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Article 3751 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: sci.logic,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: 2 laws of Classical Logic
Message-ID: <17949@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 14 Feb 92 17:19:17 GMT
References: <1992Feb11.013731.28456@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Feb11.192239.24751@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Feb12.232100.893@news.media.mit.edu>
Organization: Edinburgh University
Lines: 43

In article <1992Feb12.232100.893@news.media.mit.edu> minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>In article <1992Feb11.192239.24751@psych.toronto.edu> christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green) writes:
>>In article <1992Feb11.013731.28456@psych.toronto.edu> christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green) writes:
>>>In article <1992Feb10.190407.17278@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> dlyndes@deltahp.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
>>>>"In 50 years, if we're nice to them
>>>> computers will keep us around as
>>>> pets."

>>>                                           This isn't anonymous. It was said
>>>                                           by either Alan Newell or Marvin
>>>                                           Minsky. Moreoever, I believe it
>>>                                           said 25 years ago. Better get 
>>>                                           working!

>>Ah ha! It was Minsky. It's cited in John Searle's _Minds, Brains, and Science

>I think it was from a very inaccurate article in Life Magazine a long
>time ago -- shortly before it went broke.  I'm sure Newell didn't make
>this joke, and I'm sure that it was me XOR Fredkin.  But I don't know
>which.  Either does he. 

Samuel Butler first expressed this idea a century ago:

	There is no security against the ultimate development of mechanical
	consciousness in the fact of machines possessing little 
	consciousness now ....
	Man shall become to the machines what the horse and dog are to us.

	[Samuel Butler, 1835-1902, "Erewhon"]

At the time of the Great Fright over the Japanese 5th Geneneration
Threat, when the UK Govt was setting up the Alvey Programme, Fredkin was
interviewed on British TV and repeated this "keep us as pets" notion.
There is a story that Thatcher saw this, exclaimed "These AI people are
obviously complete lunatics" and insisted on revising upwards the level
of industrial funding required by Alvey research projects in an attempt
to inject some sanity into the research.

Since you ask, no it didn't, as a matter of fact :-)
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205


