/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/

	Re: Is Durandal really AI?
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 7/25/02 8:07 a.m.
	In Response To: Re: Is Durandal really AI? (Agent Shem) : What about our character? He was supposedly manufactured : in a battleroid factory. What is "manufactured" but being "put : together by hands". The word says nothing about the end result. There is a big difference between being a remanufactured and cybernetically-enhanced human and being a totally artificial construct. Presumably, our own intelligence and ability to think, reason and be self-aware stems from our very human brain, even if it is cybernetically enhanced. What we don't know is how much of our intelligence stems from our previous existence as an ordinary human soldier and how much from the added cybernetic implants. We know from somewhere in some terminal, I believe, that our memory of our pre-cybernetic existence is poor to nonexistent - very likely because of our having been dead and as a result of neuronal degeneration after death. I would assume that the process for manufacturing a battleroid involves repair of degraded neuronal pathways, but that memories cannot be restored. There has been a suggestion that some of the dream sequences and perhaps the Gherrit White terminal stem from memories of our past. All-in-all, however, our satience is human - perhaps with artificial enhancements - but human in origin. : But then again, under my denfinition, and ant or a bee is not : possessed of life! Maybe there's something more to life than free will? Ah, the definition of life is something else entirely. Most scientists define life in terms of the ability to take in resources from the environment, process them and to replicate or reproduce. By this definition, however, there are self-replicating membranes that can be created in a laboratory that could be considered a life form. Clearly most would take exception to that. And it is fully possible to make a machine that could be considered a life form in that it could be designed to mine raw oar, process it into metals and manufacture identical machines that do the same. Intelligence and satience are also two relative concepts that need not go together. If satience refers to being self-aware, then most mammals and a number of more advanced reptiles and birds would probably qualify. Intelligence depends on the measures involved. I think that what distinguishes human intelligence from that of other life forms on earth is that we are self-aware, that we can examine the nature of our own intelligence and that we have the ability to go beyond the constraints of our own initial programming - to grow and to pass our knowledge on to succeeding generations. Artificial intelligence is an interesting concept, and it doesn't necessarily refer to self-awareness. Most computer engineers would consider AI to involve the ability of a computer program to interpret information, to make decisions based on that input and, particularly, to learn form experience. An artificial intelligence can thus modify its own program to better respond to the same set of inputs the next time around. Do AI's think? There is a very interesting book on the Metaphysics of Star Trek - I don't recall the author - that asks the question - Is Data alive? I'm sure that there are many more scholarly books on the subject of AI, but it's not clear that an artifical intelligence, even if it could be self-aware, which is a big if by itself, could ever evolve into a construct that is capable of free will. Can a machine truly want something, or is artificial desire merely the result of programming. For that matter, could the same be said of us? Who knows what might happen, given a sufficient substrate (computer core) and an intelligent, self-learning program. I think that from the standpoint of Marathon, Durandal is clearly an AI, is clearly self-aware and has free-will, so long as he can get a rather clumsy cyborg to do his bidding. He is not, however, alive.

[ | Message Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg ] Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

	Is Durandal really AI?	Agent Shem	7/24/02 7:43 p.m.
	Re: Is Durandal really AI?	Mark Levin	7/24/02 8:29 p.m.
	Re: Is Durandal really AI?	some guy	7/24/02 10:44 p.m.
	Re: Is Durandal really AI?	Agent Shem	7/25/02 6:36 a.m.
	Re: Is Durandal really AI?	Steve Levinson	7/25/02 8:07 a.m.
	Re: Is Durandal really AI?	Scifiteki	7/26/02 12:35 a.m.

Problems? Suggestions? Comments? Email maintainer@bungie.org Marathon's Story Forum is maintained with WebBBS 5.12.