Intelligent Systems And Their Societies

Why Build Complete, Autonomous Intelligent Systems?

The A.I. community of researchers does much work on the different functions of the brain such as picture recognition, knowledge representation and natural language understanding, but does relatively little to define and build a complete, autonomous intelligent system (IS). We believe that the total is more than its parts and that we need a systemic approach, meaning that we should study the system as a whole: in its totality. This should not replace research into the detail of intelligence, but should complement it, providing a general framework. Hopefully, later, all the detail work can be fitted in, each in its place.
On the question of why a humanlike intelligence needs a humanlike body, see Robert Kosara Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence (Exterior link).

Let's have a look at another aspect of the question. Why do many persons wish to build general purpose robots? We already have special purpose machines that can produce and do for us so many things! It is true that we have refrigerators and dish washing machines, we have the most complicated machines at the factory that produce many articles with great speed and accuracy, but they are good for just one job. They can drill 80 holes into an engine part at the same time, but humans have to operate and repair them.

In the household, some jobs are automated, for others we have excellent machines, but still persons have to operate the machines. It would be wonderful if human beings were liberated from daily work so that they can do only what they would like to do (like being creative or enjoy themselves), and still live very well. In this the robots can help us.
For opinions of why we should build personal robots, see Why build Robots (For continuos reading, like a book - do not enter here now) or The Original Idea (Exterior link) by Richard Greenhill.

What should be the shape of these robots? All the existing tools and machines are designed to be operated by persons. They are adapted to persons and therefore an artificial intelligent system (IS) that can operate them has to have hands and feet similar to a person. It has to have a body, like a doll, but it should not look menacing. Thus, we would suggest that it be about 4 1/4 feet (130 cm) high and have the weight and strength of the average person of this height.

Do They Really Think?
It is often said that computer programs, of the IS type, do not think, they are only simulating or modeling thought. Let's look at this as follows: We have no problems saying that birds fly. Likewise, we say that airplanes and even model airplanes fly. Yet, we say that a plane in a flight simulator program on a computer does not fly. Why is this?

The concept of flying originated with birds, we say that "a bird flies". Both full size and model airplanes fly because we see that they comply with all the main functions and the behavior of flying. But a plane in a flight simulator in a computer does not fly because it is only a two dimensional picture, many functions or actions of flying do not exist. There is no lifting sensation, there is no wind around the wings which supports the plane, so we say that it does not fly.

So what about artificial intelligent systems? We have to judge each IS as a separate case. Insofar as they comply with the main functions and processes of the brain, insofar we can say that they really think. We believe that is the case, for instance, in the General Learner (For continuos reading, like a book - do not enter here now) and some others.

For continuos reading, like a book - continue here.
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