Look For AI, Not Aliens 452
krou writes "Writing in Acta Astronautica, Seti astronomer Seth Shostak argues that we should be looking for 'sentient machines' rather than biological life. In an interview with the BBC, he said, 'If you look at the timescales for the development of technology, at some point you invent radio and then you go on the air and then we have a chance of finding you. But within a few hundred years of inventing radio — at least if we're any example — you invent thinking machines; we're probably going to do that in this century. So you've invented your successors and only for a few hundred years are you... a "biological" intelligence.' As a result, he says 'we could spend at least a few percent of our time... looking in the directions that are maybe not the most attractive in terms of biological intelligence but maybe where sentient machines are hanging out.'"
Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Also a better way to CYA (Score:5, Funny)
Rather than broadcast from home, broadcast via a proxy, so that if hostile intelligence finds your broadcast, they won't necessarily find you.
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Let's just put up a giant flashing sign so Skynet can see us better. HEY, OVER HERE KILLER ROBOTS!
On the one hand, the complete annihilation of humanity (and perhaps all biological life on this planet)
On the other hand, the end of reality television shows.
That's a tough one.
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Also a better way to CYA (Score:4, Funny)
Let's put a relay on the Moon. If they come all the way thinking they'll find us all they'll see will be a big antena!
Re:Oh great (Score:3, Funny)
Be on the lookout for... (Score:3, Funny)
...non-reflective cuboids whose dimensions are in the precise ratio 1:4:9. They're often accompanied by a creepy atonal choir. Also, they might be full of stars. They were last seen in 2010 turning Jupiter into a mini-star.
PS - hands off Europa
Re:What's the difference... (Score:4, Funny)
... between looking for meat machines and metal machines?
Meat machines have the potential to be delicious.
Re:It gets sillier all the time. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"We're probably going to do that THIS century" (Score:3, Funny)
We were probably going to do that [invent AI] LAST century. "If we're any example" ... don't use us as an "example" until we've actually done it.
In 1983 I was a year away from getting a CompSci degree and attended the party for my "analysis of algorithms" GTA that was getting her MSc in AI. She said frankly at the party that the turning point was a system that actually *understood* language as well as a human 3-year-old, the point where we start understanding and creating arbitrary longer-than-4-word sentences. And that she was aware of no system on Earth that could.
I'm still not, and that's a good 40 years after it was first expected. HAL in 2001 was based on hard science and reasonable expectations of 1969. 10 years of hard work after that, computers have the whole Internet to troll for text, sound,images to learn from.
I'm not saying there's zero progress or that it can't be done. But it's become and extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary proof, not something to wave your hand and say "it'll happen, so just use us doing it as an example". Heck, we aren't doing that for fusion any more, and at least we have a THEORY for that, it's "merely" very hard engineering.
But our advertising technology far surpasses expectations!
Re:It gets sillier all the time. (Score:3, Funny)
Even we on Earth are already emitting more electromagnetic radiation than the sun
[citation needed]
Re:Also a better way to CYA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh great (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Newsflash (Score:3, Funny)
So it's easier than we thought - all we have to do is create the second sentient machine!
Re:It gets sillier all the time. (Score:1, Funny)
Take a critical thinking class. Perhaps then you will be able to post something other than complete bollocks [wikipedia.org].
Re:Oh great (Score:3, Funny)
Don't worry, we'll get reality television with killer mutants soon enough.
Kind of like the show Big Brother but with with no food? They don't vote you off the show, they just pick one person to cannibalize each week? The Power of Veto has never been more important, and you certainly don't want to be the fattest guy in the house. I might tune in for that.
Re:It gets sillier all the time. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oh great (Score:3, Funny)
Sci/fi to sci/fact?
No. SyFy to SyFak
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe we're just too primitive (Score:3, Funny)