| From: | "Mark L. Neidengard" <mneideng@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Mirrors, Corners, the Past, the Future |
| Date: | Sun, 8 Mar 1998 13:31:22 -0800 |
important concepts on the table and I want to try to be as clear as possible.
According to Ereskanti:
>In a message dated 98-03-08 12:58:33 EST, mneideng@****.CALTECH.EDU writes:
>> I won't rule out strong AI's (especially since some people in the past saw
>fit
>> to use them on the list -_-) but I'm of the opinion that they should still
>> be
>> among the biggest scientific challenges facing 205x scientists.
>> -
>Okay, I am going to say this again...'Fiction'...'VR2'...
This is fiction, but it's not _ungrounded_ fiction. Sure, we could say
anything. I could stipulate that pigs could fly and politicians are honest
and any number of "unrealistic" things. But as this is a consensual reality,
we have to start from some common ground.
>The AI that is involved in the PBEM is NOT a creation, it's a spontaneous
>development that occurred some time ago. It's basis was from an MBT
>(Stonewall) SK Tactical and Navcom interface. Part of it's structure also
>came from the mentalities of the crew (yes, this is part I haven't explained
>yet) that were part of the tactical neural interface (even the combat mage
>with his datajack).
And I'm saying that I don't believe, based on either the structure of
Shadowrun or the real world, that such a thing could happen. For example,
as sophisticated as an MBT's tactical systems are in 205x, they aren't going
to be anywhere _near_ as complicated as the human brain - and there is very
good reason to believe that the human brain is approximately the _minimum_
level of complexity to support sentience.
>It's a very long story...
>Quit trying to overdetail it please.
I'd like to hear that very long story before I give my consent to such a
thing unfolding on ShadowTK. I may sound hostile here, but I have very strong
beliefs about the way technology works (and as a researcher in the field of
hardware design I think I'm entitled to many of them) and I emphatically
do not want to see this list overrun by AI's, Invae, or any number of the other
bugbears waiting in the wings. Can you tell us why your story requires a
true AI as opposed to any number of other dramatic devices that could be
adapted to the same purpose?
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Grad, VLSI http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
