Heh, I've been thinking of how the person would be raised, and how not to traumatize it and end up with some mentally ill AI. I'm thinking that would be the hardest aspect of the project. For now we could start getting the technology down and maybe see if we could grow some bacteria or something. But I still don't know if it's even feasible. It's not as much a matter of biology, as it is physics and computer science.
We can't simulate the effects of a gene because such a process is extremely complex. It depends on too many hard to measure variables. But we do know the molecular makeup of DNA. We know the structure of cells. We take that knowledge and build a few cells inside a simulation not of the cells specifically, but of matter on an atomic level. In such a simulation, cells would behave as they do in the real world. From there we go on to growing organisms inside the environment. I use the word grow because it would be a rather hands-off process. We give the computer the rules by which atoms move, give it a collection of atoms (in this case, a cell or group of cells), and tell it to go.
AI created in this way would be indistinguishable from a human being because it would be one, just simulated. Think of it as a low-level existence emulator running the human ROM image. If we get the emulator right, we don't need to know how the human image works.
The point is that we DON'T know that level. We'd simply create a simulation environment, insert an immature life form (because they're small, their anatomy is simple, and their genetics known), and let it grow. Life does this on its own already in the real world. In a sufficiently advanced artificial one, it should as well. That's what I'm talking about.
And on your second point, you fallen into the trap of thinking that what the human brain does is anything beyond a complex chemical reaction/equilibrium. An AI system could certainly feel emotions. To say it couldn't is to deny yourself emotion as well. Your body is a machine as well.
Everyone I tell about this calls me crazy but I dunno. It's a far fetched idea but it might be possible.
Whenever people start to make an AI project, they want to start building it from from the middle. The projects have so much trouble making a stable base for themselves that they often never make anything at all. Other projects create soul-less intelligence. Complex, learning, logical machines with no purpose, direction or desire. They know nothing but what they do every day, usually process data and make new data processing rules based on that data. Sure, that's intelligence , but it's not what we're looking for.
The human race is looking for a digital companion. A little guy in a computer that can think, feel, and reason like a person. Then we want to speed that person up to do jobs as well as a person, but faster.
Well, that's not going to happen the way things are going now. I'd like to pose a question to the slashdot community: Do we know enough about physics on an atomic scale that we could simulate a "small room on earth" environment all the way down to an atomic level? Could we model and place in that simulated room a fertilized human egg inside what would be a functional machine to mature the egg into a fetus and release it when ready? (The machine doesn't have to follow all the simulated rules, we could just insert stuff into it using the computer). We could basically give birth to a simulated person.
It's a crazy idea, I know, and with current technology, the simulation would be unbearably slow, but my question is: is such a thing possible? Do we understand physics on an atomic level well enough to do something like this?
They didn't really want their marketing campaign back but would prefer it if you stopped dragging it through the mud.
In all seriousness though, Apple nailed this issue right on the head. Use the home computer as a digital hub. That is to say, a machine that organizes content and translates it from one form to another. Once again, Microsoft is trying to steal the idea (much like everything they've ever done that hasn't been a total failure). I'll have to check out a Media Center PC at some point to see if it's as much of a pathetic abortion of a project as Movie Maker or their OS in general.
Sorry if it seems like at least one Mac user does this on every single Microsoft story posted but that should tell you something about both Mac users (bitter) and Microsoft (business whores who haven't had a decent idea since they made Mac software). (Ok, so maybe.NET is ok, but since it's officially Windows-only, it's just more Microsoft lock-in. Thank God for Mono)
I hadn't thought about the optical drive. It's a pretty big waste of a lot of components. The mini wasn't designed to be a headless server. Does a headless server really need sound in/out? How about the modem?
When I went home from college for Christmas break, I saw this feature pop up a few times randomly on my search results page. It didn't look like it does in the article though. It said "Images" in a blue bar just like the word "web" in the photo. There were 4 image results (unlike the 3 on the linked image) and the background was blue like the bar. Then underneath it said "web" and continued as usual. I bet the feature has changed in appearance since then. It was around December 22nd at the time. Google is definitely working on this. Not a fake article. Besides, who would fake something lame like this?
According to the article's link, it does both. I quote:
In Tiger, Cocoa can manage your data objects themselves through the power of Core Data, providing automatic undo/redo support, additional user interface synchronization, and data consistency, correctness, and speed enhancements when it's time to write to disk.
Core Data gives you the ability to create a description of your data objects. Once defined, Core Data handles most of the heavy work of managing your data objects, both in-memory and on-disk. This allows you to focus on application logic and avoid the infrastructure work. In short, Core Data is a model-driven object management graph and persistence framework.
In Tiger, Core Data will support three different kinds of files for storage of data:
A text-based XML file format
A better performing binary file format
A high-performance, SQLite-based database file format
Each of these file formats has its strengths. The XML file format is a good choice during the development of an application as it allows you to peek inside the file and see what is going on. The SQLite format will often be the best choice for desktop applications because of its performance characteristics.
How is that a straw-man argument? I'm pretty sure that the list of services and protocols covers just about all the traffic on the internet. That would mean that they would have to account for all of digital piracy. Name the last thing you pirated over the internet. I guarantee at least two of the following services were used: TCP, IP, UDP.
I reread the article. They just ripped the rubber membrane but it could be easily glued back in place. However, this photo is far more telling as to the fact that they damaged the thing irreparably. So you're right. Sad really.
I agree with you wholeheartedly but I'm pretty sure they did a good job making sure not to ruin anything. Everything they pulled out should snap right back in.
SQLite isn't just there for spotlight. CoreData is an interesting set of tools that Apple never really publicized much. Basically, it looks like an API for storing cocoa and carbon data structures into files such that there are two copies (a la the iTunes database). One copy is XML and the other is in SQLite format. The two copies of data are kept synced by CoreData. The purpose behind this is to make an application's files extremely easy to read and manipulate from 3rd party apps but also not have to deal with the overhead of an XML file with 20,000 dictionaries.
It seems like a really cool idea and it has been working great in the iTunes codebase for some time now. Does any OS do something like this already? It seems to me like an obvious solution to a very common development problem. Should really cut down on development time.
In addition, Apple aggressively optimized the software render of Quartz with 10.3, adding to the non-issue factor. Basically, as of 10.3, Quartz would become smoother the nicer your hardware, not faster.
On slashdot there is normally a large number of garbage posts with each article but this one has 26 (as of now) and not one is worthwhile. Not a single one contributes anything meaningful in any way. This is a bit above average. So, this begs the question: what has changed?
I'd say that it might have something to due with the fact that it's Christmas Eve. All the slashdotters who are socially acceptable have left to spend the holiday with those they care about, leaving only the worst of the worst. I'd say that's a pretty interesting observation.
So I think this is pretty strong evidence that there is more to the slashdot idiot than meets the eye. They are actual social rejects. I say we pity these lonely bastards. Find one, hose him down, give him a nice sweater, and invite him over for christmas. The endless stories of "one time he overclocked this P4 box" but just think of the good deed you will have done.
You're right, these entities are all about making money. How about a UN resolution then? I'm sure the talks alone would be enough to make China take notice.
Imagine if Microsoft suddenly placed an embargo on China. Then Google blocked them. Then the whole western world started pressuring them to ease up on censorship. They'd have two options: loosen censorship laws or try to replace all of those services themselves.
If they choose to do things the hard way, I'm certain that their people will take notice. It's all about getting the message out. Many Chinese don't even know to the degree that their information is being censored.
This should signal google to immediately remove all of it censorship in China. They tried to do some minimal censorship but if that wasn't enough, why not just drop out entirely and put up a non-offensive message letting the chinese people know what they're missing. If that gets blocked too, so be it. I've talked to a few students from China in the US and they say that the public apathy over censorship is downright frightening. If your content is being censored, put up a message and withhold it all. Nothing they can do about that.
This reminds me of a scene in one of the Arthur C Clark Space Odyssey novels in which a character (was it Poole?) drinks a tall glass of water from Hailey's comet in order to prove to his fellow crew that it was safe without any annoying, lengthy tests.
According to the details on the update, Apple patched an internal system bug that stopped other locally running programs from intercepting data entered into a secure text field. You know, the kind that shows up as dots when you write in it. Nice to see Apple protecting users from phishing spyware before it even exists in OS X.
In a related story, a man planed a PC and it also sprouted an apple tree. Unfortunately, when he tried to pick an apple to eat, the tree grabbed him and started screaming something about terminating the current application.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh, I've been thinking of how the person would be raised, and how not to traumatize it and end up with some mentally ill AI. I'm thinking that would be the hardest aspect of the project. For now we could start getting the technology down and maybe see if we could grow some bacteria or something. But I still don't know if it's even feasible. It's not as much a matter of biology, as it is physics and computer science.
We can't simulate the effects of a gene because such a process is extremely complex. It depends on too many hard to measure variables. But we do know the molecular makeup of DNA. We know the structure of cells. We take that knowledge and build a few cells inside a simulation not of the cells specifically, but of matter on an atomic level. In such a simulation, cells would behave as they do in the real world. From there we go on to growing organisms inside the environment. I use the word grow because it would be a rather hands-off process. We give the computer the rules by which atoms move, give it a collection of atoms (in this case, a cell or group of cells), and tell it to go.
AI created in this way would be indistinguishable from a human being because it would be one, just simulated. Think of it as a low-level existence emulator running the human ROM image. If we get the emulator right, we don't need to know how the human image works.
The point is that we DON'T know that level. We'd simply create a simulation environment, insert an immature life form (because they're small, their anatomy is simple, and their genetics known), and let it grow. Life does this on its own already in the real world. In a sufficiently advanced artificial one, it should as well. That's what I'm talking about.
And on your second point, you fallen into the trap of thinking that what the human brain does is anything beyond a complex chemical reaction/equilibrium. An AI system could certainly feel emotions. To say it couldn't is to deny yourself emotion as well. Your body is a machine as well.
Everyone I tell about this calls me crazy but I dunno. It's a far fetched idea but it might be possible.
Whenever people start to make an AI project, they want to start building it from from the middle. The projects have so much trouble making a stable base for themselves that they often never make anything at all. Other projects create soul-less intelligence. Complex, learning, logical machines with no purpose, direction or desire. They know nothing but what they do every day, usually process data and make new data processing rules based on that data. Sure, that's intelligence , but it's not what we're looking for.
The human race is looking for a digital companion. A little guy in a computer that can think, feel, and reason like a person. Then we want to speed that person up to do jobs as well as a person, but faster.
Well, that's not going to happen the way things are going now. I'd like to pose a question to the slashdot community: Do we know enough about physics on an atomic scale that we could simulate a "small room on earth" environment all the way down to an atomic level? Could we model and place in that simulated room a fertilized human egg inside what would be a functional machine to mature the egg into a fetus and release it when ready? (The machine doesn't have to follow all the simulated rules, we could just insert stuff into it using the computer). We could basically give birth to a simulated person.
It's a crazy idea, I know, and with current technology, the simulation would be unbearably slow, but my question is: is such a thing possible? Do we understand physics on an atomic level well enough to do something like this?
They didn't really want their marketing campaign back but would prefer it if you stopped dragging it through the mud.
.NET is ok, but since it's officially Windows-only, it's just more Microsoft lock-in. Thank God for Mono)
In all seriousness though, Apple nailed this issue right on the head. Use the home computer as a digital hub. That is to say, a machine that organizes content and translates it from one form to another. Once again, Microsoft is trying to steal the idea (much like everything they've ever done that hasn't been a total failure). I'll have to check out a Media Center PC at some point to see if it's as much of a pathetic abortion of a project as Movie Maker or their OS in general.
Sorry if it seems like at least one Mac user does this on every single Microsoft story posted but that should tell you something about both Mac users (bitter) and Microsoft (business whores who haven't had a decent idea since they made Mac software). (Ok, so maybe
I hadn't thought about the optical drive. It's a pretty big waste of a lot of components. The mini wasn't designed to be a headless server. Does a headless server really need sound in/out? How about the modem?
The mini does have a fan but you're right, it relies on the air ducts along the bottom to function.
It said: "gasakikeday"
Gas a kike day. Lovely.
It's in the constitution: "swear or affirm". Atheists may not be able to technically swear but they certainly can affirm.
When I went home from college for Christmas break, I saw this feature pop up a few times randomly on my search results page. It didn't look like it does in the article though. It said "Images" in a blue bar just like the word "web" in the photo. There were 4 image results (unlike the 3 on the linked image) and the background was blue like the bar. Then underneath it said "web" and continued as usual. I bet the feature has changed in appearance since then. It was around December 22nd at the time. Google is definitely working on this. Not a fake article. Besides, who would fake something lame like this?
According to the article's link, it does both. I quote:
In Tiger, Cocoa can manage your data objects themselves through the power of Core Data, providing automatic undo/redo support, additional user interface synchronization, and data consistency, correctness, and speed enhancements when it's time to write to disk.
Core Data gives you the ability to create a description of your data objects. Once defined, Core Data handles most of the heavy work of managing your data objects, both in-memory and on-disk. This allows you to focus on application logic and avoid the infrastructure work. In short, Core Data is a model-driven object management graph and persistence framework.
In Tiger, Core Data will support three different kinds of files for storage of data:
A text-based XML file format
A better performing binary file format
A high-performance, SQLite-based database file format
Each of these file formats has its strengths. The XML file format is a good choice during the development of an application as it allows you to peek inside the file and see what is going on. The SQLite format will often be the best choice for desktop applications because of its performance characteristics.
How is that a straw-man argument? I'm pretty sure that the list of services and protocols covers just about all the traffic on the internet. That would mean that they would have to account for all of digital piracy. Name the last thing you pirated over the internet. I guarantee at least two of the following services were used: TCP, IP, UDP.
I reread the article. They just ripped the rubber membrane but it could be easily glued back in place. However, this photo is far more telling as to the fact that they damaged the thing irreparably. So you're right. Sad really.
I agree with you wholeheartedly but I'm pretty sure they did a good job making sure not to ruin anything. Everything they pulled out should snap right back in.
SQLite isn't just there for spotlight. CoreData is an interesting set of tools that Apple never really publicized much. Basically, it looks like an API for storing cocoa and carbon data structures into files such that there are two copies (a la the iTunes database). One copy is XML and the other is in SQLite format. The two copies of data are kept synced by CoreData. The purpose behind this is to make an application's files extremely easy to read and manipulate from 3rd party apps but also not have to deal with the overhead of an XML file with 20,000 dictionaries.
It seems like a really cool idea and it has been working great in the iTunes codebase for some time now. Does any OS do something like this already? It seems to me like an obvious solution to a very common development problem. Should really cut down on development time.
In addition, Apple aggressively optimized the software render of Quartz with 10.3, adding to the non-issue factor. Basically, as of 10.3, Quartz would become smoother the nicer your hardware, not faster.
My mother is using her Christmas voice. I'm simply hiding until the relatives arrive and she calms down. What's your excuse?
On slashdot there is normally a large number of garbage posts with each article but this one has 26 (as of now) and not one is worthwhile. Not a single one contributes anything meaningful in any way. This is a bit above average. So, this begs the question: what has changed?
I'd say that it might have something to due with the fact that it's Christmas Eve. All the slashdotters who are socially acceptable have left to spend the holiday with those they care about, leaving only the worst of the worst. I'd say that's a pretty interesting observation.
So I think this is pretty strong evidence that there is more to the slashdot idiot than meets the eye. They are actual social rejects. I say we pity these lonely bastards. Find one, hose him down, give him a nice sweater, and invite him over for christmas. The endless stories of "one time he overclocked this P4 box" but just think of the good deed you will have done.
nobody wants an oddball CPU like the G5 when x86 is faster and more readily available
Jeez, I guess the guys at Virginia Tech must be feeling really stupid right now then. Oh wait.
You need to pay a visit to the grammar nazi thread. Pronto.
You're right, these entities are all about making money. How about a UN resolution then? I'm sure the talks alone would be enough to make China take notice.
Imagine if Microsoft suddenly placed an embargo on China. Then Google blocked them. Then the whole western world started pressuring them to ease up on censorship. They'd have two options: loosen censorship laws or try to replace all of those services themselves.
If they choose to do things the hard way, I'm certain that their people will take notice. It's all about getting the message out. Many Chinese don't even know to the degree that their information is being censored.
This should signal google to immediately remove all of it censorship in China. They tried to do some minimal censorship but if that wasn't enough, why not just drop out entirely and put up a non-offensive message letting the chinese people know what they're missing. If that gets blocked too, so be it. I've talked to a few students from China in the US and they say that the public apathy over censorship is downright frightening. If your content is being censored, put up a message and withhold it all. Nothing they can do about that.
This reminds me of a scene in one of the Arthur C Clark Space Odyssey novels in which a character (was it Poole?) drinks a tall glass of water from Hailey's comet in order to prove to his fellow crew that it was safe without any annoying, lengthy tests.
According to the details on the update, Apple patched an internal system bug that stopped other locally running programs from intercepting data entered into a secure text field. You know, the kind that shows up as dots when you write in it. Nice to see Apple protecting users from phishing spyware before it even exists in OS X.
In a related story, a man planed a PC and it also sprouted an apple tree. Unfortunately, when he tried to pick an apple to eat, the tree grabbed him and started screaming something about terminating the current application.