Both of you are wrong.  (Where did that quote come from by the way.  What
year did he write or say that.)

An inadequate understanding of the problems is exactly what has to
be expected by researchers (both professional and amateurs) when they are
facing a completely novel pursuit.  That is why we have endless discussions
like these.  What happened over and over again in AI research is that the
amazing advances in computer technology always seemed to suggest that
similar advances in AI must be just off the horizon.  And the reality is
that there have been major advances in AI.  In the 1970's a critic stated
that he wouldn't believe that AI was possible until a computer was able to
beat him in chess.  Well, guess what happened and guess what conclusion he
did not derive from the experience.  One of the problems with critics is
that they can be as far off as those whose optimism is absurdly unwarranted.

If a broader multi-disciplinary effort was the obstacle to creating AGI, we
would have AGI by now.  It should be clear to anyone who examines the
history of AI or the present day reach of computer programming that a
multi-discipline effort is not the key to creating effective AGI.  Computers
have become pervasive in modern day life, and if it was just a matter of
getting people with different kinds of interests involved, it would have
been done by now.  It is a little like saying that the key to safe deep sea
drilling is to rely on the expertise of companies that make billions and
billions of dollars and which stand to lose billions by mistakes.  While
that should make sense, if you look a little more closely, you can see that
it doesn't quite work out that way in the real world.

Jim Bromer

On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Mike Tintner <[email protected]>wrote:

>  "One of the problems of AI researchers is that too often they start off
> with an inadequate
> understanding of the *problems* and believe that solutions are only a few
> years away. We need an educational system that not only teaches techniques
> and solutions, but also an understanding of problems and their difficulty —
> which can come from a broader multi-disciplinary education. That could speed
> up progress."
> A. Sloman
>
> (& who else keeps saying that?)
>   *agi* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now>
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