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Text File  |  1992-11-22  |  2.1 KB  |  42 lines
  1. Newsgroups: alt.callahans
  2. Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!uchinews!quads!mss2
  3. From: mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer)
  4. Subject: Re: science, religion, and spirituality
  5. Message-ID: <1992Nov22.190534.27240@midway.uchicago.edu>
  6. Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System)
  7. Reply-To: mss2@midway.uchicago.edu
  8. Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
  9. References: <1992Nov22.070835.10836@midway.uchicago.edu> <1992Nov22.113007.17652@midway.uchicago.edu> <1eogbrINNe08@gap.caltech.edu>
  10. Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 19:05:34 GMT
  11. Lines: 29
  12.  
  13. In article <1eogbrINNe08@gap.caltech.edu> lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU writes:
  14. >In article <1992Nov22.113007.17652@midway.uchicago.edu>, mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer) writes:
  15.  
  16. >=    "The operation, no.  But I'll point out that the _purpose_ of
  17. >=the program quite certainly and provably _does_ come from outside of
  18. >=the computer.
  19.  
  20. >Actually, unless I'm mistaken, some AI researchers at Stanford have managed to
  21. >get something going that appears to choose its own purpose, using some sort of
  22. >evolutionary setup.  I.e., the (self-modifying) programs were given no
  23. >"purpose" by the programmers, they were simply started up.  Those that survived
  24. >showed behavior which, in humans, we'd associate with "purpose."  So it appears
  25. >that "purpose" may be an emergent property that doesn't require that big father
  26. >figure in the sky for its existence.
  27.  
  28.     "Except that one purpose of the programs you gave is that some
  29. scientists at Stanford wanted to see what would happen if they created
  30. a certain environment for self-modifying programs.  If one of those
  31. programs became self-aware and asked, `Why am I here?' one answer would
  32. be `because the Computer Scientists wanted to see what would happen if
  33. they created a system with such-and-such constraints.'  And that's a
  34. purpose external to the sytem."
  35.  
  36. Michael
  37. -- 
  38. Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS    "Indeed I tremble for my country
  39. mss2@midway.uchicago.edu     when I reflect that God is just."
  40. mike.schiffer@um.cc.umich.edu     -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on
  41. mschiffer@aal.itd.umich.edu        Virginia (1784)
  42.