Apparently the US military is looking into developing a massive simulation of the entire geopolitical canvas of the Earth, with a node representing "every man, woman and child." Although I'm sure it involves lots of data and some serious computation, I sincerely doubt the predictions made by this system will be any better than that of a seasoned human analyst.
I suppose you could turn over strategic nuclear decisions to this thing and just wait for Judgment Day...
While articles of this type are often titillating, I know from first-hand experience that most far-out projects involving the military don't live up to the hype. For one thing, the military plays fast & loose with commonly used terminology. The word "sentient" actually means something; it shouldn't be used as a vacuous buzzword designed to woo congressional funding.
Maybe they should call it WOPR 2.0?
(Sometimes I just can't help myself with the cultural reference one-liners!)
Showing posts with label skynet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skynet. Show all posts
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
The Future of Warfare
Wired recently covered Israel's plans to develop a powerful artificial intelligence to take over military command & control in the event of an emergency, leading to some nervous thoughts about Skynet.
This is where all global human conflict is heading. We've built machines to replace many jobs humans don't want to do. Thinking and fighting are the next logical steps.
Every modern military should be working towards this. Maybe they already are in secret...
This is where all global human conflict is heading. We've built machines to replace many jobs humans don't want to do. Thinking and fighting are the next logical steps.
Every modern military should be working towards this. Maybe they already are in secret...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Rise of the Machine
I finally got around to reading a futuristic Wired article pointed out on Slashdot.
The bulk of the article is a retrospective look at how people have thought about and used the Internet. The really interesting part, however, begins with the last few paragraphs of page 4. While the Slashdot crowd focused on the prediction of a web-based OS and its ability to heal itself, the truly remarkable forecast is the emergence of real artificial intelligence from the net itself. The author recognizes that this "planet-sized computer" is as complex as the human brain, and is growing exponentially. It has already exceeded the "20-petahertz threshold for potential intelligence" proposed by Ray Kurzweil. Our participation in and behavior on the world-wide web might provide this being with the knowledge and programming necessary for consciousness to evolve. In the very near future the human race may be presented with a global network that has become self-aware.
Skynet anyone?
The bulk of the article is a retrospective look at how people have thought about and used the Internet. The really interesting part, however, begins with the last few paragraphs of page 4. While the Slashdot crowd focused on the prediction of a web-based OS and its ability to heal itself, the truly remarkable forecast is the emergence of real artificial intelligence from the net itself. The author recognizes that this "planet-sized computer" is as complex as the human brain, and is growing exponentially. It has already exceeded the "20-petahertz threshold for potential intelligence" proposed by Ray Kurzweil. Our participation in and behavior on the world-wide web might provide this being with the knowledge and programming necessary for consciousness to evolve. In the very near future the human race may be presented with a global network that has become self-aware.
Skynet anyone?
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