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"... the Omegas had pushed hard to make it extraordinary at one particular task: programming AI systems" This single line puts the whole article into the realm

"... the Omegas had pushed hard to make it extraordinary at one particular task: programming AI systems" This single line puts the whole article into the realm of pure science fiction: no technology capable of working such an ill-defined task like "programming AI systems" exists, not even as a work in progress, not even as an idea about how it could be done. And as science fiction, it's kind of a waste of time, but that's of course my own taste and opinion.

komali2 9y ago
I don't think it's a waste of time, it's bringing to the table a potential future that we need to begin to digest as a society immediately. Star Trek, for example, showed us an "obvious future" in which humanity was perfectly united, and then drew the scope in - what would your average office (or, naval vessel I guess) look like in this world? How would the people interact? (I say obvious future because I don't see a future in which humanity has spread amongst the stars happening before it unites across cultural lines) So this story says: "One day, we will have to deal with someone making a multi-purpose AI. This is one of the scenarios it might happen in - secretly, and for profit. Here's some speculation about how that would go down. How do you feel about this? What are the sort of preparations you think society should make, if this were to happen?" If the only step is "AI happens," that's not nearly so bad or infeasible as "FTL happens" or "Time Travel happens." I guess I am very stuck on your line "as science fiction, it's kind of a waste of time." How else can we imagine and design our futures but through things that don't currently exist (fiction)? Our entire world is literally science fiction in the eyes of Jules Verne - flying vehicles, submarines, traveling to the moon, etc.
CoffeeDregs 9y ago
This single line puts the whole article into the realm of pure science fiction: no technology capable of working such an ill-defined task like "programming AI systems" exists, I'll admit that they're not (currently) very good at it but there are interesting examples that contradict you: look up Genetic Programming; or Alistair Channon's work (15 years ago) on the generative production of neural networks. In 2003 and based on Channon's work, I built a system for generating and evolving neural networks using genetic algorithms which coded Lindenmeyer System to build the networks. Attached it to the Heat Bugs agent simulation (albeit with a well defined tasks) and it was startlingly effective. Given the current interest in AI, I've been meaning to resurrect and publish that code. There was a good blog post on here the other day saying: we're doing lots of work and producing interesting results (the equivalent of the "dual slit experiment" for AI), but we haven't yet formalized the results into a framework. We're probably close.
- pdimitar 9y ago
  If you ever decide to publish the code, please tag me! I have my email in my profile here. What you describe is of big interest to me but I've never done it due to never having to work with it commercially, which is a huge regret of mine. In any case, any additional practical material and, ideally, your code, will be of immense educational value for me!

komali2 9y ago

I don't think it's a waste of time, it's bringing to the table a potential future that we need to begin to digest as a society immediately. Star Trek, for example, showed us an "obvious future" in which humanity was perfectly united, and then drew the scope in - what would your average office (or, naval vessel I guess) look like in this world? How would the people interact? (I say obvious future because I don't see a future in which humanity has spread amongst the stars happening before it unites across cultural lines) So this story says: "One day, we will have to deal with someone making a multi-purpose AI. This is one of the scenarios it might happen in - secretly, and for profit. Here's some speculation about how that would go down. How do you feel about this? What are the sort of preparations you think society should make, if this were to happen?" If the only step is "AI happens," that's not nearly so bad or infeasible as "FTL happens" or "Time Travel happens." I guess I am very stuck on your line "as science fiction, it's kind of a waste of time." How else can we imagine and design our futures but through things that don't currently exist (fiction)? Our entire world is literally science fiction in the eyes of Jules Verne - flying vehicles, submarines, traveling to the moon, etc.

CoffeeDregs 9y ago

This single line puts the whole article into the realm of pure science fiction: no technology capable of working such an ill-defined task like "programming AI systems" exists, I'll admit that they're not (currently) very good at it but there are interesting examples that contradict you: look up Genetic Programming; or Alistair Channon's work (15 years ago) on the generative production of neural networks. In 2003 and based on Channon's work, I built a system for generating and evolving neural networks using genetic algorithms which coded Lindenmeyer System to build the networks. Attached it to the Heat Bugs agent simulation (albeit with a well defined tasks) and it was startlingly effective. Given the current interest in AI, I've been meaning to resurrect and publish that code. There was a good blog post on here the other day saying: we're doing lots of work and producing interesting results (the equivalent of the "dual slit experiment" for AI), but we haven't yet formalized the results into a framework. We're probably close.

pdimitar 9y ago
If you ever decide to publish the code, please tag me! I have my email in my profile here. What you describe is of big interest to me but I've never done it due to never having to work with it commercially, which is a huge regret of mine. In any case, any additional practical material and, ideally, your code, will be of immense educational value for me!