From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cactus.org!wixer!sparky Mon Nov  9 09:36:37 EST 1992
Article 7498 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cactus.org!wixer!sparky
>From: sparky@wixer.cactus.org (Timothy Sheridan)
Subject: Re: Artificial Life Processing Power
Message-ID: <1992Nov3.062019.21928@wixer.cactus.org>
Keywords: AL Human Life
Organization: Real/Time Communications
References: <1992Nov2.080921.9421@netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 06:20:19 GMT
Lines: 44

In article <1992Nov2.080921.9421@netcom.com> lamorte@netcom.com (R. Scott LaMor
te) writes:
>
>I'm doing some research for a story I'm writing on Artificial Life,
>and this seems like the best place to get a little info.
>
>It is my understanding that the level of complexity of existing AL is
>several factors simpler than even the simplest amoeba. And although
>I'm not sure what the relationship is between the complexity of a
>amoeba and a human is, I'm sure it's astronomical.
>
>So here's my main drift: how much processing power would it take to
>simulate a human being down to the cellular level? And how long until
>we have a computer powerful enough to process this info in real time?
>Are we talking 50 years? 500 years? What?
>
>Perhaps another approach is this: how much simplification can we get
>away with, and still "grow" and simulated human from a simulated
>zygote?
>
>What I am assuming here (and this is open to debate) is that a
>sufficiently detailed simulated (physical) brain, in a simulated body,
>raised in a simulated environment, will develop intelligence without
>the need for top-down programming.
>
>-Scott


If you keep your simulated friend simple (max headroom was a good
aproximation) then 25-40 years should due just fine by some seasoned
predictors..

Hans Morevek (sp) "mind Children" is a good scorce of the complexity isues
and trends in computer developmet.

If you think about it though, the amount of data that we pou put is very
small but its complexity is large.  Todays computers put out lots of data but
at lower complexity.   So the inteligence of the future will be measured in
its bulk performance as well as its congeaneality.....

Also 3 dimentional holograms have perhaps the highest storage capabilities of
any up-n-comming technology...they should be quite havdy.

Tim


