Ben - you're absolutely correct. I don't have a good grasp of the psychology of the AGI researcher. This is because, at this point, I'm not an AGI researcher. My only viewpoint is currently from the business side.
However, and despite not being trained in science, I have been a professional programmer for most of my adult life (I currently manage large software projects for others, and am trying to get a couple non-AGI projects of my own off the ground - and so I'm not programming nearly as much as I used to). I am absolutely excited, and interested, in the prospect of AGI. So much so, that I am currently taking computer science mathematics courses now (within the MIS curriculum at CSU, which is the closest University to me) - and starting this January, will take a couple of AI courses at my local university. My time is valuable - but, I love the field. I can program and architect just about anything business currently have a need for - but Why do I say this. I'm not touting anything ... hey, I just started working towards my Masters, I'm not where you guys are ... but my interests also go beyond the potential monetary payoff. Their just in different proportions than perhaps yours (and I imagine many others) are. But money must be a motivator - either a little, or a lot. Even as a pure scientist, you can accomplish more in research by producing wealth, than depending on gov't grants. I say gov't grants because private investment is probably years away from now. The topic of financing got a lot of attention at AGI 08. I admire what you are doing - a great deal. Self-financing is the only option. And is this is the strategy, practical applications of intelligent agents is the only option. Thus, money becomes a larger driver by necessity - perhaps more than people are willing to admit. And creating an AGI, will lead to wealth - because investors will fund it at that point, and they are there to make money. To some degree, I believe the motivations by most in this field (fulltime, and part time) overlap more than the differ. ~Aki On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 8:54 AM, Ben Goertzel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Now, let me ask you a question: Do you believe that all AI / AGI > > researchers are toiling over all this for the challenge, or purely out > of > > interest? I doubt that as well. Surely there are those elements as > drivers > > - BUT SO IS MONEY. > > Aki, you don't seem to understand the psychology of the > AGI researcher very well. > > Firstly, academic AGI researchers are not in it for the $$, and are > unlikely > to profit from their creations no matter how successful. Yes, spinoffs > from > academia to industry exist, but the point is that academic work is > motivated > by love of science and desire for STATUS more so than desire for money. > > Next, Singularitarian AGI researchers, even if in the business domain > (like > myself), value the creation of AGI far more than the obtaining of material > profits. > > I am very interested in deriving $$ from incremental steps on the path to > powerful AGI, because I think this is one of the better methods available > for funding AGI R&D work. > > But deriving $$ from human-level AGI really is not a big motivator of > mine. To me, once human-level AGI is obtained, we have something of > dramatically more interest than accumulation of any amount of wealth. > > Yes, I assume that if I succeed in creating a human-level AGI, then huge > amounts of $$ for research will come my way, along with enough personal $$ > to > liberate me from needing to manage software development contracts > or mop my own floor. That will be very nice. But that's just not the > point. > > I'm envisioning a population of cockroaches constantly fighting over > crumbs of food on the floor. Then a few of the cockroaches -- let's > call them the Cockroach Robot Club -- decide to > spend their lives focused on creating a superhuman robot which will > incidentally allow cockroaches to upload into superhuman form with > superhuman intelligence. And the other cockroaches insist that > Cockroach Robot Club's > motivation in doing this must be a desire > to get more crumbs of food. After all, > just **IMAGINE** how many crumbs of food you'll be able to get with > that superhuman robot on your side!!! Buckets full of crumbs!!! ;-) > > -- Ben G > > ------------------------------------------- > agi > Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > http://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > -- Aki R. Iskandar [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=98558129-0bdb63 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
