For now. That'll change over the next couple decades.JOZeldenrust wrote:Indeed. Computers are in many ways already smarter hen we are, but they aren't conscious. It'll be more then a couple of decades before computers become conscious, as the way computers are constructed doesn't lend itself well to the emergence of consciousness: there is only a symbolic link between the "mind" (the hard drive, RAM and processor, mostly) of the computer and its "senses" (input devices). Computers don't "mean" anything. It's the human users that assign meaning to what a computer does.hackenslash wrote:Roger Penrose might disagree with that. See The Emperor's New Mind.Ian wrote:Computers. In a couple decades, they'll be smarter than we are.
Computers are already millions of times faster than people in terms of abilities to calculate information (nevermind accuracy), but in terms of congitive abilities, pattern recognition, creativity, learning potential, etc., the most powerful machines today are about as smart as a mouse. A couple years ago, they were as smart as an insect. Enter Moore's Law - by 2030, give or take a couple years, they'll be as smart as a person, but with the sort of blinding speed we're used to now. Once that happens, they'll be able to recursively improve upon their own designs. Given the means to do so uninterrupted, and the first one with this ability will very quickly achieve a tremendous level of true, independent, sentient intelligence, far greater than any human being. Theoretically, of course.
