Supermodelling

Author’s note:  If possible, you should play the song Spiraling Shape, by They Might Be Giants, while reading this blog entry.

Listening to people complain is rarely entertaining and I did feel a little bit guilty for complaining about the state of AGI a few days ago.  Nevertheless, I’m going to complain some more in this blog post.  After this, having purged my mental digestive system of accumulated toxic waste, I will be able to move forward with cheerful optimism.

I’m interested in figuring out how to build AGI systems, and so if some claim or topic of discussion gets bandwidth, it is worthwhile if (and to the extent that) it imposes specific requirements on AGI implementation.  If a topic of study or discussion leads to no such requirements, or if the imposed constraints are too fuzzy to pin down specifically, the result is not helpful.  Unhelpful topics which are so interesting that they recurringly or continually suck up large amounts of mental energy and conversation I call Mind Traps.

There’s nothing wrong with playful or speculative forays into potential dead ends, but nasty Mind Traps sap our insight, time, and sanity.

Unfortunately, those stuck in Mind Traps do not agree that the subject of their attention is a sinkhole of futility, so most AGI folk will strongly disagree with me about some or all of my list of Mind Traps.

Rather than belligerently rail against these topics, I am simply going to list them.  My hope is that some reader someday when considering one of these topics as they think about building AGI will ask:  “What specific constraint does this place on an AGI implementation?  Is it really helping me understand, design, or build an AGI?  If there is a specific impact, is it really likely to be the best way to look at the issue at hand?”

Mind Traps (when you see these words or phrases, Run Away):

• Turing Machine
• The Halting Problem
• Computability Theory
• Godel’s Theorem
• Kolmogorov Complexity
• Model Theory
• Mind As Evolution
• Mind As Economy
• Mind As … (hint:  Mind is Mind, not something else)
• Consciousness
• Qualia
• Meaning
• Identity
• Game Theory
• Evolutionary Psychology

Thank you for your attention.  Which useless dead ends did I miss?

1. 
   Vladimir Nesov said...
   12:02 pm - November 4th, 2008

   Unfortunately, there is no simple strategy for allocating the right amount of thought on particular topics. The only way is to go with knowledge, understanding topics that look relevant, and deciding in each case on their merits for your current path. Resolving popular confusions might prove the strength of your approach, it’s sitting on a strict diet of confused thinking that becomes lethal.