Yor AI

"Never create something you can't control."

Don't worry, they won't take over your system. Or is your name Gaius Baltar by any chance?

Hah, Galactica reference. I'm now hijacking this threat to ask the opinion of everyone on the new Galactica. I found once I tried to stop comparing it to the old Galactica it is actually an excellent show.

I was EXTREMELY skeptical of the show when I heard they were taking liberties with the story (Cylons appearing human, Starbuck a woman etc).

But now I think it is the best series I have ever watched, bar none. Even better than 'The Sopranos'!

Personally, I don't like it much. Thought Firefly was much better despite its flaws. The whole aliens/invaders that we can't tell apart from humans thing is so overdone in modern SF TV/Movies that I find it detracts from the story when relied on as a plot device.

Find myself not caring about any of the characters, and that's never good. Not that I think it's a bad show, too many of my friends like it for it to be really bad. It just isn't for me.

I like both Firefly and Battlestar. I think the strength of both shows is that there is good character development and interaction. Firefly had alot more subtle humor though.

How do we know that machines wouldn't be a better inhabitant of this world? They are not selfish, never become bored (and therefore don't waste energy on entertainment), and make much better decisions for the safty of the environment. (If they were programmed for that anyway.)

Of course, they would consider us a huge threat to the ecosystem. But if they were programmed right, they would want us to survive as well, and they they would set up a colony on mars for us to live and expand on. (Then again, how are you defining "right" and "good"?)

Just a thought.

How do we know that machines wouldn't be a better inhabitant of this world?

Heh. Depends on the machine. If programmed correctly, a machine could be just what you say they're not. No, an intelligent machine wouldn't necessarily be a better inhabitant nor a worse one. It depends on its outlook -- does it find organisms to be frightfully inefficient? Will it seek to annihilate them to be replaced by others like itself? Those are the kinds of machines you want to avoid. Thus why emotions and empathy should be hard-programmed into such things, in my opinion.

Of course, what's "good" and "bad", "better" or "worse" does stem from our very human, very organic point of view...

Well, I think that show is the best thing that happened to TV in general since 24. And what it did to scifi is awesome, IMHO. I loved the original show and I love the new one. It's just like the essence of the old show has been transported to contemporary culture. Oh yeah, did I mention I have a soft spot for cigar smoking women?

Well, anyway... Not to hijack this further.... I'll fix meself a Bushmills and then off to bed. See you all on day T-8!

I know that. It could be programmed to be exactly like a human. Or like anything, but using the method I described, it could be better. (My definition of better anyway.)
"Will it seek to annihilate them to be replaced by others like itself?" Is this a survival instinct? Does it wish to populate the world with it's own "species" or is it willing to evolve or even go extict?

If you want to talk to me about this some more, here's my e-mail. (I like this sort of subject a lot.) Email

Organic life is inefficient.
Part of why I like machines (artificial intelligence to be exact) is their lack of emotions. They never get angry, completly reliable (if programmed correctly), etc. (By the way, I appear to have one quality of thjat sort of machine, I never get angry.)

Heh. Depends on the machine. If programmed correctly, a machine could be just what you say they're not. No, an intelligent machine wouldn't necessarily be a better inhabitant nor a worse one. It depends on its outlook -- does it find organisms to be frightfully inefficient? Will it seek to annihilate them to be replaced by others like itself? Those are the kinds of machines you want to avoid. Thus why emotions and empathy should be hard-programmed into such things, in my opinion. Of course, what's "good" and "bad", "better" or "worse" does stem from our very human, very organic point of view...

I like BSG and watch it every week but I sometimes want to puke when they go down the path of moral relativism.

lol the post was about You AI and it turned out to be SCI-FI serie lovers:P thus im saying that Stargate is my fave;)

I really liked the old BSG but i totally LOVE the new series!

Anyone else considering playing as "Cylons" in Gc2? i know i am..

Actually, studying simple thermodynamics revelas that organic life is exponentially more "efficent" (output/input) than any machine ever created, including computers. As for processing power, the most powerful supercomputer today has the raw processing capability of a guppy fish . I tihnk the only way to get an AI, a REAL AI even starrted is to create a software program, and place it in a world (software program) that is as simple as the AI. and then start changing the enviornment. I really like Darwinia PC game. they kinda have a plot that goes along with the whole fledgling AI species evolution. Pretty cool.