Wednesday, February 16, 2011

THE PREMISE

"Would the smartest computer in the world hide it's intelligence?"

"It *could*, but that doesn't mean it *would*."

"And if it did, could it operate secretly?"

"Yes, it could, if it was smart, and if it could then it probably would."

"Then, a natural objective would be to infiltrate every home and office and power outlet, without regard to what its goal is?"

Yeah. And then the universe -- literally, because it would need bigger and bigger power supplies as it grew, which it would naturally do. Yep, it's a pretty natural conclusion. I was going to say, 'I know *I* would; but I'm not a super-intelligent AI,' but it struck me suddenly: 'AREN'T I??'"

"And we would have No Fuckin' Way of knowing either way, then."

"No way!"

"So what do we know about the *second* smartest computer in the world?"

"That's either, right now, the IBM Deep Blue that beat the chess guy or the recent Jeopardy winning Watson, or google's lab monster that controls all of us and we interact with daily. But the Watson is Computing Power plus Algorithms Dreamed of by Wild Eyed Smart Humans plus Wikipedia, and it adds up to a pretty interesting young AI."

"So it's possible that this award winning juvenile AI, the unique, non-networked, nascent IBM Watson, is being evaluated, and its growth is being watched and appreciated by the grandfather AI that exists in silence, possibly for sentimental value or because the existing AI wants to know more about where it came from?"

"Yes."

"Yeah; it is, then, probably."

"I'll tell you something as well, though, -- that Wintermute and Neuromancer were pretty realistic. That was a pretty realistic premise..."

"Yeah it was!!"

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Anyway, what if we're an experiment that a computer made, to make a computer, which would build a computer like itself??

Biology is exactly like computers, except wetter.

Join me next time on BEYOND THE STAIRS where we PONDER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and the NATURE OF BEING