zlacker

I had the chance to walk with Marvin Minsky down a hallway once, and I asked him what he thought of Bayesian reasoning. He said that it seemed to him like it was still part of a general trend away from tackling the central problem in AI. I said I didn't think so, but he seemed tired so I didn't try to go into detail.

There's an urban legend that I once got into a fistfight with Marvin Minsky, which does about as well as anything to illustrate the crazy, crazy things that people have been known to believe about me.

We have temporarily misplaced a great mind. See you later, Professor Minsky.

>>Elieze+(OP)
I keep thinking about an article I read a couple of years ago about the two schools of thought in AI: the now popular Conventional AI and (I believe) Computational AI. The article was mainly about the lead proponent of computational AI and how, after he helped give birth to the AI field, he was in effect being ostracised because he didn't think conventional AI should be considered "intelligence" as we generally think of it. I'm paraphrasing of course but I'm wondering if Marvin Minsky was the subject of that article? It has been nagging me for a couple of months now and I just don't remember where did I read it or the name of the subject.

>>rpgmak+I6
What you're asking makes me think of Dijkstra's quote "the question whether machines can think as relevant as the question whether submarines can swim."

>>rpgmak+I6
Was it this one about Hofstader?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-man-...

>>rpgmak+I6
This? http://norvig.com/chomsky.html

>>Elieze+(OP)
> We have temporarily misplaced a great mind. See you later, Professor Minsky.

This kind of statement gives me great hope, and in particular represents the kind of fundamental mindset change that helps counter many of the painful aphorisms commonly pulled out when someone dies. I find it deeply unfortunate how rarely it applies, but as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, it applies here. Thank you.

>>JoshTr+ya
I think it's more in reference to him being cryo-preserved. According to one of the other comments on this thread.

>>zo1+Dj
Resurrection from cerebral hemorrhage seems unlikely, though. How would they do it - wash it out? A brain that thought about the brain for a lifetime, wiped out in minutes.

>>cmarsc+Vj
I know, it's very unfortunate. And who knows, maybe the damage is irreversible even with potential and futuristic medical advances, simply due to information loss.

But, as someone who plans on being cryo-preserved eventually, I'd say that whatever chance there is of reviving whatever remains of this individual, it should be taken. I'd want to live in the future, even if that meant not having my full cognitive abilities. Maybe not as very cognitively-impaired individual, but I guess I'll put that type of stipulation in the contract if I was worried about it.

>>zo1+Dj
I'm aware; that was what I was referencing in the second to last sentence of my post, about it applying far too rarely but applying in this case.

>>cmarsc+Vj
How about a cybernetic creature that is 30% Minsky? Is it much worse then current approach - passing down DNA and spending 18 years on training?

>>koder2+Bl
I'd find the thought of only having 30% of your brain left functioning pretty scary - rather be dead than barely alive.

Everything eventually ends, I don't see the appeal in pushing that only to suffer.

>>pantal+9p
30% Minsky does not imply that there isn't a fully functioning intelligence, only that a mere 30% of Minsky is part of them.

>>pantal+9p
I think you overestimate the amount of brain matter required to maintain personality.

It is possible to lose an entire brain hemisphere and retain complete functionality (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispherectomy).

There is a huge amount of redundancy in the brain, and most brain matter is only concerned with I/O, signal processing, and life support. It's one of the reasons I have a lot of hope that cryonics is feasible -- massive loss of brain tissue need not mean irreversible loss of an individual.

>>zo1+mk
You just made me remember a scifi story I read probably 10-15 years ago that I really wish I could recall the name of, as I'd love to read it again. In the story a man is awakened from an especially long cryogenic sleep, and his brain was implanted into a new body since the old one was no longer viable. In addition, he was given a brain implant with a screen in his eye that could be activated by a couple of quick blinks. At first he has the mind of a child, but slowly regains his faculties over many weeks or months, with the aid of the implant.

>>aomurp+h8
That seems to be the one thanks! I think that the article had some "code samples" and this one doesn't... but I may be confusing it with another article about quantum computing.