Re: Why invest in AGI?

From: Richard Loosemore (rpwl@lightlink.com)
Date: Sat Jan 21 2006 - 00:44:47 MST


My take on your question is slightly different than Ben's because I have
different approach to the problem.

My answer to "Why should I invest in AGI?":

Because there is the potential for it to take off at a speed that would
supply the investor with her own personal starship within a decade or two.

Here is how.

If the standard approach to AI turns out to have a Blind Spot Assumption
built into it - an assumption that is glaringly obvious when you know
it is there, but which otherwise is impossible to see - and if that
BSA turns out to a crucial blockage that has stopped progress all this
time, then we could open up the floodgates by dumping that assumption.

At the risk of sounding like a wild optimist, I actually do believe that
we are in this situation.

We could build a learning system that acquires concepts through
experience, and which also has the kind of motivation/emotion system
that would make it completely (and reliably) benign, we could find
ourselves surprised at how fast it could acquire knowledge and grow up
into a superintelligent AGI.

This is the core of my approach, and I think it will work. It is so
radically different to the standard methods that, at the very least, it
might not have the same drawbacks.

[More soon: I am trying to corral my ideas into a website.]

Richard Loosemore.

H C wrote:
> I have really seen hardly any discussion or exposition directly related
> to the question of AGI investment, from a business standpoint (although
> I think the AGIRI forum is a step in the right direction).
>
> Say today is your lucky day, and you sat down next a millionaire
> businessman on the bus and he asked you "Why should I invest in AGI?".
>
> How would you respond? What makes a good response here? What are some
> major things you would bring up in your answer?
>
>
>



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