Meet the real Skynet. It's name is LES.

[karadan]

So I read about this project yesterday. It is very ambitious and I'm not really sure whether they'll be able to do everything they say but it is nonetheless, highly interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12012082

I can envisage a future article which goes something  like this:

"Next week scientists are going to turn on the decision engine for the Living Earth Simulator, or 'LES' for short. At which point, LES will no longer require humans to study incoming information, abolishing the time intensive practices of how best to use it. The 'inefficient' human factor will be replaced with the decision engine so that LES can easily dissect the information and make instant decisions based upon the real time data continuously coming in. Scientists expect the upgrade will enable LES to solve problems like overpopulation and global warming within a few days of it going live."

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On another note, I also read this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12419672

Apparently the amount of data stored in the world on over 60 forms of media works out to be about 295 Exabytes. I wonder how long it will be till I can have that sort of storage on my phone

[The Magic Pudding]

S Scientists expect the upgrade will enable LES to solve problems like overpopulation and global warming within a few days of it going live."

Propose a solution maybe, doesn't mean we'll listen.

[history_geek]

S Scientists expect the upgrade will enable LES to solve problems like overpopulation and global warming within a few days of it going live."

Propose a solution maybe, doesn't mean we'll listen.

I think I've seen those movies...

 

[karadan]

S Scientists expect the upgrade will enable LES to solve problems like overpopulation and global warming within a few days of it going live."

Propose a solution maybe, doesn't mean we'll listen.

At which point LES makes the decisions for us.  

[SSY]

Not hopeful to be honest. Computers have never really been very good at inferring novel correlations between data sets, more processing power, more data and more integration seem unlikely to solve this problem imho.

[Ultima22689]

Not hopeful to be honest. Computers have never really been very good at inferring novel correlations between data sets, more processing power, more data and more integration seem unlikely to solve this problem imho.

Good thing computer logic will never be the same in less than fifteen years. Computers are beginning to change drastically and these teams are aware of that as projects like these that sound grandiose keep popping up, many of them backed by big money. I hope this project finds success, such a computer, in the right hands can make the world a far better place than it is now.

[ForTheLoveOfAll]

SHIT, I take it these people have never read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

Last thing the world needs is a super-intelligent, rogue AI.

However, projects like this do excite me. Hopefully it'll do humanity some good.

[terranus]

Scientists expect the upgrade will enable LES to solve problems like overpopulation and global warming within a few days of it going live."

So could I, if I ever managed to find my way into some type of political power. Don't think my solution would be well-liked, though. Me and SkyNet see eye to eye on a few things.

[Heretical Rants]

SHIT, I take it these people have never read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

Last thing the world needs is a super-intelligent, rogue AI.

dude, are you honestly worrying about this because of some old speculative fiction or are you joking?

[joeactor]

... anybody been watching IBM's "Watson" beat the pants off of two Jeopardy champions?

It's a three-day, million dollar show.  The last one's tomorrow.

Pretty fascinating to watch.

 

[karadan]

... anybody been watching IBM's "Watson" beat the pants off of two Jeopardy champions?

It's a three-day, million dollar show.  The last one's tomorrow.

Pretty fascinating to watch.

 :yay:

[ForTheLoveOfAll]

SHIT, I take it these people have never read I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

Last thing the world needs is a super-intelligent, rogue AI.

dude, are you honestly worrying about this because of some old speculative fiction or are you joking?

Eh. Let's just say it's an illogical subconscious fear of mine due to reading some stuff at a young age that produced some high octane nightmare fuel.

But no, I'm not seriously worried about something like that happening. The thought of artificial intelligence excites me, but fact remains that humanity should proceed with caution with such things.

Who's to say that a super intelligent mind existing within a computer, who could within the fraction of a second determine that what we want for it to do is not the most logical or efficient way of doing it, could cause untold havoc? Even if it's only in frying it's own circuts?

We just don't know, as of yet. But I think it'll be a good outcome.