3 ms·
> Despite this long record of failure, AGI must be possible. And that is because of a deep property of the laws of physics, namely the universality of computati
by lukev 13y ago
> Despite this long record of failure, AGI must be possible. And that is because of a deep property of the laws of physics, namely the universality of computation.
This actually doesn't follow. It is logically possible that general intelligence is the result of a non-physical process (or at least a process outside any conception of known physics). It could be, as philosophers have put it, a homunculus that interfaces with but is not a part of the physical brain.
Or take the brain-in-the-vat hypothesis. It could be that intelligence/consciousness is the result of some process that can't be modeled within the physics of the simulation, and can only be injected from "outside" the system. This already happens, actually; there are demonstrably intelligent entities in World of Warcraft (the human players) but that doesn't imply that the computer physics of the WOW game engine are sufficient to model intelligence.
- Houshalter 13y agoIt's not 100% proven that "souls" don't exist, but I would bet money that intelligence can be explained by the laws of physics just like every other scientific mystery. At one time people thought life was basically magic and too complicated to understand.
- lukev 13y agoI wouldn't bet against you, just pointing out that he's working from a hefty (if legitimate) assumption.
- indrax 13y agoIf these were true, It would mean that atoms in our brain violate physics as we know it. This source of intelligence would be detectable, because it is significant enough for neurons to detect it. The hidden premise of the quote is that that we have observed brains enough to be confident that they are running on physics.