Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: rjenkins@.com (Robert Jenkins) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Some problems of super-intelligence Message-ID: Date: 31 Dec 90 23:42:19 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Oracle Corporation, Belmont, CA Lines: 21 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu ( I tried posting this idea a few weeks back; Josh, if I succeeded then, do not post this. ) Suppose we develop direct brain/computer interfaces. I imagine this means that accessing computer memory would seem the same to us as remembering things on our own. Then, if we build computers that can think faster than us, we could link to them, tell them our problems, then "remember" the computer's solutions. We could even remember the steps the computer used to reach those solutions. If we teach the computer to think like we do, how could we distinguish this from just solving the problems ourselves? For that matter, we could download all brainstorming, reasoning, and even judging of alternatives into computers of our own design, then just remember the appropriate results. The bandwidth required for remembering final results would be fairly small. The human nervous system would remain relatively intact, yet people could think (and invent and code) as fast as the top-of-the-line nanocomputers. - Bob Jenkins