on the moment when AI comes alive Here’s a couple of examples of a common trope in science fiction. Terminator II: Judgement Day (1991): The Terminator: “… [Skynet] goes online on August, 4th 1997. Human decisions are removed from Strategic Defense. Skynet begins learning at geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. eastern timeContinue reading “The Sixth Day”
Tag Archives: science-fiction
Why Didn’t We Go Back to The Moon?
Notes on Progress TIME MACHINES Human bodies are time machines. My grandfather, born in 1896, grew up in the “wild west” of California: horses, buggies, the occasional train. Before he died, he flew 400 mph in a jet airliner as big as a building and watched men walk on the moon. But what happened duringContinue reading “Why Didn’t We Go Back to The Moon?”
The Human Essence Assumption
This is an assumptions that are almost always made in science fiction, and often made in non-fiction writing about AI. I am interested in the straightforward way we understand and accept this assumption, before we have had a chance to examine it or question it, as we do when we are casually watching science fictionContinue reading “The Human Essence Assumption”
I. The Latitude of Falling Sparks
Everybody who is my age or older can remember exactly where there were the day they heard about The Amazing Journey of Colonel Eratosthenes Smith. It was that kind of thing. If you’re too young to remember then forget about it. You have no idea. It’s like that moon landing thing. To you and me,Continue reading “I. The Latitude of Falling Sparks”
CHARLES GILLINGHAM 