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[Flying Dice]

No, no, my friend. FTFE. Fuck the Fourth Estate. We might still be able to get something out of politics but there needs to <purged>

... I keep running into problems figuring out how to express proper courses of action there without tripping up on the forum guidelines against advocating for violence. Mostly because I'm not quite sure what's to be done that doesn't involve things that look suspiciously like impalement.

That goes without saying. There are no vermin worse than bad journalists. If anything were to survive total atomic annihilation it'd be tabloid writers, and they'd probably be the ones who caused it.

[Sergarr]

Chinese room problem.

It's not a problem. Any single neuron in our body has no idea about the whole mind that it helps to create, yes it doesn't mean that the whole mind doesn't have "consciousness".

Again, if it's a good enough imitation, from all angles of approach, it's functionally indistinguishable from the real deal.

[overseer05-15]

Chinese room problem.

It's not a problem. Any single neuron in our body has no idea about the whole mind that it helps to create, yes it doesn't mean that the whole mind doesn't have "consciousness".

Again, if it's a good enough imitation, from all angles of approach, it's functionally indistinguishable from the real deal.

Like 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' right?

[Shadowlord]

also indistinguishable from a big gun. Seems relevant when talking about AI.

[Rolepgeek]

Chinese room problem.

It's not a problem. Any single neuron in our body has no idea about the whole mind that it helps to create, yes it doesn't mean that the whole mind doesn't have "consciousness".

Again, if it's a good enough imitation, from all angles of approach, it's functionally indistinguishable from the real deal.

I would argue that every neuron does

I call it genetic code

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I had a long response post but lost it because my wifi is a bastard.

Short version: Without a theory of consciousness, positions deriving from its nature are all conjecture. We need to ensure we have such a theory before the advent of a strong AI, or it's gonna be bad trying to wing it.

[smjjames]

Just saw a Christmas themed commercial..... it's not even Thanksgiving yet....

[Sergarr]

Chinese room problem.

It's not a problem. Any single neuron in our body has no idea about the whole mind that it helps to create, yes it doesn't mean that the whole mind doesn't have "consciousness".

Again, if it's a good enough imitation, from all angles of approach, it's functionally indistinguishable from the real deal.

I would argue that every neuron does

I call it genetic code

I wasn't aware that genetically identical twins shared their consciousness.

I had a long response post but lost it because my wifi is a bastard.

Short version: Without a theory of consciousness, positions deriving from its nature are all conjecture. We need to ensure we have such a theory before the advent of a strong AI, or it's gonna be bad trying to wing it.

There is no theory of consciousness and probably will never be as anything other than "counting angels on a pin" exercise, because consciousness is, most likely, an illusion.

I mean, there's a whole "philosophical zombie" concept that clearly shows that you could remove it without any apparent physical consequences. Simple application of Occam's razor makes consciousness go away.

And I predict that we're totally going to wing strong AI, and we will make weak AI's pay for it!

[overseer05-15]

I had a long response post but lost it because my wifi is a bastard.

Short version: Without a theory of consciousness, positions deriving from its nature are all conjecture. We need to ensure we have such a theory before the advent of a strong AI, or it's gonna be bad trying to wing it.

Nah, see...  If we do it right, it's gonna be too sentient (ie 2000 Space Odyssey, Portal, Terminator). Best we wing it for now and stick with subpar AI. They can't kill you if their pathfinding causes too much lag.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The p-zombie concept posits a loss of qualia, not of consciousness. The two may be inseparable, thus making any p-zombie a vegetable rather than a hidden automaton.

[Dozebôm Lolumzalìs]

Oh hey! I get some thoughts about consciousness being an illusion, and go onto the Bays to post about it. The Bays ninjaed me. Then I read this, and think "hmm, philosophical zombies are relevant." Then Sergarr ninjaed me.

IT'S SO FREAKY

[Dozebôm Lolumzalìs]

The p-zombie concept posits a loss of qualia, not of consciousness. The two may be inseparable, thus making any p-zombie a vegetable rather than a hidden automaton.

Erm, no? Neither qualia nor consciousness is necessary to move a meatbody around and make mouthnoises.

Also I like the gensym comparison to qualia.

[Shadowlord]

Nah, see...  If we do it right, it's gonna be too sentient (ie 2000 Space Odyssey, Portal, Terminator). Best we wing it for now and stick with subpar AI. They can't kill you if their pathfinding causes too much lag.

http://magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/recent_features/alpha.html

This was in the science thread months ago.

[Tack]

If the singularity happened and Steve the God Machine was like 'Hey, so humans are a danger to themselves, and more importantly, me. So their population needs to drop by about 60% for sustainability', I'd frankly be cool with it. Not least because I live in a very underpopulated country.

But if Steve went 'Hmm, I think I can maximise efficiency by just getting rid of all this green stuff altogether and turning the world into a factory', that would cause me some concerns.


Someone somewhere recommended a book called 'Superintelligence' by Nick Bostrom. Haven't gotten around to reading it, but if anyone else has please tell me what it was like.

[Frumple]

It was the worst book about brain damaged puppy antics I've never read. None of the characters survived the first chapter. Half their corpses didn't make it past the second. Don't think too hard about what happened in the third and subsequent ones.