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sn#097089 filedate 1974-04-15 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
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C00001 00001
C00002 00002 ON THE NATURE OF AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THEORY OF MIND.
C00006 00003 2.0 Hardware Systems of an Intellectual Entity.
C00008 00004 3.0 Software Systems: the Robot's Mind.
C00010 00005 4.0 The Self. The Sentient Conscious Mind.
C00012 00006 The Impact of a Theory of Intellect.
C00019 00007 Identifying and Overcoming the Homocentric Prejudice.
C00022 00008
C00024 00009 4. The nature or the soul.
C00025 ENDMK
Cā;
ON THE NATURE OF AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THEORY OF MIND.
Bruce g. Baumgart
0.0 Introduction.
Assuming that the brain is like a computer and that the mind
is like computer software, I wish to speculate on exactly what data
structures and programs could give rise to counsciousness. My purpose
is not to confront the person who doesn't believe (or doesn't wish to
consider) the computer analogy of mind; my purpose is rather to
pursue the implications of taking the analogy seriously. Unfortunately,
the detailed construction of sophisticated artificial mind software
(or the reading of natural mind software) can not be done with
present day technology, 1974; so in that sense this paper is fantasy
science, conjectures are made and hung in the air unsupported.
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1.0 The Grand Artificial Intelligence Reseach Scenerio.
Consider the following dream scenerio: Artificial
Intelligence research suddenly becomes the single top national
priority; that in order to beat the Russians, Chinese, Energy
Crisis, Cancer and so on; nearly unlimited resources (up to 30
gigadollars per year) are to be directed to building truly
intelligent and conscious and benevolent computer robots, whatever
that might mean exactly. The requirements for the robot are somewhat
vague and broad: the robot is expected to be at least as smart as an
average human, to sing and dance, to speak, to program, to think
and to do well on the verbal and mathematical college entrance board
tests as well as the graduate record tests as well as on Turing tests
and so on. The national director of A.I. (a General Groves type)
likes you; and so will support your particular line of research
(which he doesn't really understand); how will you proceed ?
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2.0 Hardware Systems of an Intellectual Entity.
I would proceed by viewing the desired robot as a computer
system; and that the design goal is that the system is to be like a
man. Since it will be convenient to be able to refer to men,
animals, computers, robots, cyborgs and androids collectively, I
will use the term "intellectual entity". An intellectual entity, is
a physical object that has the appropriate organs of power supply,
memory, thought processing, input and output; to enable effective
mind like action in the physical world. In order to get started, I
would divide the robot system into sub systems by crossing a high
school biology definition of life into the hardware requirements for
a Mars explorer.
---------------------------------------------------------
| Hardware Sub Systems of an Intellectual Entity: |
| |
| 1. Power Supply. |
| 2. Perception. |
| 3. Locomotion. |
| 4. Manipulation. |
| 5. Computation. |
| 6. Communication. |
| 7. Replication. |
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3.0 Software Systems: the Robot's Mind.
The mind of the robot is a system of programs and data
structures; that is the mind is the software of an intellectual
entity. There is of course the usual nomensclature confusion having
to do with emulating or simulating hardware; but the confusion can be
avoided by observing that at the very bottom there is real hardware
and at the very top there is real software and that the
hardware/software trade offs for processors in between is not a
system design question but a question of economic implementation.
A second issue of nomensclature concerns whether the software
is being executed or not; as I have defined it, mind is not a process
in the computer sense of the word "process" but is rather a program;
that allows us to say that the mind is running or not running (whether
the mind is conscious or unconscious will be a different more restricted
thing).
Memory structures.
Self Model.
World Model Quantitative.
World Model Qualitative.
Language Models
Dictionary, Encyclopedia
Programs
Programs.
Clock.
Interrupt.
Job Scheduling & Resource Allocation.
Self Programmer.
Program Execution.
4.0 The Self. The Sentient Conscious Mind.
The most inescapible physical, philosophical and religious
question is: who and what the fuck am I ? The existence of yourself
as the prime observer is the most immediate and unavoidable fact of
life.
Interrupt dispatch routine
self grip: safety, emotion, attention, immediate goal,
job scheduling, resource allocator
reality grip: time & place, current external context,
Ego unity principle underlying subjective experience.
Immediate perceptions: pain, emotion, concept.
The stream of consciousness:
self dialogue, attention mechanism,
privacy ? uniqueness.
knows, remembers, desires, suffers pain (pleasure)
goal evaluator,
Difference between a conscious act and a sub-conscious act.
The Impact of a Theory of Intellect.
The attainment of a TECHNICAL theory of intelligence will
have a massive impact on human existence. At present, there are
several areas of research relating to intellectual systems. There
are cybernetic, genetic, psychological, physiological and
philosophical approachs; there is also the dichotomy between so
called "natural" and "artificial" intelligence research. However, I
wish to speculate for a moment on what happens when all these
intelligence researchers find the knowledge for which they seek,
when the phenomena of intelligence arising in genes and silicon is
well understood and a corresponding intelligence technology is
available.
A theory of intelligence, like the Copernician and Darwinian
theories, will further reduce the self centered divinity in mankind's
image of himself. The mind and soul of man will be exposed to study
and modification and man will no longer be the culmination of
evolution, but will replace himself with better intellectual entities
some of which will grow out of individual men who build themselves
into androids; other entities will be built by men as robots; and
finally androids and robots will replicate themselves and others.
A theory of intelligence will have a massive affect on
national, international, political and military affairs. Like nuclear
physics, a theory of intelligence has a number of atomic bombs that
will become accessible even before the whole theory takes shape. For
better and for worse there will be the potential of robot soldiers,
super minds, bio-engineering, monsters, oracles, disasters,
immortality, interstellar space travel, genetic modification, brain
modification, group intelligence, inter mind communication, and
transmigration of souls.
The impact of a theory of intelligence on mankind will exceed
the scientific, social and philosophical impact of the atomic bomb,
Darwin, the steam engine, Copernicus, the printing press, Christ,
fire and agriculture. A massive landing of extra terrestials is
humdrum when compared to the implications of knowing the nature of
intelligence.
Identifying and Overcoming the Homocentric Prejudice.
1. Star Trek Transporter Trauma.
2. Software soul.
3. Transmigration of souls.
4. Definition of death.
1. The mind is a finite hierarcy of processors.
The homiculum theory of intellect is essentially correct.
Within the head of the larger man is a set of smaller men; and within
the head of each small man there are yet smaller men; and so on a
finite number of times until there is a last level of very simple
little men.
2. Mind is to matter as software is to hardware.
The mind is a program running in the hardware of the brain.
So in order to grasp the relation between mental events and
physical events; we must investigate the relation between software
and hardware.
The physicist, Richard Feynman, lectured that although an electron
does not act entirely like a particle and light does not act entirely like
a wave, there is one consolation: light and electrons act like each other.
Men do not act entirely like angels; computers do not act entirely like
simple machines; however men and computers act like each other.
3. The free will illusion.
4. Emotions.
Love - hate.
4. The nature or the soul.
Transmigration of souls: over telephone.
Simu-Man vs. Mind Transfer.
5. Privacy of mental events fallacy.
The conjecture is stated that the mental events of an
intellectual entity are absolutely private. That
To "simulate" pain is different than to "experience" pain.
The alternative is that any number of gods, demons, telepaths and
cyber-neuro-surgeons can read and live in an individual's mind.
What will it take to convince you that an external intellectual
entity is fully aware of your mental events.