Recently, someone on this list (I apologize for not making a note of this
person's name) raised the question whether we might find a "shortcut" to
AGI. The author went on to opine that, because the problems associated
with achieving AGI had been considered by some of the world's most
brilliant minds at various times over thousands of years of human history
and because the problem, nonetheless, remains unsolved, it was extremely
unlikely such a shortcut would ever be found.
I believe this opinion neglects an important element of discovery (or
creativity, if you will). An element that is not found in every person who
possesses a towering intellect but that can only be found in one that does.
I speak of intellectual courage (or foolhardiness -- it's often difficult
to tell and could be both). It's the courage (or obsession, or both) that
causes a man (or woman) to give themselves over to a novel insight so
thoroughly that it comes to define their self-image, their very being.
This form of courage is so close to insanity that many of these individuals
find themselves crossing that very boundary. In our time, John Nash, for
example. Or Alan Turing, if only just for the brief hours, days and
moments before he took his own life.
This isn't ordinary courage. This is courage of an extraordinary kind. It
doesn't manifest itself very often (perhaps once or twice in every
century). But, when it does, the person possessing it can give us the
"shortcut" that changes everything. This type of courage could very well
be from whence that shortcut to AGI eventually comes. It's not a matter of
just having mulled the problem over time and time again. Or the number of
"mullers" involved. Or the length of time the mulling has been ongoing.
It is, rather, a matter of being intellectually fearless and willing to put
oneself in harms way for one's convictions.
There is a series of videos done by the BBC on the Web (link below) that
everyone on this list should watch. They will both enlighten and frighten.
The first is about the mathematician, Georg Cantor, who dared look
infinity straight in the eye without blinking. In the process, he turned
mathematics on its head and was excoriated by some of the most renowned
mathematicians of the time. He died penniless in a mental institution.
The link to "Dangerous Knowledge Part 1" is here:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4007105149032380914&ei=PvTXSJONKI_8-gHFhOi-Ag&q=artificial+life&vt=lf
Man, that URI is practically infinite! The links to the other parts of the
video should be on that same page. I love the fact that they quote
from William Blake's famous poem "Infinity" (which Sting also "borrowed"
and used in the lyrics to the title song of his last album, Sacred Love --
to be expected from a former teacher of literature, I guess). Also highly
recommended (the Sting album).
BTW, I'm writing this from my sick bed. Got an awful virus that can best
be described as someone putting a bicycle pump up your nose, plugging all
of the other orifices in your head, and then pumping like crazy until you
are completely convinced your head is going to explode like a rotten
melon. I like that description better than "a sinus infection." Thanks to
laptops and WiFi routers (and lots of Tylenol and some prescription stuff I
can't pronounce let alone spell in my present condition), I'm still able to
surf the 'net and read my e-mail, although I'm probably doing so under the
influence of the cold medicine I've been taking. Anyhow, it's put me in a
reflective mood.
One of the things I'd like to reelect upon with you all here has to do
with, well... with you all here. Since joining this list, I think I have
learned more about more subjects associated with AI than I could have
learned in two years of graduate-level study in a classroom setting. The
reason is simple. We have some very bright and accomplished folks posting
to this list regularly. I have especially enjoyed, for example, the recent
thread on NARs vs PLN and the exchanges between Ben G., Pei and Abram. I
mean, one's lucky if one has a couple of professors that know there stuff
this well in one's entire graduate course of study. Here, I have many
solid thinkers publicly working out their differences on this list,
grinding each other's arguments down until the nub of the matter lies
helplessly exposed. I, then, swoop down and greedily grab it up! You
can't buy this type of education at any cost. Thank you all. Matt M.,
David H. and everyone else who contributes here regularly, a big, mushy
thanks for making me a smarter, if not necessarily better, human being!
Yep, too much cold medicine. Later...
Brad
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agi
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