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What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

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Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#2
Machine brains are already much "smarter" than human brains. For certain tasks, that is, like calculation. With increased computing power, these tasks will grow more and more. But will machines ever be REALLY smarter than humans? I will only believe that when I see it. This question might be (but does not necessarily have to be) related to the question of all questions: Can machines have consciousness, like we do?

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#4
I think that ml people should take a look at the AGI field. I also think that more powerful techniques, specialized hardware like qualcomms baby Brain corporation are building, and/or large peer computing networks will make general intelligence accessible for small groups or individuals In fewer than twenty years.

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#5

Machine brains are already much "smarter" than human brains. For certain tasks, that is, like calculation. With increased computing power, these tasks will grow more and more. But will machines ever be REALLY smarter than humans? I will only believe that when I see it. This question might be (but does not necessarily have to be) related to the question of all questions: Can machines have consciousness, like we do?

As far as I can tell, people only wonder about this if they assume that consciousness has some kind if supernatural aspect to it.

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#6

Machine brains are already much "smarter" than human brains. For certain tasks, that is, like calculation. With increased computing power, these tasks will grow more and more. But will machines ever be REALLY smarter than humans? I will only believe that when I see it. This question might be (but does not necessarily have to be) related to the question of all questions: Can machines have consciousness, like we do?

There is a growing realization that cognition is fundamentally _embodied_ cognition. If you think of the mind as an ethereal entity removed of its physicality (or at the very least made out of a different substance from the body - that is to say, substance dualism) then it is easy to imagine the following scenarios. Containers are unimportant, so minds can be uploaded and downloaded, whether machine or human the housing is unimportant.

If we come to accept cognition as fundamentally embodied then it becomes less sensible to compare cognition across differing architectures - human cognition will always be quite unlike any other type of cognition except itself. I think machines will have consciousness (why should they not be able to, what is so special about us that would limit this phenomenon to us?) but it will be a machine consciousness and radically different from ours.

I think we're going to have to get a lot more fine-grained about how we talk about features and functions of brains whether human or machine. You've already put "smarter" in quotes which shows that already you're aware of how blunt and crude our terms are.

Does this all seem reasonable?

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#7
post #5

Machine brains are already much "smarter" than human brains. For certain tasks, that is, like calculation. With increased computing power, these tasks will grow more and more. But will machines ever be REALLY smarter than humans? I will only believe that when I see it. This question might be (but does not necessarily have to be) related to the question of all questions: Can machines have consciousness, like we do?

As far as I can tell, people only wonder about this if they assume that consciousness has some kind if supernatural aspect to it.

I'm not the OP, and most certainly I do not believe there is any "supernatural" aspect behind the human mind, but what will really, really convince me that the Singularity would have arrived will be the moment when robots/machines will have understood humor. Them, the machines, being able to actually make new jokes will be the decisive proof that we, humans, are not the only "intelligent" entities on this planet.

And even more OT, this reminded me that I don't recollect any "robot jokes" in any of the science fiction books I've read. Granted, there weren't that many (just the basics: Asimov, Frank Herbert, Philip K. Dick, some Stanislaw Lem), but I'm curious if any SF writer wrote "robot jokes", more exactly jokes that us, humans, think will be made by robots in the not-so-distant future.

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#8
This is reading way too much into it. Google happens to have a very nice confluence of money, data, people, and interesting applications at the moment. But there is and always has been back-and-forth of ideas and people between academia and industry in machine learning and all other fields.

Re: What Hinton’s Google Move Says About the Future of Machine Learning

#9
post #7
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell, people only wonder about this if they assume that consciousness has some kind if supernatural aspect to it.

I'm not the OP, and most certainly I do not believe there is any "supernatural" aspect behind the human mind, but what will really, really convince me that the Singularity would have arrived will be the moment when robots/machines will have understood humor. Them, the machines, being able to actually make new jokes will be the decisive proof that we, humans, are not the only "intelligent" entities on this planet. And…

Another in a long line of goalposts that assert "this is intelligence". Chess fell, driving fell, machine translation is falling. Robot storytellers (which, i think would cover humor) are only a matter of time.
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