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posted by takyon on Thursday July 30 2015, @01:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the it-depends-what-"it"-is dept.

In this wide ranging interview, Steven Wolfram [creator of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha] talks about what he's been thinking about for the last 30+ years, and how some of the questions he's had for a long time are now being answered.

I looked for pull quotes, but narrowing down to just one or two quotes from a long interview seemed like it might send the SN discussion down a rabbit hole... if nothing else, this is a calm look at the same topics that have been all over the press recently from Hawking, Musk and others.

One interesting topic is about goals for AIs -- as well as intelligence (however you define it), we humans have goals. How will goals be defined for AIs? Can we come up with a good representation for goals that can be programmed?


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ikanreed on Thursday July 30 2015, @01:42PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 30 2015, @01:42PM (#215867) Journal

    Not to reject the idea you've got here entirely, but evolution by natural selection is a perfect example of adapting without goals.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by miljo on Thursday July 30 2015, @01:57PM

    by miljo (5757) on Thursday July 30 2015, @01:57PM (#215874) Journal

    Would survival of the species itself be an innate goal?

    --
    One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.
    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday July 30 2015, @02:07PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 30 2015, @02:07PM (#215880) Journal

      No. No one decided that mattered. It lacks the identity of a goal in any real way.

      Moreover, things not surviving contributes to the process just as much as organisms surviving. Natural selection and mutation plays out all on its own for any self-reproducing anything.

      ...I just realized I'm way too depressed to have one of my normal arguments.

      • (Score: 1) by miljo on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:23PM

        by miljo (5757) on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:23PM (#215944) Journal

        So the meaning of life is something akin to nihilism, or 42.

        --
        One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @02:35AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @02:35AM (#216125)

        yes, someone did. each individual decides what to eat, where to sleep, and who to screw in order to survive.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday July 30 2015, @02:13PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 30 2015, @02:13PM (#215882) Journal

      Would survival of the species itself be an innate goal?

      No, I think you mistake it for "inane", in the "mindless" sense of it.

      Also, stop anthropomorphizing nature, it hates it.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday July 30 2015, @06:33PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday July 30 2015, @06:33PM (#215968) Journal

        in·nate

        adjective

        inborn; natural.
         
        Survival seems to be one of those inborn, natural things that all forms of life do.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday July 30 2015, @09:55PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 30 2015, @09:55PM (#216040) Journal

          Survival seems to be one of those inborn, natural things that all forms of life do.

          Which doesn't necessarily mean is a goal. Emergent behaviour maybe, but not a goal.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:09PM (#215918)

    Evolution does not mandate emergence of intelligence.

    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:19PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:19PM (#215920) Journal

      Oh, let's head down this road, I guess.

      Define intelligence.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:48PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:48PM (#215932)

        No, let's not. But I concede, adaptation occurs without *conscious* goals.