From: man@acm.org   
      
   Randy Crawford  wrote in message news:<4026d4b   
   $1@news.unimelb.edu.au>...   
   > ...IMHO easily the most interesting question in AI is...   
   >   
   > - Why hasn't the field made more progress in 50 years toward the holy   
   > grail of AI -- creating a sentient being?   
   >   
   > Perhaps the next best questions are:   
   >   
   > - Where are we now in that search for the grail, and   
   >   
   > - How do we get the rest of the way to the grail?   
   > ...   
   How? by creat more interesting goals on the way.   
      
   We have reached one of the goals, playing chess. However, our   
   over achieving community didn't just create a system that   
   played at the 50 percentile level (which many people would   
   agree as being acceptable when measuring a human), but   
   a system that played at the 99.99 percentile was created!   
   (Yes, IBM did contribute a lot to this task, including   
   its marketing coup de grace)   
      
   A goal provides focus in technology development. Perhaps   
   the "lack of advancement" (or is it really the lack of buzz   
   on CNN and LA Times) in AI is due to an inappropriate goal.   
      
   Perhaps we should set some new goals that can drive   
   AI's advancement; instead of "creating a sentient   
   being", we should remove the emotionally charged   
   words "sentient being" and replace it with "intelligent   
   system".   
      
   The non-scientific community would want to know what   
   is this intelligent system going to do? This is similar   
   to the physics community wanting to "split atoms", the   
   non-scientific community would want to know what would   
   splitting atoms do? and a practical answer was to build   
   a very powerful bomb, that was enough reason to drive   
   the advancement of physics.   
      
   Back to what is this intelligent system going to do   
   (for the purpose of driving advancement of artificial   
   intelligence). Here are a few possible tasks:   
      
   This Intelligent System will:   
   1. Be a Test Subject for the source of human intelligence.   
   2. Assure human sanity in long-term space travel.   
   3. Assure profit in chaotic market.   
   4. Provide life-time compionship for a person.   
   5. Provide many life-time compionship for a family.   
   6. As an mental mirror for a person, similar to the   
      purpose of a physical mirror.   
   7. As a human experience archiver.   
   8. Function as a new Wedge Issue for politicians.   
   9. and many, many, more...   
      
   IMHO the advancement in artificial intelligence will   
   provide the most interesting and remarkable discovery   
   for the sciences, and the most profitable   
   products, services, and experiences for our consumer   
   economy.   
      
   ---   
      
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