tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380581505383382102024-02-19T23:19:11.225-08:00immortality reading groupBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-5544324394235091432013-05-01T15:35:00.000-07:002013-05-01T15:35:59.393-07:00Note on Our Twelfth Meeting<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We read a paper that criticizes several contemporary theories of the self and offers a different view based on the phenomenological tradition, according to which the self essentially involves one's felt experience in the world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abstractions are constructs on a more fundamental thing—in
this case, the abstract behavioral components are abstractions from
contextualized behavior. This may
cause problems for familiar discussions of mind-uploading.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First- and third-person perspectives:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The thesis that shifting between
the first- and third-personal perspective may distort one or the other. If you
start reflecting, trying to make yourself into an object (third-personal
stance), this distorts subjectivity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Two takes:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
The third-personal perspective as
the view from nowhere—totally abstracts away from one’s particularity.
Detachment is what distinguishes the third-personal from the first-personal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
Phenomenologists’ view: think of
third-personal in terms of intersubjectivity—seeing how one’s particular
perspective fits in a law-governed way with other particular (and some actual)
perspectives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first-person point of view and the way it has been
experienced has been neglected by the tradition. It is often treated in a
third-personal way, abstracting away from the particularities that make it the
particular perspective it is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The metaphor of a point of view: a point of view from
nowhere is incoherent, because a point of view involves a particular
perspective on a situation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cases in which action, intention and bodily ownership can
come apart:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“My hand is moving, but I don’t know why.” In the Anarchic
Hand Syndrome case, there is recognition that the behavior is intentional, but
no recognition of the intention guiding the arm. Ownership of the arm, but not
the action. No felt connection between the intention and the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I have to do this, but I don’t want to.” In OCD, there is
recognition of the intention, but it is experienced as foreign. Ownership of
the action, but not the intention. A felt connection between the intention and
the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems, then, that felt connection between the intention
and the action is sufficient for ownership of an action (where ownership is not
endorsement).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Merleau-Ponty: habits are common ways of organizing
ourselves in the environment in meaningful ways. It is important that the
action we are doing habitually is our own, even if we do not endorse the
springs of the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three phases of integration: integrating my bodily senses, integrating
basic gestures tied up with sensation (motion-sensation interplay), reflection
on intentions guiding an action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The perspective of ownership is active, sensory awareness.
As long as you can be actively aware through sensation of the purpose guiding a
piece of behavior, then you own that action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
This makes sense of the Anarchic
Hand cases: the person cannot experience the purpose guiding the behavior, and
so does not own the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
And also the OCD cases: the person
can experience the purpose guiding the behavior, and so owns the action, even
though she does not endorse it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But when they say that the OCD patient owns the action but
not the intention, it seems they must have a different sense of ‘ownership’
here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Better to
talk of ‘endorsement’ of the intention here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A suggestion: perhaps there are fewer problems with
mind-uploading if the mind and the environment are created at the same time.
This goes along nicely with the point that mental attitudes cannot be fully
decontextualized.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
There is no clear distinction
between the mind and the environment, because there is no mental content in
abstraction from the context given by the environment.</div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-36713705584006158932013-05-01T15:30:00.000-07:002013-05-01T15:31:23.415-07:00Notes on Our Eleventh Meeting<style>
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</style>We read a paper on the inability to predict the behavior of a leech (swimming vs. crawling) from its neural activity just prior to a stimulus to which these different behaviors are reponses.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The paper brought to mind a famous study by Libet: tried to measure when decision-making happens
and its relationship to conscious awareness. Libet claimed to have shown that
most decisions happen prior to conscious awareness of them. One thing he argued
was that this showed that we lack the kind of control required for free will.
The picture seemed to suggest that conscious awareness is epiphenomenal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many people in action theory think that the Libet study did not show what Libet said it did. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Different theories of attention:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Bottom-up: what we pay attention to
is out of our conscious control, things we have developed (evolutionarily)
mechanisms to pay attention to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But must admit that memory, not
just evolution, plays a role (e.g., if you remember that something is
dangerous, it will grab your attention).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Top-down: sure there are some
things that can grab your attention, but there are things you can do to block
out things that grab your attention (e.g., remembering that you are looking for
someone in a red sweater in a crowded room); and there must be some top-down
control that alters the mechanism that determines what you are paying attention
to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
If the leech had top-down control,
it could alter the way that the stimulus responded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Some people claim that it is purely
top-down (e.g., a kid with no experience with fire will be drawn to it, not repelled
from it, until she learns it is dangerous).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main
issue is how they relate to each other in terms of working memory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Does this issue relate to David Marr’s analysis, which we
talked about a while ago?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Perhaps. Proponents of bottom-up
approach skips a role for working-memory. Top-down approach claims a big role
for working memory—i.e., the algorithm goes through your working memory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The sticking point is whether you
have any conscious control over the relevant processes. (e.g., conscious awareness
affecting decisions).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How does this connect with what we are talking about?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The issues raised in this article
and the previous one point to the conclusion that the problem of reverse
engineering the human brain is not simply a matter of big data. There are
enormous complexities—plasticity, figuring out the role of single and groups of
neurons in behavioral outputs, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The upshot is this: there are many
complex issues to be worked out about the role of neurons and groups of neurons
in the functional outputs of our brain, even given a complete map of the
neuronal structure of the brain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this article: we have a central pattern generator, such
that given a simple stimulus, we have a response. Once the choice is made, it
goes on its own. But what choice it makes cannot be predicted from the central
pattern generator. So it is unclear what the choice depends on. Once the
mechanism is kick-started, we can tell what will happen. But what kick-starts
the mechanism?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
This generalizes: what accounts for
our decision to begin walking with our right foot or left foot?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The paper seems to support a
top-down approach: there is some control over when the mechanism becomes
engaged, even thought the behavior unfolds without need for conscious control
after the mechanism has been engaged (e.g., chewing is like this. So is
walking—once started, you’ll go until your brain tells you to stop).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the leech case: it seems form this study that what choice
is made, which mechanism gets selected, swimming or crawling, is not determined
by neurons internal to the mechanism that produces these behaviors. There is
something else that determines which choice gets made (perhaps rest state prior
to stimulus).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But remember: the neurons internal
to the mechanism could very well overlap with other systems, involved in
multiple mechanisms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we have here is a very simple brain, a well-defined,
simple mechanism, a choice between two behaviors given a single stimulus, and
yet we still cannot predict with accuracy what will result.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
This makes it look very doubtful
that we will be able to predict human behavior from a good understanding of the
structure of the human brain anytime soon. Those predicting uploading in the
near future seem to be way too optimistic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The conclusion of this paper: either (i) choice depends on
rest state prior to stimulus or (ii) the system is reset each time and then
behaves non-deterministically after stimulus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the hypothesis is correct hat the behavioral output
depends on the rest state prior to the stimulus, then it seems in principle
possible to acquire the required information for predictive success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
But how do
you define rest state? Of the whole system? Of the mechanism?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What about plasticity and changes in connective patterns?
When does one neuron inhibit another?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, given enough trials, shouldn’t we be able to rule out
different possibilities and fine-tune our predictive models?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">It is amazing that these
studies even give us useful data. They involve slicing open live leeches,
interfering with its body, brain, neurons, etc. Wouldn’t we expect that these
interventions would interfere with the normal functioning of the systems?</span>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-79817164702434343602013-04-18T14:48:00.004-07:002013-04-18T14:50:28.574-07:00Notes on Our Tenth Meeting<style>
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</style>We read a paper discussing a body machine interface (BMI) involving macaques who learned to manipulate a mechanical arm via implanted electrodes. Here is some of what we talked about.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Does the BMI involve a physical connection with the brain?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are different methods of measuring brain activity,
with different profiles in terms of temporal and spatial precision. This one
used implanted probes measuring electrical activity. This has the disadvantage
of killing or damaging brain tissue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
Multi unit recorders last longer
than single unit recorders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
They also showed that larger
samples were yielding more accurate predictions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They show that brain activity is not as localized as
previous models suggest—at least with respect to these tasks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The event of an individual cell firing seems to be important,
even though no one cell or set of cells is always implicated in a specific
behavior and different cell units can underwrite the same behavior. We just don't know enough about what is going on in every case: we don't always know if there is redundancy; we don't always know if the cells firing in a given case are merely transferring information, as opposed to originating a sequence of information transfer; etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 things:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>the
brain does not always make up for missing parts.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Redundancy:
multiple sets of neurons that perform (roughly) the same function</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Plasticity:
the remaining parts of the brain re-learn how to do stuff (that they were not
engaged in previously)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
Age, etc. matters for plasticity
(e.g., infants having half of brain removed but developing relatively normally)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ablation studies: they inject something really nasty in the
brain to kill a local area of neurons. They then want to say that killing these
neurons had some effect, so we can infer that this region does certain thing.
But this only underwrites inferring that the relevant area is implicated in the
process that issues in the behavior, but not that the behavior originates in or
is localized there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
It’s much easier to establish that
a region is not necessary for something than that it is sufficient for something.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An interesting portion of the 'Discussion' section of the paper noted this: The way the brain learns to use the artificial arm
is by engaging with it and using it, and this engagement and use does not rely on the same informational inputs as in the normal case. In the case where there is an artificial arm, there is no proprioceptive input, just the informational input from vision and the representation of the goal. The brain is shaped by the way that it
receives information about the location of the arm and by the goals of the
situation. This is interesting because it makes the representation of the goal
more relevant to brain structure once the input from proprioception is
eliminated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Proprioception is important in the
normal case, but it is not essential. The brain can still learn and manipulate
in the absence of input from proprioception. Then the representation of the
goal becomes more important than in the normal case.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But: Is vision part of proprioception?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not ‘proprioception’ in the technical sense. This
references a specific set of nerves that are responsive to stretching, firing
more when stretched and less when not. How much they are stretched usually
depends on the positioning of your limbs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is interesting in relation to issues raised by
the work of Merleau-Ponty and others. The exciting part here is that there is
evidence of informational input to action (in the normal case) that comes from the body to the mind
controlling the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 questions:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>What
part of the brain is causing the body to move?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Why
someone did something, where this is given in terms of the mind, conceived of
differently than just as identical to the brain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The important idea for the M-P picture is that inputs and
outputs are not distinct and distinctly directional in the way that the
Cartesian picture (ghost in machine) envisions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a connection here to old-school cybernetics, understood as the rigorous studying of
machines as information transforming systems. A machine is something which
takes a vector of information as input and produces a vector of information as
output. A machine transforms a vector of information.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><br />
On this
view, there could be no ghost distinct from the machine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
(Now, cybernetics means something
like the study of all computer science, or implanting devices into the human
body.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This view entails that anything that the body responds to becomes a
part of the system, which seems to be a claim that M-P would like.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the biologist’s point of view is it
important to distinguish between where you end and where the car begins. Form
this perspective, BMI is better thought of as brain expansion. But there are other points of view that do not see it as necessary to make this distinction.</div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-67728682625359849972013-04-09T15:52:00.000-07:002013-04-09T15:54:17.807-07:00Notes on Our Ninth MeetingWe are back from hiatus now. Here are some notes from our discussion of Nick Bostrom's "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?":<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bostrom's simulation argument is very similar to Cartesian skepticism
and brain in a vat cases, but it’s not clear what more it adds.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it adds some detail and a
narrative</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
But it does not seem to be in any significant way
different from the earlier, familiar skepticism</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bostrom aims to establish the following disjunction: either (1) humanity will very likely not reach a posthuman stage; or (2) posthumans are very unlikely to run ancestor simulations; or (3) we are very likely living in a computer simulation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The claim that seems to be at the hear of Bostrom's argument for (3): if it’s possible
that posthumans will run ancestor simulations, then it’s probable that we are
in a simulation. This has to do with the supposed high number of simulations that would be run and the high number of individuals in each simulation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(NB: this is just a consideration in favor of (3), not his overall conclusion, which is that
the disjunction of (1) or (2) or (3) is true.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The disjunction is interesting because the three disjuncts
are independently interesting. It is also interesting because those who write on these topics seem to generally hold that both (1) and (2) are false, which then suggests that we should take (3) very seriously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why an “ancestor simulation” as opposed to a simulation of
intelligent creatures more generally?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps
because of motivation for self-knowledge</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But: what about simulating other
intelligences that are discovered but not one’s own ancestors?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Anyway, taking more simulations
into account would seem to strengthen the argument, especially for the conclusion that
we should give a high level of credence to the belief that we live in a
simulation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
What probability are we to assign each disjunct?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Stacked" simulations (simulations embedded in other simulations) put enormous pressure on the base computers (the computers that, in reality, are running the simulations), which threatens the entire structure. If the base computer
crashes, then the whole thing crashes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See p. 11: if they are running an ancestor simulation, then
how could the actual laws diverge from those that hold in the simulation?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Perhaps there are multiple
universes, not governed by the same laws, and such that some are more
fundamental than others, and posthumans would come to live in a different
universe, more fundamental than our own, and then simulate their ancestors, who
would only be able to observe our actual universe (at least at some points in
the simulation).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But: it’s not clear that this is
even feasible, given current views about theoretical physics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even if posthumans want to understand their own workings,
why would this lead them to create a large number of ancestor simulations?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some interesting conclusions:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>it’s
more likely than not that we are simulations (this seems doubtful)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>it
is possible that we are simulations (this probably stands, just as it is
possible that we are brains in vats)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evidential basis for us being computer simulations seems
stronger than that for us being brains in vats; but the epistemological
consequences might be the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The disjuncts are themselves claims about probability, but
that is not yet to assign a probability to any of the disjuncts. You could
accept Bostrom's conclusion (that the disjunction is true) while denying any one of
the disjuncts. Indeed, this seems to be one reason why the argument is interesting--many seem inclined to deny (1) and (2), so should accept (3).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How does this all relate to immortality?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Would recurrence in infinite (or a
huge number of) simulations amount to immortality?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
There are issues of personal
identity: is a simulated me identical to actual me? There may be an amount of
information that must be captured in order for us to claim that it is the same
individual, even if we do not capture all of the information relevant to what
constitutes their mind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Consider the film we watched during our first meeting, “Life Begins at
Rewirement,” where we have a simulation that runs indefinitely long. Does this
count as a kind of immortality?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems that a simulated individual A might be
identical to a simulated individual B, even if we grant that a simulated
individual C could not be identical to a non-simulated individual D. In other
words, it seems easier to see how to get from a simulated individual to an
identical simulated individual, than from a non-simulated individual to an
identical simulated individual. In the former case, we can sidestep issues related to Bostrom's "substrate independence thesis."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
(Notice: Bostrom simply brushes off Searle’s critique of strong AI.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some possible criteria for individuating simulated individuals that are qualitatively identical:<br />
<br />
Location on a computer chip: qualitatively identical individuals would still depend on functional operations that occur in different parts of the physical substrate that constitutes the computer running the simulation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Relational
properties: B might have the property 'being a simulation of A,' which A would lack, and so this property might distinguish B from A.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-24022180033323026622013-02-27T14:42:00.000-08:002013-02-27T14:42:08.706-08:00HiatusWe will be taking a break until the first week in April, when spring quarter begins. In the meantime, I will try to figure out a good time for everyone to meet and what we would like to take up when we reconvene. Suggestions most welcome.<br />
<br />
Have a great end of the quarter and spring break.Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-85524668549945266142013-02-27T14:40:00.003-08:002013-02-27T14:40:45.080-08:00Note son our eighth meetingWe continued our discussion of Chalmers' singularity essay, beginning with Patrick's comment on the blog post from last week's meeting.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patrick’s comment: How are we supposed to conceive of the
extensions of intelligence and/or abilities that Chalmers talks about in sec 3?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The idea is
that the AI+(+) is an intelligence of a different kind</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The way that AI+ will come about
seems deeply dependent on what the abilities are.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
One theme in phenomenology:
consciousness/the mind is destined for the world—they are tied up in the
context in which they make sense. For example, consider a proper functioning view: we get an ability that
distinguishes us form animals and that functions properly in a certain context.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But it’s not clear (a) how we can
be said to extend these same abilities to new contexts and (b) how these
extended abilities might be said to be better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Success is always success in a context. But we do not have
access to the stage relevant to the success of AI+. This is significant because
it blocks our ability to predict success relevant to AI++.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A related point (perhaps the same point put another way):
the Wittgensteinian idea that our concepts are built for this world, and
certain kinds of counterfactuals cannot be properly evaluated because they
outstrip the context of our language game</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps: pick a very simple measure for evaluation (e.g.,
ability to generate wealth, efficiency)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bergsson: has an argument that every creature is the best
example of its kind (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matter and Memory</i>,
at the end)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is there a distinction to be made between a difference in
degree and a difference in kind?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Perhaps we are responsible for
assigning differences in kind given various differences in degree.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But does
this make the distinction irrelevant or uninteresting?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are interesting issues here about reality, whether we
can experience an objective reality or only ever a subjectively conditioned
reality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will we ever reach a consensus regarding where to draw the
line for a difference in kind? Perhaps, so long as we agree to some background
presuppositions—e.g., whether to take a functional perspective or a perspective
regarding material constitution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What constitutes progress?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paradigm
shifts, death of ideas, (greater or lesser) consensus?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bostrom (2012) just defines intelligence as something like
instrumental rationality</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Are bacteria intelligent in the
same way as modern AI? Yes, if we define reasoning behaviorally. And this definition of intelligence is
easily measurable.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But is it safe to assume that the desire to have power over
oneself and one’s environment are prerequisites for success at survival?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is this
what we think intelligent people have?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
All living things modify their
internal environment in order to better survive (bacteria, plants, humans,
etc.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gray goo: a nanobot that builds a copy of itself and the apocalypse
comes about because it replicates itself in an uncontrolled fashion, eating all
life on earth to feed its end of copying itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A problem: We have AI, then pick the capacities we most care
about, extend them into AI+, and then the extension to AI++ would no longer be
a sort of being we would value. The idea is that the set of things extended
comes to include fewer things we care about, to the point that AI++ does not
contain anything that we care about.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we assume that intelligence is instrumental rationality,
then this will be ramped up to the exclusion of other interests. But we have a
system of interconnected interests—we have cognitive interests, say, in
individuating objects in perception. But this might not be maintained in the
pursuit of maximizing instrumental rationality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What does it mean to give a machine values? Give them ends,
in the sense relvant to means-ends reasoning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An argument that a superintelligence might be both moral and extinguish humanity:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Suppose consequentialism is right
and AI++ discovers the true conception of well-being. It might be that in order
to achieve this they need to wipe out human beings. This would result in a
better state of affairs, but extinction for us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
How should we feel about this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of these issues come to a similar problem: The
production of an AI++ will involve a loss of some things we find very valuable,
and this presents us with a problem. Should we pursue or should we inhibit or
constrain the relevant progress in intelligence?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
This is probably closely related to
Chalmers’ claim that motivational obstacles are the greatest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What sort of control do we have over the singularity?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We could
delay it, but for how long?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We could
stop it from happening on Earth, say, by blowing up the planet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
We could constrain the ways in
which the possibility of the singularity occurring unfolds. </div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-65245533397936283172013-02-22T16:12:00.003-08:002013-02-22T16:12:12.301-08:00Notes on our seventh meeting
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We discussed David Chalmers' "The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis," which we will continue to discuss next time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We began by noting Chalmers’ moderate sense of ‘singularity’ (p. 3): referring to an intelligence explosion by a recursive mechanism, where successively more intelligent machines arise that are better at producing even more intelligent machines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also noted a nice distinction Chalmers makes (in the spirit of Parfit): identity vs survival</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parfit on Personal Identity: identity doesn’t really matter
that much; trying to persuade us to get less attached to notions of identity</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Eric Schwitzgebel’s view: it is convenient to
have a logic with clean lines between people for us (we don’t fission,
duplicate, upload), but in weird cases, this logic does not model well, so
should switch to modeling what you care about (e.g., survival).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But practical issues remain (e.g.,
who pays the mortgage).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enhancement: much of this has already happened</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The Flynn effect: increasing IQs across
generations, requires re-calibrating the IQ test to keep the norms in a certain
range</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
There is room for skepticism about
measuring general intelligence: (i) perhaps we are better test-takers; (ii)
there are multiple intelligences, and IQ-style tests don't test for many (or even most) of them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In sec 3 of Chalmer's essay: notice the embedding of ‘what we care about’ in the characterization of the relevant capacities. This is in line with the Parfitian approach to identity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Values: There are many, complex issues here</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How to
define them</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How to
identify them</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Subjective
vs objective</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Universal
values (e.g., cross-cultural, across times)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 different sense of ‘objectivity’ for values: judgment-independent,
choice-independent, human nature-independent</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kant vs Hume:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>An issue about
whether mistakes in value are mistakes in rationality (Hume: no; Kant: yes).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And what
does this entail about the moral behavior of AI+(+)?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See the new Pinker book: where he argues that we have beome
both more intelligent and more moral over time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two sense of morality over time: across generations vs. over the course
of an individual’s life</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It seems
that older people have more sophisticated moral reasoning, but this is a distinct</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
question from whether different cultures have more or less sophisticated moral reasoning and</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
also from the issue whether one culture is more correct in its moral practices than another.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are important things that transcend a particular
context: e.g., math, logic</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps the
survival instinct is another one</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A distinction: one's moral beliefs vs. one's behavior</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another distinction: immortality vs longevity</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obstacles: Chalmers claims that motivational ones are most
plausible to stop singularity from coming</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is this
right? Why, exactly, does he think this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Perhaps there are structural
obstacles: the intelligence growth becomes too hard, diminishing returns</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Energy needs: can be a situational
obstacle, but can also be tied to a motivational obstacle</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
And when there is a single system,
because the energy requirements become greater, this can create a single entity
and then it would all depend on its motivation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some related issues: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Matrioshka brain: concentric circles around the sun, using
all the energy, Dyson sphere brain</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kurzweil’s sixth epoch</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Fermi paradox: the odds are not good that we would be
the first to reach superintelligence, so we should see evidence of others, but
we don’t, so perhaps the process will stall out</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take-home messages from Chalmer's essay: </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>a
broadly functionalist account of the mind, such that we could be instantiated
in a computer</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
-So long as you have a nomologically possible
world, conscious properties go with</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
functional properties </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>the
real take-home: there’s a significant enough possibility of something like the
singularity that we should seriously worry about it and consider how we are
going to handle it</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-20136442947466478492013-02-13T14:17:00.001-08:002013-02-13T14:17:06.737-08:00Notes on our sixth meetingFor this meeting, we read two more chapters in Kurzweil's <i>The Singularity Is Near</i>. Our discussion was rather wide-ranging and did not follow the text very closely. But it was interesting nonetheless.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We began with this question: Recall that Vinge distinguishes between AI and IA. In which of these ways does Kurzweil envision the Singularity coming about? That is, does Kurzweil think that the Singularity will arise in combination with our minds (IA), or else as a result of an artificial intelligence we produce (AI)?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The significance of this question has to do with the issue of mind-uploading. Why would we have to upload our minds to the Singularity, as Kurzweil suggested in the reading from last week, if the Singularity arises in combination with our minds?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An Answer: Kurzweil envisions a combination of the two: AI will lead to IA (e.g., Google),
which will lead to strong AI in the future, which will then come back and beam
us up to the heavens. In any case, the two approaches very much compliment each other.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kurzweil is suggesting that there will be an AI that is
smarter than humans before the uploading. But not certain how it will occur.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Might IA involve uploading in the process of the Singularity
coming about? The uploading enters the equation before the Singularity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What exactly is uploading? A transfer. When a blow to the
head no longer matters. A change in substrate. Technically: uploading means
that one makes a copy, and then a copy of a copy. Not just plugging in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One consideration against thinking that Kurzweil envisions a certain version of the IA route to the SIngularity: Kurzweil doesn’t like the single global consciousness idea,
because he thinks that it would preclude him being there. He assumes that his individual self would not persist.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This brings up issues about where to draw the boundary of the
individual mind: These are salient, not only for the picture where we are plugged in to a growing intelligence that eventually becomes the Singluarity, but also for the picture according to which we are uploaded to a pre-existing Singularity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How is Kurzweil using the term ‘the Singularity’? And how
does this relate to Vinge’s use?: Kurzweil uses the term to refer to an event in human history, not necessarily a particular intelligence that comes into existence, as Vinge does. But Kurzweil does seem to have the arrival of this intelligence in mind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kurzweil’s focus on progress in intelligence seems myopic.
There have been other periods of advancement in human history that have seen
the same pattern of change (perhaps not quite as fast) in different areas of
human experience. Why privilege the type of change that interests Kurzweil?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kurzweil seems to greatly underestimate two things: (1) the
limits of technology (need more hardware as well as more code) and (2) the
power behind biology (he assumes that technology is better because our chemical
synapses slows down our thinking—but there is more going on than just transfer
of electrical signals, a trade-off between speed and fine control, also not
just signal transfer but also what goes on inside neurons).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of the signals required for higher thought don’t
transfer info but rather change the way neurons behave—and even the nanobots
might not be able to tell us all the ways in which the neurons are functioning</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because of the many complexities to how our brains work, in thought, it may be possible that the robot person might be slower
than the human person, even though the robot is faster at transferring electrical signals that carry information. For example, what look like limitations given our biology might be mechanisms that help to achieve optimum speed, given the various operations imolicated in our minds' functioning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Articles on creating a baby robot (one that they teach):</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Stuck on certain tasks: e.g.,
trying to pay attention to what it is holding, and this is because its eyesight
is too good and doesn’t discriminate enough</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The key was to make its eyes worse</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The process of life as it is may not be the most efficient
way to do things, but it is hard to make certain the stronger claim that it is not the most efficient way to do things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Record to MP3 analogy, or live music to recording analogy: Music recorded on a record (in analog) has no gaps and so has a sound quality that cannot be matched by digital means (e.g., MP3).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Might the new medium be missing
some qualitative characteristics of the old medium? And might these be
essential to the experience? Can the same be said for different substrates for
purported conscious experience?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The challenge is to 'the substrate
independence thesis' (e.g., invoked by Bostrom).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Need to be careful: need to be aware if and when nostalgia
plays a role in evaluation </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is evolution slow?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well it
might seem so, only if one assumes that the environment changes slowly</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is there a good distinction to be made between biological
advancement/evolution vs technological advancement/evolution?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main consideration in favor of the distinction is that technological advancement/evolution essentially involves intentions and design by an intelligence. Biological evolution is normally considered to be a 'blind' process in that it is not guided by an intelligent hand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
In biology: random mutations give
rise to new features, that are more or less adaptable to the environment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
How does the environment influence
the mutations?: by changing the rate, but not the
kind—they are still random.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
What is randomness in this context?
Seems to be not by intelligent design.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
So “evolution” cannot begin with an
intentionally produced mutation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
What exactly is evolution? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
What is the difference between the
other tool using animals and us, such that advancements according to our
intentions are of a different category than advancements according to their
intentions?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Humans make tools by reproducing
things we’ve seen by making them better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
And other animals don’t pass down
the acquired knowledge to future generations</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
In biological evolution: we are
talking about the traits of a species.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
In technological evolution: can
also talk about traits (e.g., a computer having wifi), but then can distinguish between
the processes that selected those trait.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
There is a different set of useful
predictions from intentional vs. unintentional adaptations. We use the label 'biological evolution' in certain contexts, and we use the label 'technological evolution' in another, and this distinction is useful. It is useful to talk about these
two processes differently, because it makes certain things easier to discuss:
(1) the extreme differences in the observed rates and (2) because of certain
other predictions (e.g., the vastly increased capability of tech to make large
jumps to break out of local maxima (small change detrimental, but large change
possibly beneficial)).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
In Darwinian evolution: no such
things as revolutions, only evolutions; Darwinian evolution predicts
unnecessary/inefficient intermediary steps that are not predicted by
technological evolution. And Darwinian evolution is normally considered biological evolution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The view in favor of the distinction seems to be that technological evolution originates in an intention. But stopping the causal chain at the
intention can seem arbitrary from a certain point of view. The intention, after all, may just be a part of the event-cuasal order, and so it will have causes, and they will have causes, and so on. Thus, it seems to be an arbitrary stopping point from the perspective of causal explanation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-49734319849030643832013-02-08T13:04:00.000-08:002013-02-08T13:04:22.698-08:00Notes on our fifth meeting
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started out with Patrick’s nice comment on the blog about
Nietzsche. You can read it, below. This led to a discussion of related issues:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is the Singularity a continuation of human existence? A
particular human’s (i.e., Kurzweil’s) existence?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What constitutes 'fndamental' change? When is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">change in
degree</i> a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">change in kind</i>? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are there limits to human progress and development?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems so: we can only think and extend our ideas in a human way, along a
restricted range of options. These limits might not be known or knowable to us,
but they are there all the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But: if we assume that we are essentially limited in certain ways, where do we draw the line? Before vaccines, we
might have claimed that we are essentially subject to certain diseases. But now
we do not think that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One clear fundamental difference between humans and the Singularity:
the Singularity will not be carbon-based.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But: There still must be matter that is a prerequisite for any existence. This is so, even if the Singularity stands to the matter that underlies it up in a different relation than we stand to the matter that underlies us. (Is 'underlie' the right relation here?)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The Singularity can move through
the space of information in a different way than we can move through physical
space.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
But this does not mean that the relation
of Singularity to matter is different than that of human to matter. It seems to
be a matter of salience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Could envision, not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> Singularity, but a collection of superhuman
consciousnesses</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
A difference between the relation
of the Singularity to its physical instantiation and me to my body: the Singularity
can transfer to a different physical instantiation in a way I cannot (when one portion
of the computer network goes down, a very different portion can keep the
consciousness that is the Singularity going—perhaps even has been all along:
multiple, parallel realization).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Recall from the Chomsky piece that there are different conceptions of underlying principles: behaviorism
(copying) vs Chomsky (understanding): Perhaps
Kurzweil is just using the copying conception. And perhaps he is getting mileage off of trading on the
ambiguity between the two interpretations of ‘capturing underlying principles'.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
An objection to the Input/output picture: it treats the mind as a black-box.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Views that call for filling in the black box: don’t need to
appeal to a soul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One might claim that mental states are strongly historical: they
do not supervene on mere time-slices of functional organization; allows that
physical systems count as minds partly in virtue of their past (cf. Dennett).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is, perhaps, illustrated by Jason’s sprinx case: one imagines a sprinx thousands of years
before evolution creates one. Have I seen a sprinx?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distinction: the content of a mental state vs. something
being a mental state</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
Less controversial to claim
relevance of history to content (content externalism) than to say the same for
being a mental state</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A claim in physics: the universe is a state function</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
For any given state, future states
can be predicted from it in ignorance of past states</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
All future time moments would be predicted
the same, regardless of past staes leading to the given state</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two issues:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>The
rise of the Singularity</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Its
enabling us to achieve immortality</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are many sub-issues for each of these two issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just given a qualitative change in the intelligence, it does
not follow that it cannot be us who survive.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the personal identity literature, there are some who
think it is not a matter of whether I continue, but whether there is the right
kind of continuity for me to care about the one who continues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kurzweil is trying to live as long as he can, so that he can
be around for the Singularity in order to achieve immortality</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it is a leap to a new form of intelligence, one that transcends
human limitations, then couldn’t be me, because a different form of life.
(Perhaps this was Russell’s point from earlier, or in the background of what he
said.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Varia:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A different view of uploading: not me in a computer, but a
child of mine in a computer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A good distinction: logical possibility vs natural
possibility</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The way the brain works (parallel processing) vs the way the
computer processes (logic trees, etc.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Didn’t the IA Singularity already occur?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-48578142107989269362013-01-31T13:13:00.003-08:002013-01-31T13:13:28.943-08:00Notes on Our Fourth MeetingI thought our discussion of the Vinge and Moravec pieces was really great. Thank you everyone for such interesting comments and questions. Since we will be continuing with this topic for at least a week or two longer, I hope the discussion continues to excite everyone.<br />
<br />
Here are some of the highlights, as I recall, from this past Tuesday:<br />
<br />
Both pieces ended on what seemed like different notes: Moravec sounded like something of a mystic or along the lines of a Buddhist or Hindu, with a much more positive slant to what he was saying, whereas Vinge seemed to express a sense of impending doom, or at least a worrisome outlook.<br />
<br />
Some questions about motivation: What would the motivation of a superintelligent being (of the sort that the Singularity is characterized to be) be like? Human and animal motivation is shaped in a large part by the need to find food and take care of other basic needs. What about an artifical superintelligence?<br />
<br />
Some questions about intelligence: How do we define intelligence? What characteristics are essential for a recognizable form of intelligence (e.g., creativity, inspiration, nostalgia)? Could the Singularity possess these characteristics? In what way is the form of intelligence characteristic of the Singularity supposed to be beyond our ken? The form of intelligence of a mature adult human is beyond the ken of a baby human. Is there supposed to be a difference in the case of the Singularity's being beyond our ken? What is this difference?<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some questions pertaining to our supposed inability to predict what the Singularity would be like:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>With
a new sort of intelligence, the Turing test won’t apply. What sort of
continuity is there between them?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Epistemological
claim about our predictions: there will be an event beyond which we cannot
predict where things will go. Might the ignorance be connected to question 1?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>What
makes the Singularity unique? We cannot predict future theories of our
own even now. So what’s the difference between the uncertainties we face
everyday and the ones this possibility presents?</div>
<br />
How is the concept of the singularity already a projection
into the future of what we already know? How would we recognize it? Might it
already exist, and we don’t know yet?<br />
<br />
On some conceptions, the Singularity seems to transcend individuality. Is this a difference between our conception of ourselves as humans and the kind of entity that the Singularity is supposed to be? Does it factor into issues about the desirability of the coming of the Singularity <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why the Singularity might scare us: A future where people aren’t running things anymore is
fundamentally different from our present. We might no longer be at the center of things. AI would be scary because has no continuity with our current
existence. A future superintelligence might be hostile toward humans.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But is the Singularity to be feared? Would a superintelligence (necessarily, most likely) respect biodiversity, the rights of other creatures, and so on? Would it recognize moral values? WOuld it be a moral exemplar?</div>
<br />
The contrast between Aritifical Intelligence (AI) and Intelligence Amplification (IA), in Vinge, was very interesting: Which is the more plausible route to the Singularity? Which is the most desirable, from the perspective of our own well-being as humans? How discontinuous would the Singularity be with human existence if it arose in this way, as opposed to through more traditional AI? Does IA lead to something like a hive-mind or a superintelligence that takes a cue from the Gaia hypothesis?<br />
<br />
Would the Singularity (or any other superintelligence) become bored? What characteristics might cause or prevent this? What sort of immortality would it have? What importance does the fact that even a superintelligence has a physical base have with respect to its longevity prospects?<br />
<br />
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Some different issues:</div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Could
there be a different kind of entity that is super-intelligent?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Could
it be immortal?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Could
I be immortal in the sense that I have these super-enhanced capabilities?</div>
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<br /></div>
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An irony:
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religious live longest, so, ironically, the people who live the longest would
not believe in a Singularity (on the assumption that this is not something that the religious believe in).</div>
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<br /></div>
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Nietzsche came up a few times: How does he describe the Ubermensch?How does the Ubermensch relate to the Singularity, if at all?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The notion that it might be our function to enable the development of the Singularity also came up: What sense of 'function' is in play here? What does this imply about our relationship to the Singularity (causal, normative)? What about the Singularity's relationship to us (ancestor worship, fuel)?</div>
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<br />
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-43456687289076633242013-01-27T14:20:00.000-08:002013-01-27T14:20:26.531-08:00Notes on Our Third MeetingWe discussed an interview with Noam Chomsky, where he articulated
some criticisms of the current state of several fields, including
neuroscience, connectomics and AI.<br />
<br />
One distinction we drew was between these questions:<br />
1. Is the mimicking of some behavior
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">produced by statistical analysis ever going to
be fully accurate?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">2. </span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Even if it were, would it provide us with an understanding of the internal processing of the relevant agent of this behavior?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">It
seemed that Chomsky's main criticism was of the latter kind. Predicting
behavior on the basis of statistical analysis does not provide
understanding of why that behavior was actually produced--it does not
provide insight into the general principles according to which the
relevant system functions and the ways in which those principles are
instantiated. (This criticism draws on Marr's three levels for
understanding a complex biological organism.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">We also distinguished between these four projects:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Create
a machine that performs a function that we used to need humans for.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Create
something that can perform the full range of human functions at least as well
as humans can.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Create
something that does things the way humans do.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Create
something that does things exactly the way a specific human does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Each
project is much more difficult than the one that came before it</span>. And each project has an intelligible goal. But we might disagree about the relative values of these goals.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">We also talked about the goal of unification in science: a single theory to understand everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">What is Chomsky's notion of success in science?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">It
does not seem to be mere predictive success, but rather predictive
success across a wide range of contexts. This would rule out the sort of
predictive success achieved by big data projects (such as the fictional
one he characterizes in the case of the video camera looking out the
window) and help to motivate the appeal he finds in a concept of science
as seeking to understand the general principles guiding the overt
behavior of different systems.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">But what about outliers? How do general principles capture their behavior?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">What difference does it make to this notion of success whether behavior is instinctual or not?<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">We
also discussed Searle's Chinese Room experiment and the objection it
raises for strong AI (and functionalism about the mind/consciousness).
[Searle coins "strong AI" to refer to the program of trying to
understand our minds by creating artificial intelligences that can
behave like us.] Roughly (and we will read this piece later on,
hopefully), the idea is that the mere ability to pass the Turing test
(to have a behavioral output that is indistinguishable (by other humans)
from a human being's) is not sufficient for understanding (or
consciousness).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> One observation was that not all AI is "strong AI" in Searle's sense.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">A question: Might Searle's argument suggestive that predictive success across all contexts may still leave out something essential? That is, might we be able to articulate general principles that govern the mental behavior characteristic of us and be able to specify what areas of the brain instantiate these algorithms and yet still not understand consciousness (say, because consciousness essentially depends on instantiating these algorithms in the type of material that makes up our brains)?<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span>
Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-45853745812364949632013-01-17T11:01:00.005-08:002013-01-17T11:01:47.068-08:00Note on our second meetingLast meeting we talked about connectomics--a research program that aims to map the neural structure of the human brain. There seemed to be widespread skepticism within the group about the ability of connectomics to contribute to goal of uploading a human mind onto a computer. Three key complaints were:<br />
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1. It is not clear that it would be feasible to handle the vast amount of data required to describe the complete neural structure of the human brain.<br />
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2. It is not clear that describing the complete neural structure of the human brain is sufficient to describe the complete functional structure of the human brain (i.e., it leaves out glia, leaves out other important components of the organism of which the brain is a part, ignores plasticity and development over time, etc.).<br />
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3. It is not clear that describing the complete functional structure of the human brain is sufficient to describe the human mind.<br />
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Apart from (but sometimes connected to) these worries were the following issues:<br />
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-A neural map of the brain does not by itself describe the different interactions between the different areas of the brain, the rules that govern these interactions, nor the purposes served by these interactions.<br />
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-A neural map of a given brain at a given time does not describe the ways that brain has changed over time in the past nor the ways it is disposed to change in the future (i.e., it is a time-slice snapshot of an entity that is in flux).<br />
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-The human brain is connected to many other parts of the human organism, and these connections are important to understanding the brain's functioning and development.<br />
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-A map of the neural structure of the brain does not describe the ways that individual neurons that are a part of the map function or change over time (e.g., whether they are "on" or "off," what changes they may be subject to over time, etc.).<br />
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-Connectomics is modeled on genomics, and one lesson from the latter is that we do not know much at all about the related issues. While there is a sense in which we are our genes, it is not clear what lessons to draw from this. Similarly, even while there may be a sense in which we are our connectomes, it remains unclear what lessons to draw from this. In particular, it remains unclear how the truth of this claim might underwrite mind-uploading of the sort that might allow for continued human life.<br />
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-It is unclear whether we should aim at artificially modelling the human mind by trying to copy actual human minds (as connectomics suggests) or trying to develop increasingly more sophisticated artificial intelligences that resemble human intelligence.<br />
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If there are points I have missed, please feel free to add them in the comments. Also, if there is something more you would like to say, please do so in the comments here.Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-71063381903754501532013-01-14T14:16:00.001-08:002013-01-14T14:16:38.942-08:00Notes on Our First MeetingSorry for posting this so late in the week between our meetings. I have been caught up with other things that took more time than expected, and this first meeting was mostly a matter of laying out issues to discuss in more detail as we go on. In any case, here are some of the main issues raised in our discussion this past Tuesday:<br />
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-The self: we talked a lot about what constitutes the self (e.g., memories, genes), whether this may be contextual and/or socially constructed, and what constraints there may be on a view about the constitution of the self (e.g., numerical identity).<br />
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-Personal identity: related to issues about the self, we talked about the constraints on personal identity over time, difficult cases (e.g., fission), the importance of personal identity (e.g., as opposed to some other sense of self that might persist over time), the role of subjective experience in determining whether one persists (e.g., the experience of being trapped in what used to seem like one's own body), the importance of consciousness and whether consciousness requires an organic substrate.<br />
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-Conceptions of the future: we talked about the prevalence of dystopias in science fiction treatments of the future, whether certain technologies are coherent (e.g., the way the visitation room worked in the film) or desirable (e.g., the jewel in the short story).<br />
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These seem to me to be the main themes of our discussion, ones we came back to multiple times. The general desirability of immortality was also mentioned, and the role and relevance of normal human development was implicit in some of the discussion (e.g., the case of identical twins, the normal development of and changes in the self over time). Perhaps I missed something. Feel free to add to the list.<br />
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See you tomorrow,<br />
<br />
BenBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-33557284107764014372013-01-03T14:53:00.001-08:002013-01-04T10:24:35.433-08:00Some Proposed ReadingsThis reading group will span both winter and spring quarters. (But don't panic! You are not required to stick around if you can't or don't want to.) <br />
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Here is a list of proposed readings (with links to the text where possible) that would span 18 sessions. We can add, delete, replace, restructure as we see fit. And we can hold more or fewer sessions (as things are, we would be able to take 10th week and finals week off each quarter). The list is broken down into several themes. Let's discuss this at our first meeting.<br />
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1. Introduction:</div>
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“Life Begins at Rewirement” (short film)</div>
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Futurestates.tv</div>
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“Learning to Be Me”</div>
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Egan pdf</div>
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Connectomics: </div>
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2. “The Strange Science of Immortality”</div>
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<a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Strange-Neuroscience-of/132819/">http://chronicle.com/article/The-Strange-Neuroscience-of/132819/</a></div>
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“Mapping the Human Connectome”</div>
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<a href="http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/lwwgateway/landingpage.htm;jsessionid=QkKd7p2T0bfplG0QCwBJflFSLxSSzy2vd7042M0RbG1dqPNRLQpW%211660163914%21181195629%218091%21-1?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&an=00006123-201207000-00001">http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/lwwgateway/landingpage.htm;jsessionid=QkKd7p2T0bfplG0QCwBJflFSLxSSzy2vd7042M0RbG1dqPNRLQpW!1660163914!181195629!8091!-1?sid=WKPTLP:landingpage&an=00006123-201207000-00001</a></div>
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3. “Chomsky on Where Artificial Intelligence Went Wrong”</div>
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<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2012/11/noam-chomsky-on-where-artificial-intelligence-went-wrong/261637/">http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2012/11/noam-chomsky-on-where-artificial-intelligence-went-wrong/261637/</a></div>
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The Singularity:</div>
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4. “Today’s Computers, Intelligent Machines and Our Future”
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http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/project.archive/general.articles/1978/analog.1978.html</div>
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“What is the Singularity?”</div>
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<a href="http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html">http://mindstalk.net/vinge/vinge-sing.html</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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5. “Achieving the Software of Human Intelligence: How to
Reverse Engineer the Human Brain”</div>
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Kurzweil(1) pdf</div>
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6. “The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis”</div>
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<cite><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">consc.net/papers/singularity.pdf</span></cite><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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Functionalism:</div>
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7. Selections from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Conscious Mind</i></div>
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Chalmers pdf<i> </i></div>
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8. “Minds, Brains, and Programs”</div>
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https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:sOMI4SIuVNkJ:www.class.uh.edu/phil/garson/MindsBrainsandPrograms.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh-jdV6MGa5c93Eqwx5YLqn8CjZdARsmVe01P9B-pI7uYGTQebx_V7gXt3To_MGA6hGR2769QerLTA0i_QZjKF_X4ScBLpojCUEYPxp8Xp0mOsnnoFkfa7aWeIj6l-VwbmMKkjU&sig=AHIEtbTc__qF2IQDdwYYItHbXofTyPDmQA</div>
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“Kurzweil’s Chinese Room”</div>
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Kurzweil(2) pdf</div>
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9. “Human Immortality”</div>
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<a href="http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/william/human/index.html">http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/william/human/index.html</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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10. “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”</div>
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<a href="http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html">http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html</a></div>
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Personal Identity and Human Agency:</div>
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11. “Personal Identity”</div>
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<a href="http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28197101%2980%3A1%3C3%3API%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R">http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28197101%2980%3A1%3C3%3API%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R</a></div>
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12. “Moral Responsibility and the Self”</div>
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Shoemaker pdf</div>
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13. “Where Am I?”</div>
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http://www.newbanner.com/SecHumSCM/WhereAmI.html</div>
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14. “Bodies, Selves”</div>
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<a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/aim/summary/v065/65.3.velleman.html">http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/aim/summary/v065/65.3.velleman.html</a></div>
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The Desirability of Immortality:</div>
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15. “The Immortal”</div>
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Borges pdf</div>
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16. “Why Immortality Is Not So Bad”</div>
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<cite><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.andrewmbailey.com/jmf/Immortality.pdf"><span style="font-style: normal;">www.andrewmbailey.com/jmf/Immortality.pdf</span></a></span></cite></div>
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Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238058150538338210.post-4481441686843498752013-01-02T13:32:00.001-08:002013-01-03T14:42:48.349-08:00Welcome!This blog will provide a space for us to communicate with each other outside of our regular meetings.<br />
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After each meeting I plan on posting some of the main points that came up in our discussion. The hope is that those interested in doing so can continue the discussion here, by commenting on the post for that week. (It should go without saying (but I will make it explicit anyway) that online discussions should meet the same standards of decency, etc. as our in-person discussions.)<br />
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I will also post announcements for the group here, including announcements about the reading schedule. The first such post lists some proposed readings for the group. This is really just a proposal. I would love feedback on what to add to the list and what to replace. I think we should also take this to be something of a fluid reading list, reserving the right to change things as we go along.<br />
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I am really looking forward to this reading group. I think we have an excellent group of people coming together to discuss an interest set of topics. It should be fun and enlightening.Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06759594553086786015noreply@blogger.com0