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Alternatively, we are analogue beings made up of systems that appear to be best described by chaotic continuous non-linear math, and digital computers can rough
by Karellen 4y ago
Alternatively, we are analogue beings made up of systems that appear to be best described by chaotic continuous non-linear math, and digital computers can roughly simulate physics to a given level of precision, which can be as fine as you care to make it… at the cost of ever increasing processing requirements. And the amount of physics involved in simulating a single human cell, like a neuron, is already vast.
Whether we can simulate a “large enough” physical system, in as much detail as is required, at a fast enough speed to produce any results in a meaningful timeframe, is an open question.
We don’t even know how big the simulation needs to be, in terms of neurons, to produce qualia. Or how we’d know if it were. Or how much detail/resolution is needed.
It’s like brute forcing the travelling salesman problem for a 10,000 node graph. Yeah, we know exactly how to do it with a digital computer. The math is simple. It’s just going to take longer than the heat death of the universe to get the answer.
- dinosaurdynasty 4y agoWho says computers have to be digital? Analog computers are already a thing.
- andrewflnr 4y agoThe preceding discussion was specifically about "a CPU". Analog computers are specifically excluded. If, despite that, you're trying to simulate an analog entity with an analog computer, or build any analog AGI, the question arises whether it's possible to build one any simpler or faster than existing biological computers, e.g. humans. If no, then why bother?
- dinosaurdynasty 4y agoConsidering evolution optimized for biological fitness and not intelligence, it would be incredibly surprising if it wasn't possible to do better, especially using a vastly different architecture. You could also build an AGI to run on a digital CPU but interact with a simulation that used analog coprocessors (which is a thing these days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsUOuSjvcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVsUOuSjvcg). You can also include quantum coprocessors (which already exist in their infancy) for various things (probably only useful for quantum simulations at this point though). Also considering recent ML work, an AGI is more likely going to run on something similar to a GPU than a CPU.
- Jensson 4y ago> Considering evolution optimized for biological fitness and not intelligence, it would be incredibly surprising if it wasn't possible to do better, especially using a vastly different architecture. The way I see it is that humans are the stupidest you can be and still create a society. Like a nuclear reaction, you need average human to add a tiny bit of structure on average and it works, any less than that and society is impossible, any more than that and society forms extremely quickly, so fast that evolution has no time to work.