Hm.
If I implement a neural-networking algorithm on my computer and present it with a set of prototypical images until it reliably recognizes pictures of rabbits, would you say I have not programmed my computer to recognize rabbits?
If so, what verb would you use to describe what I've done?
You've implemented a neural network (rather simple) and made it to self-organize to recognize rabbits. It was self-organized following outside sensory input (this is only one way direction of information flow, another direction would be sending controlling impulses to network output, so that those impulses would affect what kind of input the network receives).
Today's post, Heading Toward Morality was originally published on 20 June 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).
This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was LA-602 vs RHIC Review, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
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