Month: December 2015

Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence

I've posted a number of times about artificial intelligence, mind uploading, and various related topics.  There are a number of things that can come up in the resulting discussions, one of them being Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorems. The typical line of arguments goes something like this: Gödel implies that there are solutions that no algorithmic system can accomplish but that humans … Continue reading Gödel’s incompleteness theorems don’t rule out artificial intelligence →

Merry Christmas

To all my online friends, whatever today and tomorrow mean for you, whether it's a religious observance, family event, or merely a couple days off work, I hope you have a great holiday! If by any chance it's not a holiday where you are, then I hope you have a great Thursday evening and Friday.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler free)

I saw the new Star Wars flick Friday morning.  I considered blogging about it later that day, but then figured there were already a zillion reviews on the web and adding one more wouldn't be particularly useful.  But some of my friends, including a few who read this blog, have asked me what I thought about … Continue reading Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler free) →

Childhood’s End and why a war between us and aliens is profoundly unlikely

Last night, SyFy debuted two shows, 'The Expanse', which I've already written about, and 'Childhood's End', which is an adaptation of a classic science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke.  With these two shows, along with some other pretty decent ones earlier this year such as 'Dark Matter' and 'Killjoys', the network seems to be on … Continue reading Childhood’s End and why a war between us and aliens is profoundly unlikely →

xkcd: Why Asimov put the Three Laws of Robotics in the order he did

Source: xkcd: The Three Laws of Robotics The Three Laws from the Wikipedia article: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must … Continue reading xkcd: Why Asimov put the Three Laws of Robotics in the order he did →

Discovering the architecture of the mind

I've written numerous times here that I tend to think that AGI (artificial general intelligence) and mind uploading are both ultimately possible.  (Possibly centuries in the future, but possible.)  I've also noted that we'll have to have a working understanding of the mind, how it works, how it is structured, before we can do either, … Continue reading Discovering the architecture of the mind →