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From: craig@unicus.UUCP (Craig D. Hubley)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest
Subject: Re: Intelligent Nanocomputers
Message-ID: <2152@unicus.UUCP>
Date: 2 Feb 88 03:12:09 GMT
References: <8801180618.AA08132@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <724@zippy.eecs.umich.edu>
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Reply-To: craig@unicus.com (Craig D. Hubley)
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>In article <8801180618.AA08132@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> GODDEN@gmr.COM writes:
>> [...] the book >Engines of Creation< by K. Eric Drexler of MIT. [...]
>>it is not necessary to first understand intelligence.  All one has to do is 
>>simulate the brain [...] a complete hardware simulation of the brain can be 
>>done [...] in the space of one cubic centimeter [...] h a machine could then
>>just be allowed to run and should be able to accomplish a man-year of
>>work in ten seconds.  
>
>The breathtaking simplicity of the idea is awesome.  Of course, some
>technological advances will be necessary for its realization, but note that
>to attain them, it is not necessary to understand technology ... all one has
>to do is simulate its development.  A complete hardware simulation of the
>U.S. technological enterprise can be done in the space of one cubic meter
>(see appendix A) ... such a machine could then just be allowed to run, and 
>should be able to accomplish a century of progress in one hour.

The bounding factor on progress thus becomes imagination.  One could 
argue that this has always been the case anyway.  The human race's
primary occupation would then become dreaming up strange ideas for
it's computers to chew on, prove/disprove, design and build.
This seems almost natural, since our primary occupation has changed
over the past three hundred years from manual labour through
operating machines to moving information around.  

The so-called `Third Wave' of information technologies has only
recently (within the last ten years) been widely recognized as such.
It seems that you only sees the waves as they wash over you.

Drexler's arguments, for those of you who haven't read the book,
are broadly-based and in places expressionistic, though his appendices
spell out in some detail his reasoning, and several chapters contain
a sort of `question and answer' section where what must be the most
commonly asked skeptical questions are themselves addressed.
This is an intriguing technique of `compressing discourse' that
more controversial books might benefit from, that is, an explicit
answer to questions that otherwise would nag and bias the reader.
If the answers are unsatisfactory, so be it.  At least they are 
there to refute.

I think it noteworthy that I've seen Drexler's name and book mentioned
in several electronic and a few conversational forums, and not once 
did I ever hear an argument that he didn't explicitly address in his book.
Nor have I heard a credible refutation of any of his points.  On the contrary,
I have heard nothing but enthusiastic recommendation of the book from those
who've read it and receptivity to the ideas from individuals qualified in
the specific fields concerned, from computing to molecular biology to 
business.  Some of these individuals were very much skeptics at heart.

I guess I won't be comfortable until I hear somebody *flame* the damn book!

After all, it's annoying to have to just wait around wondering if I'll
ever be able to solve problems just by thinking of them, live forever
(barring accidents) in whatever environment I choose, and live in a 
body fortified by a truly formidable defense and immune system.
If it's coming soon, I don't see much point in doing anything other than
working on it, for those of us in technical fields.  To solve the
pollution, resource, food problems at once as a side effect!  

I'm afraid that reading this book puts truly big ideas into one's head.
Don't read it unless your head is big enough to contain them.  :-)
And won't *someone* please flame the book!!!

	Craig Hubley, Unicus Corporation, Toronto, Ont.
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