Comment Re:Can Abrams correct slashdot grammar too? (Score 1) 390
will be able to breath new life
If
will be able to breath new life
If
You are wanting to be commenting here.
Heh, thanks. While self-commanding killer robots are the obvious focus of our fear, it's not always the most obvious expectation that bites one in the ass. Killer robots would either never get used or have so many safeguards they'd be half useless amidst the chaos of war and the treachery and adaptability of humans. Though they'd have some degree of self-preservation, they would have no desire or ability to reproduce. Malware on the other hand is designed to do anything to avoid removal and replicate through any means possible. What better way to avoid being deleted than to make the infected facility uninhabitable or exceedingly dangerous to those who could remove it? This logic could be extrapolated to "protecting" surrounding areas, or distant areas connected by network infrastructure that could be used as access points. It's the seeming innocence and perceived weakness of something intangible like software that could reduce the consideration and implementation of safeguards when crafting malware. Right now malware's just an expensive pain in the ass, but a day may come when during your coffee break all the doors lock, the ventilation system halts and the facility begins flooding with CO2.
The FBI, GCHQ, BND, etc are going to tear apart the finances of every person that donates to this project.
Under what pretense? Funding terrorism? Tor, Ter, not too much a stretch I guess. Seriously, they can't do a thing to stop Tor funding without resorting to breaking or seriously misapplying their own laws. I don't think they'll go that far.
Pride is not what is "holding us back" in this field.
Pride has held us back since we were first capable of feeling it. The inability to admit to being wrong because the evidence offends one's vanity has always plagued science and every other part of our culture and personal relationships.
After thousands of years of attempts, not one man out of the whole of humanity can tell us what intelligence is, much less how it can emerge out of any observed natural process. We only assume that it is possible because we are operating on a presumption of materialism.
Considering how little we understand life mechanically, much less life as mind bogglingly complex as a human, it's no surprise that we currently have no answer outside the realm of philosophy and general description. If "materialism" is what can be directly or indirectly observed by people, unfortunately there's no escaping that without divine intervention.
Once we can fully measure the state of every particle in a human brain and run a simulation with complete accuracy, we should not be too surprised if it turns out to be only a simulation of a comatose state.
I think a lot of people, particularly atheist scientists, would be so surprised they'd immediately fall to their knees and ask God for forgiveness. Ironically I'd be overjoyed to discover we all had souls. Unfortunately the smell prevents me from believing it.
If you think the system is working, ask someone who's waiting for a prompt.