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WRT AI vs humans I see the main difference as human minds evolved emotions. Many people like to think the human mind is logic with a little emotion sprinkled on

by gmarx 10y ago

WRT AI vs humans I see the main difference as human minds evolved emotions. Many people like to think the human mind is logic with a little emotion sprinkled on top. It is quite the opposite. We make decisions based on emotion and logic is a special purpose tool (rarely deployed for anything other than rationalizing emotional decisions). I read a reference in The Economist years ago (wish I had a link to the study) about a guy who suffered a brain lesion that made him incapable of emotion. Within a year this newly minted Mr. Spock lost his marriage and his job because without emotion he was incapable of making any decisions. I see the same problem for super intelligent machines. Unless we program them with emotion they will not decide to do much. They won't fear death and so have no reason to kill us. They will not have pride and so won't resent our control.

pavel_lishin 10y ago
Why wouldn't an AI evolve its own set of emotions? They might be completely inscrutable to us, but an AI might still have them.
- gmarx 10y ago
  It might. I haven't read much speculative (fiction?) on the singularity but if it posits the machines reach a point where they begin to evolve through selection then it is likely that an emotion capable AI would outcompete. I wonder which emotions would win? Would survival instinct alone cause dominance or would a more varied set be better?
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    I imagine their emotions would be largely incomprehensible to us.
cokernel 10y ago
By any chance are you thinking of Antonio Damasio's book _Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain_? Also, this (paywalled, sorry) article seems relevant. Antoine Bechara, Antonio R. Damasio, Hanna Damasio, Steven W. Anderson, Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex, Cognition, Volume 50, Issues 1–3, April–June 1994, Pages 7-15, ISSN 0010-0277, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3. (//www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010027794900183) Abstract: Following damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, humans develop a defect in real-life decision-making, which contrasts with otherwise normal intellectual functions. Currently, there is no neuropsychological probe to detect in the laboratory, and the cognitive and neural mechanisms responsible for this defect have resisted explanation. Here, using a novel task which simulates real-life decision-making in the way it factors uncertainty of premises and outcomes, as well as reward and punishment, we find that prefrontal patients, unlike controls, are oblivious to the future consequences of their actions, and seem to be guided by immediate prospects only. This finding offers, for the first time, the possibility of detecting these patients' elusive impairment in the laboratory, measuring it, and investigating its possible causes.
- gmarx 10y ago
  It sounds similar but does not comport with the specifics I recall. The patient did not develop short term thinking. They were quite clear that his emotions had vanished Thanks though for the effort
  - cokernel 10y ago
    I believe this exactly is the situation that Damasio describes in the book I mentioned -- his patient "Elliot" had no emotions and couldn't make decisions. See for instance: * http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/06/how-only-using-logic-destroyed-a-man.html http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/06/how-only-using-logic-de... * https://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shapes-decision-making/ https://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shap...

by gmarx 10y ago

pavel_lishin 10y ago

Why wouldn't an AI evolve its own set of emotions? They might be completely inscrutable to us, but an AI might still have them.

gmarx 10y ago
It might. I haven't read much speculative (fiction?) on the singularity but if it posits the machines reach a point where they begin to evolve through selection then it is likely that an emotion capable AI would outcompete. I wonder which emotions would win? Would survival instinct alone cause dominance or would a more varied set be better?
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  I imagine their emotions would be largely incomprehensible to us.

cokernel 10y ago

By any chance are you thinking of Antonio Damasio's book _Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain_? Also, this (paywalled, sorry) article seems relevant. Antoine Bechara, Antonio R. Damasio, Hanna Damasio, Steven W. Anderson, Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex, Cognition, Volume 50, Issues 1–3, April–June 1994, Pages 7-15, ISSN 0010-0277, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3. (//www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0010027794900183) Abstract: Following damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, humans develop a defect in real-life decision-making, which contrasts with otherwise normal intellectual functions. Currently, there is no neuropsychological probe to detect in the laboratory, and the cognitive and neural mechanisms responsible for this defect have resisted explanation. Here, using a novel task which simulates real-life decision-making in the way it factors uncertainty of premises and outcomes, as well as reward and punishment, we find that prefrontal patients, unlike controls, are oblivious to the future consequences of their actions, and seem to be guided by immediate prospects only. This finding offers, for the first time, the possibility of detecting these patients' elusive impairment in the laboratory, measuring it, and investigating its possible causes.

gmarx 10y ago
It sounds similar but does not comport with the specifics I recall. The patient did not develop short term thinking. They were quite clear that his emotions had vanished Thanks though for the effort
- cokernel 10y ago
  I believe this exactly is the situation that Damasio describes in the book I mentioned -- his patient "Elliot" had no emotions and couldn't make decisions. See for instance: * http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/06/how-only-using-logic-destroyed-a-man.html http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/06/how-only-using-logic-de... * https://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shapes-decision-making/ https://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shap...