Ghost in the machine

[Darth Omedus]

I believe the title is self explaining.
Yesterday i saw the movie I,Robot and it got me thinking.Is it possible for "machines" to develop "thought" and create something similar to human psyche?
Will they ever be able to learn and adapt accordingly?

Honestly,i don't know what to belive.I keep telling to myself that none of the above is practically feasible but i have my doubts.What if those glitches of code are not a few simple "bugs" but a pattern of "thought" unknown to human awareness?
On the other hand,"machines" do what they are programmed to do.No more,no less.You just input data,"it" procceses the data,other data and results comes out.Here is an interesting example i read in a book once:
 You take someone and you put him in a huge box-shaped metal room.This room has only two small openings:one on the left and one on the right.Then you give him instructions on how to do a simple task.Papers are coming in from the left opening.His task is to copy,calcute data on the sheets of paper coming in and then pass it through the right opening.That is his job,what he is "programmed" to do.He doesn't care why he is doing it or whatever lies beyond his "prison".
A computer pretty much works the same.

BUT WHAT IF(i guess there is always a but and a what if) someday he/she/it decides to discover what lies beyond the great metal wall?

I believe this thread raises more questions than answers but you are welcome to post your opinions and thoughts about this controversial issue.

[Nightmare]

BUT WHAT IF(i guess there is always a but and a what if) someday he/she/it decides to discover what lies beyond the great metal wall?

If we're talking about a computer here, then the answer is no "it" never does that. Not unless it is somehow programmed to do or experience with things outside its main task (the copying/calculating thing). Personally I don't believe in computers ever having things like curiosity, etc. If it decides to check what is behind the wall it's only because of some logarith which resulted in doing task B instead of task A (so the "check what is behind the wall"-task has to be pre-programmed).

I'm not an expert when it comes to AI but still think movies like Terminator are pure sciencefiction.

[Hullu]

Computers and machines of this day, no. I don't think so. They do what they are programmed to do, nothing else. When we have alarm clocks waking you up when it's good time, not when the owner sets time, then I'd believe more into it.

[Sparrisen]

My bro told me that they've managed to create creativity within computers, by randomly shutting off certain parts. This is kinda interesting because it explains why I have my best ideas while drunk, tired or otherwise fucked up.

[Hullu]

This is kinda interesting because it explains why I have my best ideas while drunk, tired or otherwise fucked up.

That's normal.

[Sparrisen]

Yes, but it unnerved me that I'd be as SMARTEST when I really was as DUMBEST.

It's like. WTF.

[Demolishor]

as mentioned in previous posts, not with today's technology. however, computers have already surpassed humans in terms of logic, because basically it's math and probalities put into practice. although the computers of today can only apply logic to simple things with rules like chess. life itself has infinite possibilities and it would take eons for a computer to go trough all of them with it's logic before deciding what action to take. In order to create a computer that could "live" we would have to come up with way to limit the possible actions to a minimum, like a normal person would do when pondering what kind of a decision to make. (a sane person would automatically discard the options that for an example lead to his/her death) then the computer could ponder them logically and come up with a good answer in a small amount of time. it also needs a way to update it's system by obtaining new data and a system that let's it learn from it's possible errors.

hmm. that would be it, if this was a topic about creating a machine that could think. however you also mentioned the cases where ghost's are created within a machine by accident. there are theories about the internet becoming an another world that was and is being created by humans. which would mean that the first "life forms" created entirely by man were computer viruses. However, computer viruses of today are too much like real viruses, meaning they are not alive. just like a real virus, which is just some dna or rna enclosed in a protein shell, computer viruses are just programming code packed so, it can travel trough the internet and attack computers without a proper defense system.

In an anime with a similar name (ghost in the shell sac) combat robots called tachikomas seem to have an operating system that allows them to act independently and make their own decisions when needed. However, it's turns out to be too "smart" for combat robots as they become interested with the concept of souls and death. The problems their "consciousnessies" face are similar to what real life versions of inteligent would probably ponder, for an example, is dying different from having one's data deleted.

 I'm not saying that it's not entirely impossible for an AI to develop a consciousness all by itself, after all, for an example, computer games often try to simulate what kind of action would a person take in a similar situation (the basic theory behind a bot) If an AI suddenly became conscious, what do you think it would do? in terminator and matrix they became man's worst enemy. In Isaac Asimov's sci-fi books, robots were built to serve humans and the three laws of robotics protected humans from a robotic armageddon. Asimov's robots are "perfect humans" without a desire for wealth, destruction or power. what kind of AIs will shape our future? something like the three above or perhaps something a little more "human"?