Aeonios

I reread that section, and you are correct, given that they don't tell you whether or not she is a feminist, it cannot be used as a criterion to determine whether or not she is a banker. However, I would say that the example, in typical public education style, is loaded and begs an incorrect answer. Since the only data you are given is insufficient to draw any conclusions, the participant is lead to speculate without understanding the limitations of the question.

As for "utility function", there are at least three reasons why it is not just wrong, but entirely impossible.

1: Utility is heterogeneous. Which gives you more "utility", a bowl of ice... (read 615 more words →)

I decided to read through the essays on facingthesingularity, and I have found more faults than I care to address. Also, I can see why you might think that the workings of the human mind are simple, given that the general attitude here is that you should go around maximizing your "utility function". That is utter and complete nonsense for reasons that deserve their own blog post. What I see more than anything is a bunch of ex-christians worshipping their newfound hypothetical machine god, and doing so by lowering themselves to the level of machine rather than raising machine to the level of man.

I'll give one good example to make clear what... (read more)

There are several reasons why I agree with the "Pascal's Mugging" comment:

1. Intelligence Explosion: There are several reasons why an intelligence explosion is highly unlikely. First, upgrading computer fabrication equipment requires on the order of 5-15 billion dollars. Second, intelligence is not measured in gigaflops or petaflops, and mere improvement of fabrication technology is insufficient to increase intelligence. Finally, the requisite variety that drives innovation and creation will be extremely difficult to produce in AIs of a limited quantity. Succeeding in engineering or science requires copious amounts of failure, and AIs are not immune to this either.

2.Computing Overhang: The very claim of "computing overhang" shows total ignorance of actual AI, and of the... (read 401 more words →)