Sunday, October 20, 2013

What Can't a Computer Do?

Or more precisely what is it that software cannot be programmed to do?

I had to think about this today. Recently, I have been convinced that Super Computers (at the very least) are far more intelligent than any human presently is. But, I don't think you could define it as in intelligence because the way a computer works is more like the way someone plays chess, by eliminating moves by trying them in their minds. So, for a computer to out fox a human it would have to try every possible move in a given situation theoretically and elminate the 50,000 to 100,000 that didn't work before it could only (appear) to outwit a human just like Watson did to every player on Jeapordy a few years ago. In other words "IBMs" Watson is the Jeapordy champion of the world for all time up until now.

And it is predicted by computer scientists that something under 1000 dollars you will be able to buy by the 2020s that is smarter likely than anyone you know in certain subjects. This is quite a statement but never the less it is true.

Maybe this is what begins the actual Singularity, when anyone can buy an Iphone as smart as a person on Earth which likely could, if used properly, double the intelligence of all human life on earth within 6 months to a year (used properly). Imagine that!

But, what software cannot be programmed to do yet is to have instinct and intuition. However, that doesn't mean that software couldn't be programmed to "Mimic" instinct and intuition. And if that happened, "What actually would be the actual rather than theoretical difference between that intelligence and any other intelligence? Except that you likely would know it wasn't human.

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