protoype that demonstrates a successful creative idea or two, and shows creative promise of cracking the full problem. See how Jeff Hawkins went about things. That's basic creative practice. When people come to you saying the ideas - the miracles - will come later, you don't invest in them, because the overwheming odds are they're not addressing the creative problem, and never will. There are so many would-be creatives trying that angle - check out Hollywood. Both of you show no awareness of this basic psychology of creativity - of how the philosophy you're expounding sounds awfully like an excuse - and how many 'creative' excuses people make for non-creativity. You imply that there have been loads of prototypes already - actually I don't think there has been a single one demonstrating *general* intelligence, has there? An investor will want to know what creative ideas you have that *directly* start to solve that problem. Not excuses or "just trust me" or "look at my ideas about something else entirely, like search algorithms or logic" or "this is a v. v. complex project, so complex that it will take too long to explain - just feel the width". Even Minsky can't get away with that. P.S. From Bob M's post with which I so agree: "I've heard people on AI forums make this claim many times over the last 15 years - something like "I have discovered the secret of AI !... but I'm not going to tell you what it is unless you give me a lot of money". " This forum really should explore the psychology of creativity, to include not just creative masters and peaks but all the hurdles along the way at which would-be creatives fall. This forum is itself rich material for that psychology. ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=66338383-b27ca0
