Re: Self-modifying FAI (was: How hard a Singularity?)

From: Michael Roy Ames (michaelroyames@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 26 2002 - 11:15:06 MDT


James Higgins wrote:
>
> A human can understand the words "The intention that was in the mind of
the
> programmer when writing this line of code", but they could never fully
> UNDERSTAND it. This is why I think you need to have more real life
> experience, Eliezer. Those of us that are married can easily understand
> why the above is not possible. You can never FULLY understand what
someone
> else intends by something.
>

I am married, and I disagree with you. It is entirely possible to fully
understand what someone else intends by something... especially if they have
open and honest personalities and take the time to communicate thier mental
state as completely as they can.

The life experiences gained by marriage can be complex and useful and
emotionally significant... but they come at a cost: you miss-out on other
experiences that are not marriage or marriage-related. In your above quoted
post, you seem to be positing that there is some crucial experience that
married people have that is unavailable to unmarried people: that of knowing
if you can understand someone's intentions fully. This is false. Knowledge
of intentions has to do with communication and honesty, accurate
introspection and completion-of-effort. Marriage is not a prerequisite for
these activities, and in fact often hinders them.

Michael Roy Ames



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:00:39 MDT