ekrodomos.net> 6557858e   
   From: joss@nospampleasewerebritish.nekrodomos.net   
      
   first off, i'm not that regular a poster (but have lurked for quite a   
   while), but i'd say that off-topic is quite a difficult thing to attain on   
   this forum. alternatively, you could argue that (given historical   
   evidence) anything that isn't "what is cyberpunk" is off-topic :o)   
      
   we seem to mainly agree on the AI front. but i would pick up on one point   
   that you made. a self-coding AI will still be limited, even though the   
   accidental limitations of its own code may well be reduced. the easiest   
   point to pick out is that any computational hardware on which we could   
   currently run an AI program would be a Turing machine. it is known that   
   there are limits to the computational powers of Turing machines, although   
   we do not have a more powerful model of computation. so an AI will, i   
   think, always be limited at some point. (arguably it could invent a more   
   powerful computational model and cause that to be created and upload   
   itself into it, but i think that is both unlikely and somewhat...   
   pathetically conjectural. it's like saying "it could be hit by lightening   
   and come alive".)   
      
   as to an AI being closer to an operating system, i think that that is a   
   fair and interesting point. the human brain is separated into distinct   
   processing areas for specific functions and each of these could arguably   
   be viewed as a sub-program running in a larger system. (my knowledge of   
   neuroscience goes no further than that, however, and so i'll stop making   
   wild theories).   
      
   oh, and i agree about the stating of the basis of the learning system   
   idea. it must receive, then process data and alter its behaviour based   
   upon this data or i fail to see how it can be said to learn. bear in mind   
   though that in a FPS, the "environmental data" is itself modelled on a   
   "real" universe, so in that situation the monsters are probably closer to   
   "seeing" and "hearing" than "perhaps" "you" "meant" "to" "put" "across".   
   damn... quotation marks are running away from me again.  suffice it to say   
   that any inputted data is a form of sense. obviously   
   sight/taste/smell/hearing/touch are not the only possible input methods.   
      
   and as to all these games mentions: as someone who plays chess, go, and   
   every board game that i can get my hands on (atmosfear, mysteries of old   
   peking, the crystal maze board game, scrabble), i can only sigh in   
   satisfaction. :o)   
      
   also, allow me to apologize for spending an entire post violently agreeing   
   with you. i promise that next post i'll find something totally innocuous   
   to be offended at and start a flame war ;o)   
      
   joss   
      
   --   
   "A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised   
   if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how   
   efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they   
   are unjust"                           - Rawls, "A Theory of Justice"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)