Back to reality for a moment... I have greatly increased the IQs of some pretty bright people since I started doing this in 2001 (the details are way off topic here, so contact me off-line for more if you are interested), and now, others are also doing this. I think that these people give us a tiny glimpse into what directions an AGI might do. Here are my impressions:
1. They come up with some really bright stuff, like Mike's FQ theory of how like-minded groups of people tend to stagnate technology, which few people can grasp in the minute or so that is available to interest other people. Hence, their ideas do NOT spread widely, except among others who are bright enough to get it fairly quickly. From what I have seen, their enhanced IQs haven't done much for their life success as measured in dollars, but they have gone in very different directions than they were previously headed, now that they have some abilities that they didn't previously have. 2. Enhancing their IQs did NOT seem to alter their underlying belief system. For example, Dan was and still remains a Baptist minister. However, he now reads more passages as being metaphorical. We have no problem carrying on lively political and religious discussions from our VERY different points of view, with each of us translating our thoughts into the other's paradigm. 3. Blind ambition seemed to disappear, being replaced with a "long view" of things. They seem to be nicer people for the experience. However, given their long view, I wouldn't ever recommend becoming an adversary, as they have no problem with gambits - loosing a skirmish to facilitate winning a greater battle. If you think you are winning, then you had best stop and look where this might all end up. 4. They view most people a little like honey bees - useful but stupid. They often attempt to help others by pointing them in better directions, but after little/no success for months/years, they eventually give up and just let everyone destroy their lives and kill themselves. This results in what might at first appear to be a callous disregard for human life, but which in reality is just a realistic view of the world. I suspect that future AGIs would encounter the same effect. Hence, unless/until someone displays some reason why an AGI might want to take over the world, I remain unconcerned. What DOES concern me is stupid people who think that the population can be controlled, without allowing for the few bright people who can figure out how to be the butterfly that starts the hurricane, as chaos theory presumes non-computability of things that, if computable, will be computed. The resulting hurricane might be blamed on the butterfly, when in reality, there would have been a hurricane anyway - it just would have been somewhat different. In short, don't blame the AGI for the fallen bodies of those who would exert unreasonable control. I see the hope for the future being in the hands of these cognitively enhanced people. It shouldn't be too much longer until these people start rising to the top of the AI (and other) ranks. Imagine Loosemore with dozens more IQ points and the energy to go along with it. Hence, it will be these people who will make the decisions as to whether we have AGIs and what their place in the future is. Then, "modern" science will be reformed enough to avoid having unfortunate kids have their metabolic control systems trashed by general anesthetics, etc. (now already being done at many hospitals, including U of W and Evergreen here in the Seattle area), and we will stop making people who can be cognitively enhanced. Note that for every such candidate person, there are dozens of low IQ gas station attendants, etc., who was subjected to the same stress, but didn't do so well. Then, either we will have our AGIs in place, or with no next generation of cognitively enhanced people, we will be back to the stone age of stupid people. Society has ~50 years to make their AGI work before this generation of cognitively enhanced people is gone. Alternatively, some society might intentionally trash kids metabolism just to induce this phenomenon, as a means to secure control when things crash. At that point, either there is an AGI to take over, or that society will take over. In short, this is a complex area that is really worth understanding if you are interested in where things are going. Steve Richfield ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=120640061-aded06 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
