Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!TAURUS.BITNET!shani From: shani@TAURUS.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: Re: Why? Message-ID: <19880926055658.8.NICK@INTERLAKEN.LCS.MIT.EDU> Date: 26 Sep 88 05:56:00 GMT Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 49 Approved: ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu ---- Forwarded Message Follows ---- Return-path: <@AI.AI.MIT.EDU:ailist-request@AI.AI.MIT.EDU> Received: from AI.AI.MIT.EDU by ZERMATT.LCS.MIT.EDU via CHAOS with SMTP id 195362; 19 Sep 88 18:19:22 EDT Received: from BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU (TCP 2224000021) by AI.AI.MIT.EDU 19 Sep 88 18:25:50 EDT Received: by BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU with sendmail-5.59/4.7 id; Mon, 19 Sep 88 18:07:06 EDT Received: from USENET by bloom-beacon.mit.edu with netnews for ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu (ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu) (contact usenet@bloom-beacon.mit.edu if you have questions) Date: 19 Sep 88 06:59:52 GMT From: TAURUS.BITNET!shani@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Organization: Tel-Aviv Univesity Math and CS school, Israel Subject: Re: Why? Message-Id: <867@taurus.BITNET> References: <6823@uwmcsd1.UUCP> Sender: ailist-request@ai.ai.mit.edu To: ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu In article <6823@uwmcsd1.UUCP>, markh@csd4.milw.wisc.edu.BITNET writes: > Why does anyone want artificial intelligence? > > What is it that you're seeking to gain by it? What is it that you would have > an intelligent machine do? Well, well waddaya know! :-) Not long ago, an endless argument was held in this newsgroup, reguarding AI and value-systems. It seem that the reason this argument did not (as far as I know) reach any constructive conclousions, is that the question above was never raised... So realy? what do we expect an intelligent machine to be like? Or let me sharp the question a bit: How will we know that a machine is intelligent, if we lack the means to measure (or even to define) intelligence ? This may sound a bit cynical, but it is my opinion that setting up such misty goals, and useing therms like 'intelligence' or 'value-systems' to describe them, is mainly ment to fund something which MAY BE beneficial (since research is allmost always beneficial in some way), but will never reach those goals... why who would like to fund a research which will only end up with easyer to use programming languages or faster computers? O.S. BTW: I wish it wasn't like that. It could be wonderful if RND financing was not goal-depended... all and all, the important thing is the research itself.