Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: ward@tsnews.convergent.com (Ward Griffiths) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Some problems of super-intelligence Message-ID: Date: 12 Jan 91 03:29:13 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Convergent Technologies, San Jose, CA Lines: 43 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes: >Therefore, you will allocate some of your computer resources to a >logical immune system, just as you today allocate some of your >biological resources to a biological immune system. Here is one major >advantage your logical immune will have: it can learn from the >experiences of other entities. Your biological immune system is >entirely self-contained, making it robust and reliable in isolation. >But the downside is that your biological immune system does not >learn from the experiences of others. Every single biological >immune system must be exposed to an invader before it can develop >resistance to that invader. (Actually, some learning does occur, >via selective breeding; people with genetic susceptibility to infections >tend to die off before reproducing (at least historically this was >true). But this is completely useless to you once you have been born.) Actually, this is an area where technology has already had a profound impact on biological mechanisms. For about two centuries, we have had increasing abilities to prepare the immune system against attacks by specific invaders by the use of immunization. This is fundamentally equivalent to having one body learn from the experiences of others. Admittedly, the process is a step removed, and innoculation is rather like giving an AI a virus and letting it find a cure by itself as the body has to, rather than a direct transplant of a mass of antibodies produced in another body being like having a previously debugged anti-viral program transferred from the net. With appropriate nanotech, the antibodies could be directly mass-produced in fact, removing the (small but existent) risk of infection by an immunizing agent. <( Looking at the above paragraph, I see that I am rambling badly. I hate product deadlines and their associated fatigue poisons. There's another area where AI up/downloading and nanomachine biological maintenance would come in real handy. )> -- The people that make Unisys' official opinions get paid more. A LOT more. Ward Griffiths, Unisys NCG aka Convergent Technologies =========================================================================== To Hell with "Only One Earth"! Try "At Least One Solar System"! How many years must some people exist, before they're allowed to be free? PP&M If they have to wait until they're allowed, they never will be. Me