My beliefs are we are currently in a 6th mass extinction. The earth has already experienced 5. The difference is this one is caused by human activity. AI might be able to prevent it or perhaps just lengthen and delay its impact. Or wipe us out before it plays out.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-is-the-sixth-mass-extinction-and-what-can-we-do-about-it Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Monday, April 10, 2023, 10:22 AM, rpinion865 <[email protected]> wrote: And, no one mentions the HAL 9000??? Sent with Proton Mail secure email. ------- Original Message ------- On Monday, April 10th, 2023 at 10:12 AM, Bob Bridges <[email protected]> wrote: > Getting into philosophy, but why not? > > Shmuel> Wouldn't that depend on the programming and training? > > > Me> Sure. Has anyone programmed self-preservation into any of the current > > AIs? I suspect no one's thought of such a thing yet. (And maybe anyone who > has thought of it has thought better of it.) > > The assumption that AIs want to preserve themselves is probably inseparable > from the assumption that AIs are self-aware*, and I suppose it's that > assumption that I'm questioning. I seriously doubt we ~can~ create > self-awareness, but that's debatable because we don't really know how to > define what self-awareness is. Assuming for the sake of argument that we > can, how would we determine whether an AI has it? We call that the Turing > test, but as far as I know we don't have one. > > (Stop me if I've told this one already: Decades ago I attended a software > conference in Anaheim. My best friend from high school lives in that area, > and when he heard that the guest speaker at the wrap-up banquet was to be > Gene Rodenberry, he shelled out $50 to attend the banquet himself. Gene > Rodenberry didn't show, pleading exhaustion, but the man who came in his > place was an entertaining speaker and I remember thoroughly enjoying his > talk. > > (In that decade it was fashionable to talk knowledgeably about the Turing > test. Partway through his presentation he mentioned it, and added "...and > by the way no one should be allowed to talk about the Turing test if they > can't pass it themselves". Terry and I burst into loud laughter - and > quickly stifled ourselves as we realized the rest of the room was silent. > The speaker paused, and then said "Well, I guess now we know who knows what > the Turing test is." Of course we had to laugh again, but more respectably > this time.) > > * I do not mean that the two ~propositions~ are inseparable. I'm just > thinking that anyone who ~assumes~ that AIs feel the need to preserve > themselves are assuming that they're self-aware. > > Schmuel> Some people lack an impulse to preserve themselves. Consider > > reckless behavior and suicide attempts. > > Me> I consider it, but neither one contradicts the assertion. Even those > > folks have a strong impulse to live. > > --- > Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 > > /* A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the > local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many times and > is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract of nonsense that > pours from the press and the microphone of his own age. -C S Lewis, "The > Weight of Glory" */ > > ________________________________________ > From: Bob Bridges [[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, April 9, 2023 7:19 PM > > Yeah, I realize I didn't define anything. But in this case I'm really just > saying that we have no idea whether an AI can have an impulse to preserve > itself. We observe that impulse in every form of life, but it's well to > keep in mind that an AI isn't of that sort. It may have that impulse, but > so far that's just an assumption, no? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
