From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Apr 21 2003 - 12:59:16 MDT
--- "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> wrote:
> Damien Sullivan wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 21, 2003 , Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> >>
> >> "The Daleks had Davros, the Berserkers had Goodlife, and now the
> >> Singularity has Yudkowsky." -- Steve
> >
> > So how many of us, in reading or watching some science fiction,
> > have rooted for the AIs, or at least been sympathetic to them?
> > I guess the same question could be asked about aliens as well;
> > there was a basic coolness to the changelings of the Dominion
> > of Deep Space 9. Immortal, able to impersonate a genius,
> > apparently able to violate conservation laws...
>
> Which AIs? There's far more room inside the word "AI" than there is
> inside the word "human". Of course, everything you see in SF is
> neither AI nor human but a human fiction, which is an entirely
> distinct third category...
Putting aside comical comments about Dominionites hunting out of season
or bagging more than their limit, or even killing endangered species, I
ask the list: Who is your favorite AI? Everybody knows about HAL,
probably the most famous AI, but there have been plenty of others
portrayed in movies, television, and literature.
Given that these are all human ideas of what AIs would be like (and I
am reminded about John Campbell's refusal to publish stories depicting
superhuman or posthuman characters, on the grounds it was impossible
for humans to have any idea of what one would really be like), there
certainly have been many memorable 'AI' characters.
I always liked the grumpy robot of the Hitchiker series, especially as
portrayed in the BBC rendition, I have a fondness for the AI portrayed
in the television Buck Rogers series in the 1980's
=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- Gen. John Stark
"Pacifists are Objectively Pro-Fascist." - George Orwell
"Treason doth never Prosper. What is the Reason?
For if it Prosper, none Dare call it Treason..." - Ovid
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