[TriEmbed] Self Aware Computing

[Andy Barnhart]

Why is a logical incongruity funny? Why do people care about other people,
animals and things (generally in that order)? I don't think we are anywhere
close to answering those questions and without that understanding, we might
make a brain but not a mind, if that makes any sense. There is much more to
our thinking than logic (and in my case, often much less :) )...



On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 10:19 AM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Based on our short discussion yesterday concerning google and all the talk
> in the news about skynet and computers being self-aware, I would like to
> discuss this topic.
>
> We are VERY far away from making computers self aware based on one simple
> fact:
>
> We currently do not even understand what self aware means in the Human
> brain.
>
> Given this minor inconvenience I would like to point everyone to a very
> interesting project called Blue Brain. This project can give us some focus
> on the path to self aware computing as the leading research into this area.
> I recommend you look this up if you are interested, but I will summarize to
> make some points. This project is simulating a brain at the molecular
> level. This is a fascinating idea because it is within our reach. We can
> simulate many things in nature by using their fundamental physical
>  properties. We are quite successful in  many areas with this type of
> simulation. So this idea that they can simulate a brain by simulating
> nature in a computer is the real deal, but as with any people that know
> history of technology, we more often fail in our early attempts to
> understand complex subjects.
>
> In 2007 Blue Brain was successful in simulating a strand of rat brain and
> the results were fairly accurate to a real brain. They are attempting to
> create an entire rat brain by 2014 and an entire human brain by 2023. I
> have no idea where they stand on reaching those goals, but that alone can
> give you an idea of a time frame on self aware computing. In short we are
> VERY far away if you consider that they reach their goal, the BIG question
> is........
>
> Will a simulated brain be self aware?
>
> Back to the problem at hand: "We currently do not even understand what
> self aware means in the Human brain."
>
> Soooooo the big question is will this simulated Brain tell us the secrets
> of life like as in 42 (Thanks for all the fish). Highly Doubtful!!!! Even
> if we successfully create this brain, it will be like a babies brain or
> even worse. A BLANK Brain. It will have learned nothing and will need to be
> taught something. How do we even teach it becomes the next question and
> from here on I can think of many problems that we could spend discussing
> for hours and hours if not days and even more.
>
> What I find absolutely amazing is the amount of computing power required
> to create this simulated Brain. We are talking HUGE supercomputers and in
> case you were wondering why it is called Blue Brain, IBM is the computer
> supplier. I do not have numbers for you, but when I read them in the past I
> was astounded. It made me appreciate the computing power in our head. It
> also made me think of something much more frightening and far more possible
> than self aware computers and that is biological computing. Why reinvent
> the wheel. Just culture brains and put them to work. Sound crazy??? Well it
> is, but still more realistic than a self aware computer. By the way, if you
> are not familiar with the idea of using brain cells as computers, read up
> on it. They have taught a collection of rat brain cells to fly a simulator
> successfully without crashing and that was back around 2005ish?
>
> Have I made my point yet??? Technology takes time and just like Dolly the
> sheep, we fail to truly understand nature in gross miscalculations that
> take many decades to understand. Rarely does a grand experiment result in a
> eureka moment.
>
> Having said that, I will now say what I say to all people who fear the
> self aware computers. Having watched a many automated machines flip out,
> and corresponding technicians follow, the proper response to any device
> that is behaving badly is to kill the power.
>
> Anything we create, we can kill.
>
> That may not always be true, but it is a very difficult task to not be
> true.
>
> I have explained this to many non-technical people in the past so I am
> curious to any response to a technical crowd. I am sure I am singing to the
> choir here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Vaughters
>
>
>
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