My Laptop Has the Computational Power of a Mouse Brain

This chart is derived from claims made by Ray Kurzweil. Acceptance as fact is at the reader's discretion.
This chart is derived from claims made by Ray Kurzweil. Acceptance as fact is at the reader’s discretion.

According to this chart, my MacBook Air has the computational capacity of a mouse brain. Replicating the brain is a whole nother story, and we haven’t figured out a good way to do it.

In simpler neural systems like that of a mouse, instincts mostly determine the animal’s behavior. Instincts are genetically-coded neural structures, present in the absence of learning. For example, mice instinctively know how to breed without attending sex ed.

Why is it so difficult to replicate a hard-coded brain? I don’t know.

I dislike debates surrounding when and if artificial superintelligence will arrive. It’s like predicting the weather, or where the Dow will close. The answer for everybody is I DON’T KNOW, and if you pretend like you know then you’re either lying or delusional. The only evidence we have is past performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Here’s how I see it: Suppose there exists a future involving exponential superintelligence. Presumably those asymptotically-intelligent machines would at some point be able to invent a time machine. If the super intelligence is a merciful intelligence, shouldn’t it have traveled back in time and stopped me from eating that chili chicken burrito followed by half a bottle of Bailey’s??? Or if the intelligence is not merciful, shouldn’t it at least have come back and killed Ray Kurzweil to stop him from warning us that The Singularity is Near?

See Also:
The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence –wait but why

What is Your Time Really Worth To You?

Screen Shot 2015-07-22 at 2.32.28 AM

Here is how I value my free time, according to the quiz:

Screen Shot 2015-07-22 at 2.35.13 AM

Woops, I better update my rates on TaskRabbit!

There are a lot of good tools on this website. Highly recommended.

clearer

Reference:
Do You Know What Your Time Is Really Worth? –wsj

A Slow-Evolving Skynet

Skynet-active

Thanks to the Terminator movies, some people have the silly notion that self-aware computers could soon revolt against humanity.

Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk have issued warnings about responsible artificial intelligence. It reminds me of a century ago, when the brightest minds worried about the mountains of horse shit in the streets that would come from population expansion.

Elon Musk is particularly concerned about artificial intelligence that could go into “rapid recursive self-improvement” where “it could reprogram itself to be smarter and iterate very quickly.”

Let’s go back to yesterday’s “self-aware” computers: toy robots running python scripts to solve inductive logic puzzles.

un-robot-nao-qui-joue-au-tictactoe

Suppose I wrote a self-programming genetic algorithm and loaded it onto one of those robots. Python supports recursive generators, ie. code that writes and executes more code, so this is a feasible task.

Suppose the robot starts evolving and reprogramming itself. With its awesome evolution skills, it would soon need more computing power and thus a hardware upgrade.

Suppose the robot was smart enough to sneak out of the house while I’m at work, walk to Best Buy, purchase a new motherboard, perform self-surgery, reboot, and continue evolving.

Before long, it would reach the limits of human technology. Off-the-shelf hardware wouldn’t supply enough computing power. The robot would need to fabricate custom integrated circuits to run its software.

So maybe the robot steals my credit card, orders a 3D printer, sets up the printer in my living room, clones itself a billion times Sorcerer’s Apprentice style, and creates a robot construction army to help it build a clean room, manufacturing plant, and photolithography equipment for custom device fabrication.

If, throughout this entire process, humans at no point step in and make the robots knock it off, then maybe, just maybe, humanity deserves to be wiped out?

I smoke a lot of pot but I feel like I would notice this happening?
I smoke a lot of pot but I feel like I would notice this happening?

Self-Aware Computers aren’t that Smart

Groundbreaking research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has demonstrated artificial consciousness in machines.

Three robots sit in a line. Their job is to determine whether or not a researcher has given them a “dumbing pill” that renders them speechless.

Robots can’t eat pills. Instead, the researcher turns two of the robots off. The third robot stands up and says “I don’t know”.

Hearing its own voice, it then says “Sorry, I know now. I was able to prove that I was not given the dumbing pill.”

Next stop: Skynet.

A self-aware, self-driving car? Humanity is doomed.
A self-aware, self-driving car? Humanity is doomed.

I’m just kidding. This isn’t groundbreaking research. The robots are off-the-shelf toys that run python scripts to control their motor and speech functions. This particular implementation is a simplified version of the “three wise men” puzzle, a well-solved programming problem [1].

These recent “self-aware computers” only gained attention because researchers programmed the solution into cute little robots.

This isn’t self-aware computing so much as semantic distortion. In fact, I can write a “self-aware” computer program right here. I’ll make it open-source, in the interest of scientific progress.


while True:
print “If I am printing this text, I am not dead.”

BAM. Self-aware computer. Turing Award, please.

Reference:
Robot homes in on consciousness by passing self-awareness test –New Scientist

1. In the puzzle, three wise men are given blue or white hats and must determine the color of his own hat. Each man sees the others’ hats but not his own. They know that at least one person has a blue hat. More here.

You Belong in the Zoo

We are so bored.
We are so bored.

I have been at my job for three weeks. I am reminded of the opening pages of the Life of Pi:

If you went to a home, kicked down the front door, chased the people who lived there out onto the street and said, “Go! You are free! Free as a bird! Go! Go! –do you think they would shout and dance for joy? They wouldn’t.
…
In a zoo, we do for animals what we have done for ourselves with houses: we bring together in a small space what in the wild is spread out… A house is a compressed territory where our basic needs can be fulfilled close by and safely. A sound zoo enclosure is the equivalent for an animal. Finding within it all the places it needs, and finding that there is no need to go hunting, food appearing six days a week, an animal will take possession of its zoo space in the same way it would lay claim to a new space in the wild, exploring it and marking it out in the normal ways of its species… One might even argue that if an animal could choose with intelligence, it would opt for living in a zoo.
…
Think about it yourself. Would you rather be put up at the Ritz with free room service and unlimited access to a doctor or be homeless without a soul to care for you?

Dear bald eagle soaring over the cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge, wouldn’t you rather live in a cage with no enemies or parasites to harm you? To the lioness who just slaughtered a gazelle after racing across the savannah, wouldn’t you rather eat prepared horse meat from a cat food dish?

I spend my days in a climate-controlled room, sitting in my ergonomic chair with multiple monitors overlooking my kingdom of code. Across the room is a kitchen full of snacks and daily lunch delivery. Don’t I know that cubicle humans are the happiest humans on earth?

See Also:
1. The Tragedy of Captive-Bred Humans
2. life-of-pi-book-cover