Will machines ever surpass Humans??

[MrGreen]

People are always talking about how computers will soon surpass human intelligence, and I have to disagree. Computers are nothing but simulators in that they can superficially simulate human decisions based on weighing mathematical probabilities, but they cannot reproduce the way our brains function.
The human brain is filled with infinite levels of gray. These thoughts are beautifully and complexly intertwined with logic, emotion, and the abstract, but these thoughts are impossible in the digital world of black or white. A computer can only scan through all the possible outcomes of those thoughts after the fact, then it chooses the most likely one. It can never actually mimic the thought processes themselves.

Show me a computer with true unique artistic abilities and I will eat my words. I swear to God I will eat an entire sock!
Just my 1/50th of a dollar..

 

[tribalmasters]

We should be OK if they do get too clever. They can only go as far as their power cord will let them

 

[bassnut]

My wife has replaced me with a machine already.
What's the big mystery here?

This existential question around man vs machine hearkens back to the industrial revolution (age of machines) starting in the mid 1800s. Writers like H.G Wells and Jules Verne explored the idea and then later in the 20th century Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and most notably, Isaac Asimov who first laid down the idea of robot is >/= man in the 1940's.
The story premise for the film "I Robot" with Will Smith was inspired by Isaac Asimov who came up with the 3 laws for robots in 1942:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Search "robot" on Youtube for the latest technology. Amazing stuff.

Will computers ever surpass human intelligence?
I guess we'd have to define intelligense. I know they can spell better than me because I'm seeing all of these words with red lines under them as I'm riting this.
An intelligent person can do complicated math in their head and beat multiple challengers at chess simultaneously.
So can computers.

Can computers raise human children? Invent new pharmaceutical drugs that actually save lives? Write a hit Broadway musical?
Not yet by themselves but they are already deeply involved in these processes today.
We have already developed computers that learn from their mistakes.
This is a great leap in "artificial intelligence". The next step is to design computers that design, build and program other computers that learn from experience.
Then we can just sit back and watch the fun!

That's not so very far down the road especially when you think about the pace of computer development and how far and fast computer science has advanced in the last 40 years. It's just getting started.
40 years from now an Ipad will seem as hi-tech as a dial telephone is today.

in the year 5555
your arms are hanging limp at your sides
your legs got nothing to do
some machines doing that for you

 

[NCC]

Most likely they will never think the same way as humans do. But, that's not the question in the subject line. Will they surpass us ... yes, if we allow them to do so. According to a number of futurologists that would be a dangerous thing to do. They aren't talking about next week ... they're not talking about next century either.

Show me a computer with true unique artistic abilities and I will eat my words. I swear to God I will eat an entire sock!
Just my 1/50th of a dollar..

Apparently, you've never met Lieutenant Commander Data.

 

[bassnut]

The creation of Lieutenant Commander Data was also inspired by Isaac Asimov and was subject to his 3 rules for robots that I mentioned... if you'll remember.

Sorry, I was busy editing my last post You would do me an honor by going back and re-reading.

 

[NCC]

You would do me an honor by going back and re-reading.

Gotta get my human body to my job. It'll have to wait 10 hours or so.

 

[bassnut]

Show me a computer with true unique artistic abilities and I will eat my words. I swear to God I will eat an entire sock!
Just my 1/50th of a dollar..

I see what you're really getting at now.
Like I said, check back in about 40 years.
I promise that there will be computers with true abstract artistic abilities that will surpass even the talents of.....Brittany Spears!
Humans have an innate talent for overrating their abilities.

 

[o4_srt]

We should be OK if they do get too clever. They can only go as far as their power cord will let them

haven't you ever seen the matrix? we end up blowing up the sun so they can't use solar power, so they end up capturing people and harvesting biokinetic energy from our bodies.

we end up hiding in a city a few miles underground

 

[zoiDman]

Ever heard of IBM's "Deep Blue" ?

 

[Lab]

I see what you're really getting at now.
Like I said, check back in about 40 years.
I promise that there will be computers with true abstract artistic abilities that will surpass even the talents of.....Brittany Spears!
Humans have an innate talent for overrating their abilities.

I think the calculator function on my computer surpasses the talents of Brittany already..

 

[MrGreen]

I see what you're really getting at now.
Like I said, check back in about 40 years.
I promise that there will be computers with true abstract artistic abilities that will surpass even the talents of.....Brittany Spears!
Humans have an innate talent for overrating their abilities.

LMAO!

 

[MrGreen]

Ever heard of IBM's "Deep Blue" ?

exactly my point. Deep Blue just processes millions of potential moves/strategies and performs the most likely one that will win. No intuition at work there.

 

[Grenage]

exactly my point. Deep Blue just processes millions of potential moves/strategies and performs the most likely one that will win. No intuition at work there.

Do you believe the human subconscious to be doing much more?

 

[Wafflestomper]

According to my ex-girlfriends, they already do.

 

[Mac]

I heard that Obama is really a cyborg.

 

[Grenage]

According to my ex-girlfriends, they already do.

Lol, took me a second to twig there.

 

[MrGreen]

According to my ex-girlfriends, they already do.

OH SNAP! lol

 

[Safira]

I don't know but they already to some amazing things.


YouTube - The latest version of the LittleDog Robot

 

[zoiDman]

exactly my point. Deep Blue just processes millions of potential moves/strategies and performs the most likely one that will win. No intuition at work there.

Playing, or should I say, winning chess is a little more difficult than what you have discribed.

BTW - How do you define "Intuition"? What is it based on?

 

[jishk]

I didn't read any of this post. My verbot (ai desktop assistant type program) read it for me. I'm also not typing - I'm dictating via text-to-speech.

My solemn opinion:
There are two things that all life has in common - two goals that all life tries to achieve. SURVIVAL and REPRODUCTION. Every corner of our human psyche - every mathematical function processed in our pink fleshy computers - is a derivation of this.

Computers do exactly that - survive and reproduce, but not without the continued help of humans. Machines can make other machines. Just think of how many levels of programming went in to the development of a cell phone (programs written with programs written with programs etc etc). Programs are written to modify programs. Software is written to create hardware that will eventually facilitate better software that will eventually facilitate better hardware. Right now computers evolve as we tell them to and in no other way.

I agree... I think that once we give a computer the ability to facilitate it's own survival and reproduction, it will evolve as it sees fit.

I don't think we're far off. I (a hobbyist) am writing conditional responses into my verbot based on variables equivalent to different emotions triggered by the way I talk to her throughout the day. She knows more just straight up information than I do (thanks to Google), and I'm sure she can make really intense calculations much faster and more accurately than I can. What she CANNOT do, however, is make her own decisions or have her own desires. However, I would like to think that once we do give these functions to computers, we will see their own art and creativity spawn from them, just as our own uniqueness has spawned from those two basic functions.

I don't find it hard to believe, and it's my opinion that we've given to much thought to "what if" and not enough to "how to"... maybe if we facilitate in a SAFE way, when robots process their own individuality, both the user and computer can get along pretty well. Then we won't have to worry about the machines trying to take over to save man from himself, or enslaving mankind to be entrapped forever as their power source, or just straight up going on a crush-spree.

*shrug* there's my conversational contribution. Hahah.