Re: Near-Term Futility of AI Research

Joao Pedro Magalhaes (jpnitya@esoterica.pt)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:12:58 +0100

Hi!

At 08:28 18-04-1999 EDT, you wrote:
>Why don't AI researchers realize they aren't getting *anywhere* until we
>understand the operation of the human mind?

You don't necessarily need to understand something in order to clone its effects. For example, I work in genetics and we don't understand how most enzymes or genes work. But still we claim to control DNA and we manipulate it and optimize metabolic processes that no-one really understands. As for AI, you don't have to clone all neurons to make an artificial brain. All you need is the information processing power and a way to make that processing power learn and evolve. There are many possible choices on how to do that but we still don't have the processing power of a brain. Long before we understand the human brain there will be AI more intelligent than us.

Hasta.