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Article 2381 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: harwood@umiacs.umd.edu (David Harwood)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: AI-next evolutionary stage
Keywords: evolution
Message-ID: <45372@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 23 Dec 91 16:51:47 GMT
References: <5733@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
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Organization: UMIACS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
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In article <5733@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> dekorte@vsserv.scri.fsu.edu (Stephen L. DeKorte) writes:
>What reason would a 'superior' intelegence (machine or otherwise)
>have to exterminate a 'lesser' one? 
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Humans regularly try to destroy one another and lesser creatures.
\\\\\\\

>In the case of AI, why would we give (at least intentionaly) these
>machines the instincts that would support that sort of behavior?
>(well, at least ignoring the possibility that such machines might 
>be developed/produced under defence contracts, or that we might
>try to create them too much so in our own image.) 
\\\\\\\\\\\
Ah - you have seen the military light, a "smart" Bomb, illuminating
a world in which the combined military expenditure is greater 
than the income of the poorer half of the human race, in which
nations which claim to be lights to the world have no "gods" above
their integrated weapons systems, and in which a majority of truth-
loving scientists are greedy, blind, moral hypocrites beyond hope.

Who do you think want to make "robots"? Angels?

I am reminded of the Jewish traditional stories of "golems" -
manmade beings without souls or speech. A colleague of mine had
written some rabbinical studies of these and robots. And I mentioned
to him a strange allusion in a NT book - to an "image" or statue
being given the power to  speak (by some sort of high-tech cult).
Actually, the historical allusion, in a NT religious context, was
to a "god" erected at the Temple in the days of Antiochus IV
(you know- Maccabean revolt, Hanukah). This "god" was said (in Daniel)
to be richly rewarding, corrupting everyone, and was identified as
an alien god -o f miltary force. Indeed, some historians observe
that this "god" was that of "national defense" in the Greco-Roman
pantheon.

I think robots are likely to bear the stamp and intentions of
their creators. So consider who proposes to build them for what purpose.

I promise - my "Concluding Unscientific Homiletic Postscript" of
this season ;-)


