Alan Kay <[email protected]> writes: > Hi David > > This is an interesting slant on a 50+ year old paramount problem (and > one that is even more important today). > > Licklider called it the "communicating with aliens problem". He said > 50 years ago this month that "if we succeed in constructing the > 'intergalactic network' then our main problem will be learning how to > 'communicate with aliens'. He meant not just humans to humans but > software to software and humans to software. > > (We gave him his intergalactic network but did not solve the > communicating with aliens problem.) > > I think a key to finding better solutions is to -- as he did -- > really push the scale beyond our imaginations -- "intergalactic" -- > and then ask "how can we *still* establish workable communications of > overlapping meanings?". > > Another way to look at this is to ask: "What kinds of prep *can* you > do *beforehand* to facilitate communications with alien modules?"
I don't think that in this universe, intergalactic communication (assuming the message is transmitted) to be more difficult than intragalactic communication. I mean, I don't expect more variability in intelligent forms in a different galaxy than in the same galaxy, because we are assuming the same physics laws apply to the whole universe, and some overall homogeneity in the universe composition. On the other hand, I'd already expect software, ie. AI, to be more alien than most intelligent life forms we'll ever encounter. We will probably have to work hard to make artificial intelligence, or make it stay, close enough to ourselves. On the other hand, if you want really to push beyond our imaginations, inter-universe communication would be a real challenge (always, assuming the messages can go thru). -- __Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/ A bad day in () is better than a good day in {}. _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list [email protected] http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
