On 4/4/2013 3:50 PM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 10:44 PM, Jason Resch <jasonre...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 7:58 AM, Telmo Menezes <te...@telmomenezes.com>
wrote:
On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 1:23 PM, Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Then shouldn't a powerful computer be able to quickly deduce the winning
Arimaa mappings?
You're making the same mistake as John Clark, confusing the physical
computer with the algorithm. Powerful computers don't help us if we don't
have the right algorithm. The central mystery of AI, in my opinion, is why
on earth haven't we found a general learning algorithm yet. Either it's too
complex for our monkey brains, or you're right that computation is not the
whole story. I believe in the former, but not I'm not sure, of course.
Notice that I'm talking about generic intelligence, not consciousness, which
I strongly believe to be two distinct phenomena.
Another point toward Telmo's suspicion that learning is complex:
If learning and thinking intelligently at a human level were computationally
easy, biology wouldn't have evolved to use trillions of synapses. The brain
is very expensive metabolically (using 20 - 25% of the total body's energy,
about 100 Watts). If so many neurons were not needed to do what we do,
natural selection would have selected those humans with fewer neurons and
reduced food requirements.
Yes but one can imagine a situation where there is a simple
(sufficiently-)general purpose algorithm that needs some place where
to store memories and everything it has learned. In this case, we
could implement such an algorithm in one of our puny laptops and get
some results, and then just ride what's left of Moore's law all the
way to the singularity. We don't know of any such algorithm.
But it doesn't follow from human brain complexity that no such algorithm exists.
Evolution doesn't necessarily do things efficiently. Because it can't start-over, it
always depends on modification of what already works. But I think there are other
theoretical and evolutionary reasons that would limit the scope of general intelligence.
Just to take an example, mathematics is very hard for a lot of people. Mathematical
thinking is not something that has been evolutionarily useful until recent times (and
maybe not even now).
Brent
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