An introduction

AI.
A handy acronym which covers multiple things. Otherwise known as confusing - in this case it is not about artificial insemination, but artificial intelligence.Or rather, it isn't. I have a problem with the word 'artificial'. It implies something is not entirely 'real'. In this sense, the term "artificial intelligence" implies to me the sort of intelligence that school leavers typically have. All that lovely creative thinking they were capable of when they started in school, gradually stripped away as they are trained, like performing animals, to pass tests and examinations.

They are left with the ability to perform tasks, certainly, but at the price in a reduction in their ability to intelligently come up with new and vibrant ideas. Computer AI is rather like this at the moment. Both the rules-based AI (or good old fashioned AI - GOFAI) and emergent, connectionist AI, are examples of problem solving through training, rather than through education and creativity. Of course, unsupervised systems in dynamic environments may be seen to be a different case, although there are not all that many examples of these about.

Through this blog, I plan to expand on my views of the field, and to touch on an area which many people do not even consider at the moment, except in terms of science-fiction - that of machine consciousness. I will explore the idea of NMI (Natural Machine Intelligence) and whether we might be able to achieve it. I will also bring in some ideas from Cybernetics, and some general comments on the sort of knowledge you might require if you want to study these things.

The next post will be trying to lay down some interpretations of the terms - it is remarkably hard to find concensus on the meaning of 'intelligence', 'consciousness' etc. So, for the purposes of talking about the subject, I will say what I intend when I use a particular word.