K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In a recent Mind Matters podcast, “Artificial General Intelligence: the Modern Homunculus,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks, a and computer engineering prof, spoke with Justin Bui from his own research group at Baylor University in Texas on what is — and isn’t — really happening in artificial intelligence today. Some of the more far-fetched claims remind Dr. Marks of the homunculus, the “little man” of alchemy.
So what are the AI engineers really doing and how do they do it? Call it science non-fiction, if you like…
This portion begins at 00:44 sec. A partial transcript and notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow.
Robert J. Marks: Isaac Newton was the genius who founded classical physics. He also invented calculus. He also did other things. Newton was a student of the Bible, specifically Bible prophecy, and he wrote extensively on his research.
Newton also dabbled in alchemy. Now, most think of alchemy as the quest to turn lead into gold but there’s a lot more to alchemy. Some in alchemy pursued the creation of a so-called homunculus, a little person created in a test tube. If you watched the 1935 classic monster movie, The Bride of Frankenstein, you see a scene where the mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, shows off his homunculi to Henry Frankenstein:
No one, to date, has created the alchemist’s dream of a homunculus. And if you exclude, maybe, cloning, I don’t think that they probably ever will. The search for the homunculus today has been replaced by a search for artificial general intelligence or AGI.
What does AGI do? AGI seeks to duplicate and exceed what you and I do. If artificial general intelligence is achieved, some say we will become pets of computers. The point where AI becomes superior to humans is called the the Singularity by Google’s Ray Kurzweil. If this happens, watch out. AI will write better software that writes better software that writes better software on an endless staircase of ever-increasing intelligence.
There are smart people who believe this will happen. but AGI is not happening, and there’s growing evidence it never will. AI can be written to mimic many human traits, but there are some human characteristics that will never be duplicated by AI. We cover this a lot on Mind Matters News.
Continue reading: https://mindmatters.ai/2021/11/if-not-hal-or-skynet-whats-really-happening-in-ai-today/
So what are the AI engineers really doing and how do they do it? Call it science non-fiction, if you like…
This portion begins at 00:44 sec. A partial transcript and notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow.
Robert J. Marks: Isaac Newton was the genius who founded classical physics. He also invented calculus. He also did other things. Newton was a student of the Bible, specifically Bible prophecy, and he wrote extensively on his research.
Newton also dabbled in alchemy. Now, most think of alchemy as the quest to turn lead into gold but there’s a lot more to alchemy. Some in alchemy pursued the creation of a so-called homunculus, a little person created in a test tube. If you watched the 1935 classic monster movie, The Bride of Frankenstein, you see a scene where the mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, shows off his homunculi to Henry Frankenstein:
No one, to date, has created the alchemist’s dream of a homunculus. And if you exclude, maybe, cloning, I don’t think that they probably ever will. The search for the homunculus today has been replaced by a search for artificial general intelligence or AGI.
What does AGI do? AGI seeks to duplicate and exceed what you and I do. If artificial general intelligence is achieved, some say we will become pets of computers. The point where AI becomes superior to humans is called the the Singularity by Google’s Ray Kurzweil. If this happens, watch out. AI will write better software that writes better software that writes better software on an endless staircase of ever-increasing intelligence.
There are smart people who believe this will happen. but AGI is not happening, and there’s growing evidence it never will. AI can be written to mimic many human traits, but there are some human characteristics that will never be duplicated by AI. We cover this a lot on Mind Matters News.
Continue reading: https://mindmatters.ai/2021/11/if-not-hal-or-skynet-whats-really-happening-in-ai-today/
