These things of course require a balance.
In many academic or corporate fora, radical innovation is frowned upon
so profoundly (in spite of sometimes being praised and desired, on the
surface, but in a confused and not fully sincere way), that it's continually
necessary to remind people of the need to open their minds and consider
the possibility that some of their assumptions are wrong.
OTOH, in **this** forum, we have a lot of openness and open-mindedness,
which is great ... but the downside is, people who THINK they have radical
new insights but actually don't, tend to get a LOT of
attention, often to the detriment of more interesting yet less "radical on the
surface" discussions.
I do find that most posters on this list seem to have put a lot of thought
(as well as a lot of feeling) into their ideas and opinions. However, it's
frustrating when people re-tread issues over and over in a way that demonstrates
they've never taken the trouble to carefully study what's been done before.
I think it can often be super-valuable to approach some issue afresh, without
studying the literature first -- so as to get a brand-new view. But
then, before
venting one's ideas in a public forum, one should check one's ideas against
the literature (in the idea-validation phase .. after the
idea-generation phase) to
see whether they're original, whether they're contradicted by well-thought-out
arguments, etc.
-- Ben G
-- Ben
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 9:54 AM, Bob Mottram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Good advice. There are of course sometimes people who are ahead of the
> field, but in conversation you'll usually find that the genuine inovators
> have a deep - bordering on obsessive - knowledge of the field that they're
> working in and are willing to demonstrate/test their claims to anyone even
> remotely interested.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 14/04/2008, Brad Paulsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Dear Fellow AGI List Members:
> >
> > Just thought I'd remind the good members of this list about some
> strategies for dealing with certain types of postings.
> >
> > Unfortunately, the field of AI/AGI is one of those areas where anybody
> with a pulse and a brain thinks they can design a "program that thinks."
> Must be easy, right? I mean, I can do it so how hard can it be to put "me"
> in a "can?" Well, that's what some very smart people in the 1940's, '50's
> and into the 1960's thought. They were wrong. Most of them now admit it.
> So, on AI-related lists, we have to be very careful about the kinds of
> "conversations" on which we spend our valuable time. Here are some
> guidelines. I realize most people here know this stuff already. This is
> just a gentle reminder.
> >
> > If a posting makes grandiose claims, is dismissive of mainstream research,
> techniques, and institutions or the author claims to have "special
> knowledge" that has apparently been missed (or dismissed) by all of the
> brilliant scientific/technical minds who go to their jobs at major
> corporations and universities every day (and are paid for doing so), and
> also by every Nobel Laureate for the last 20 years, this posting should be
> ignored. DO NOT RESPOND to these types of postings: positively or
> negatively. The poster is, obviously, either irrational or one of the
> greatest minds of our time. In the former case, you know they're full of
> it, I know they're full of it, but they will NEVER admit that. You will
> never win an argument with an irrational individual. In the latter case,
> stop and ask yourself: Why is somebody that fantastically smart posting to
> this mailing list? He or she is, obviously, smarter than everyone here.
> Why does he/she need us to validate his or her accomplishments/knowledge by
> posting on this list? He or she should have better things to do and,
> besides, we probably wouldn't be able to understand ("appreciate") his/her
> genius anyhow.
> >
> > The only way to deal with postings like this is to IGNORE THEM. Don't
> rise to the bait. Like a bad cold, they will be irritating for a while, but
> they will, eventually, go away.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Brad
> >
> > ________________________________
>
> > agi | Archives | Modify Your Subscription
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> agi | Archives | Modify Your Subscription
--
Ben Goertzel, PhD
CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC
Director of Research, SIAI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they
will surely become worms."
-- Henry Miller
-------------------------------------------
agi
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