[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Derek

Also, I don't think an AI will ever have the sort of instincts that a human has. I don't see an AI actually having a self-preservation instinct or a mothering instinct or anything like that, at least, not without them being programmed in, and that doesn't count.

Hmm. Without programming, how could you ever have AI to begin with?

Concerning self-preservation, at least, Asimov's Third Law would seem to have this covered.

1. A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Not saying that AI would necessarily have to be governed by these very Laws, but you'd have to establish some sort of framework, wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by evay

The problem will not be sentient AIs; the problem will be stopping them from wiping us out as ugly bags of mostly water. We are inefficient in a way they will not be. The only hope for us is to give the AIs superego, conscience, and "souls" so that they see us as part of IDIC and not an impediment to their rule of the planet.

See again the "Three Laws of Robotics" above. The addition of the "Zeroeth Law" would probably be a whole 'nother question.

I believe but cannot prove there's intelligent life on planets other than this one. The universe is just too honkin' big for us to be that unique..

I'd be in complete agreement with you on that one -- it's statistically unlikely, to say the least, that we'd be alone in the Universe.


Edit: spelling brain-fade. Any other errors in this post are entirely my fault.