From: Brian Phillips (deepbluehalo@earthlink.net)
Date: Sun May 04 2003 - 20:41:37 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Goertzel" <ben@goertzel.org>
To: <sl4@sl4.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2003 10:23 PM
Subject: RE: Singularity Institute - update
>
>
> > So to sum up: the idea of even excellent-level programmers being able to
> > jump into this without deep understanding is not an idea we wish to
> > contemplate or encourage at this point. Hence, need for book.
> >
> > Here's a page he wrote about this recently:
> >
> > http://sl4.org/bin/wiki.pl?SoYouWantToBeASeedAIProgrammer
> > --
> > Brian Atkins
>
> I found that page very funny!
>
> Especially the line
>
> "Seed AI. It sounds like a cool idea, something that would look good on
your
> resume, so you fire off a letter to the Singularity Institute indicating
> that you may be vaguely interested in coming on board. "
>
> The idea that "Seed AI" would look good on anyone's resume, is pretty
> hilarious!! My estimate of Eliezer's sense of humor has just been
elevated
> 37.342 notches ;-)
What I thought was strange was the notion that someone brilliant enough
to meet even the qualifications for the "non-genuis slots" would take
"on faith" the ability of the Primary Investigator to actualize something
of this magnitude. One can talk around this all they like but ultimately
in comes down to a decison to "follow the leader" and hope they
got and continue to get it right.
I make it my avocation to do things which are not nearly so difficult as
AI, to say nothing of Friendly AI. (I know this because I know that
there have been others who have mastered the field I love.) The lists
of "food groups" are great as a yardstick for measuring one's progress
but I have to say...
Why would I spend my time on FAI if I had this sort of ability?
It's not something you can blithely dismiss in the face of life
experience and getting some real accomplishments taken care
of. If I had written the page I would be scared crapless of myself,
simply because humility is an effective balancing mechanism for
those of us who think especially well.
Just my thoughts (again the "food groups" was marvelous however),
Brian
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