David Deutsch
Physicist at the University of Oxford and a pioneer of quantum computation; author of The Fabric of Reality (1997) and The Beginning of Infinity (2011).
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What they believe
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AGI research made no progress in its first six decades.
The enterprise of achieving it artificially — the field of ‘artificial general intelligence’ or AGI — has made no progress whatever during the entire six decades of its existence.
aeon.coSaid 3 Oct 2012This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 15 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
AGI research made no progress in its first six decades.
The enterprise of achieving it artificially — the field of ‘artificial general intelligence’ or AGI — has made no progress whatever during the entire six decades of its existence.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
AGI must be possible, because the laws of physics make computation universal.
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.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
What distinguishes human minds is creativity: the ability to produce new explanations.
I call the core functionality in question creativity: the ability to produce new explanations.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
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Knowledge does not come from extrapolating repeated observations.
Because it is simply not true that knowledge comes from extrapolating repeated observations.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Knowledge consists of conjectured explanations, guesses that need no foundations or justification.
Now, the truth is that knowledge consists of conjectured explanations — guesses about what really is (or really should be, or might be) out there in all those worlds. Even in the hard sciences, these guesses have no foundations and don’t need justification.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Thinking is criticising and correcting partly true guesses, not extrapolating from sense data.
Thinking consists of criticising and correcting partially true guesses with the intention of locating and eliminating the errors and misconceptions in them, not generating or justifying extrapolations from sense data.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Bayesianism is a version of the mistaken induction approach to AGI.
Currently one of the most influential versions of the ‘induction’ approach to AGI (and to the philosophy of science) is Bayesianism, unfairly named after the 18th-century mathematician Thomas Bayes, who was quite innocent of the mistake.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
An AGI is qualitatively, not quantitatively, different from all other computer programs.
An AGI is qualitatively, not quantitatively, different from all other computer programs.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Expecting AGI without first understanding how it works is like expecting skyscrapers to fly if built tall enough.
Expecting to create an AGI without first understanding in detail how it works is like expecting skyscrapers to learn to fly if we build them tall enough.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
AGIs would be people.
That AGIs are people has been implicit in the very concept from the outset.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Treating AGIs like ordinary computer programs would be brainwashing, slavery and tyranny.
To treat AGIs like any other computer programs would constitute brainwashing, slavery, and tyranny.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Education, of humans or AGIs, must stop being treated as instruction.
One implication is that we must stop regarding education (of humans or AGIs alike) as instruction — as a means of transmitting existing knowledge unaltered, and causing existing values to be enacted obediently.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Developing AGI is a problem of philosophy, not computer science or neurophysiology.
I am convinced that the whole problem of developing AGIs is a matter of philosophy, not computer science or neurophysiology
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
Plausibly a single idea stands between us and AGI.
So in one respect I can agree with the AGI-is-imminent camp: it is plausible that just a single idea stands between us and the breakthrough.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
The battle between good and evil ideas will continue whatever hardware it runs on.
The battle between good and evil ideas is as old as our species and will continue regardless of the hardware on which it is running.
How close are we to creating artificial intelligence? Said 3 Oct 2012
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