the machine that invents

[bill corcoran]

anyone happen to catch the headlining article of the st. louis post dispatch today (Sun. Jan 25th)?  "the machine that invents"...  i read it this morning, but i wish i had a copy now to review before i comment.  oh well.

kinda cool to see AI on the front page of the newspaper.  i'd be very interested to learn how this thing actually works.  i think the article leaves much to be desired in technical detail.

i'm also a little disturbed that the subject patented "a Device for the Autonomous Generation of Useful Information"...

left open to interpretation one might come to the conclusion that this guy patented something as generic as the human being.  please tell me that he didn't, and one can't, do such a thing.  maybe i'm being naive.  are there patents out there for "a Device for the Rapid Transportation of Digital Information" or "a Machine that Flies in the Air"?  then again, i think i read before that someone had patented the sandwich...

back on the topic of AI in general, i must reluctantly admit i do fear the potential for the technology evolving to the point where it surpasses human abilities.  there is also the very real danger of the right technology in the wrong hands.  is it really that far-fetched to think that such an advanced machine may come to exist, and that it can be given or develop the will and the power to do harm to humans?  i guess i watch too many movies or something, because i do find it believable that someday in the future people may lose their jobs or even their lives to machines...

what do you think?

[Brett]

I read that. Interesting article.

Some links:

Post Dispatch Article

Imagination Engines

Patent Info

[Guest]

Someday, we'll all be in whatever afterlife there is (insert religious dogma here).  We'll be shaking our heads and chuckling at the fact that the machines DID take over after all.

"What's so funny about it?" someone will ask.  Someone else, a more cynical fellow perhaps, will reply that we ignored every single movie, novel and short-story that pointed out that machines that can think for themselves are destined to take over.

We humans seem to excel at making our own beds then lying smack, dab in the middle of them...metaphorically speaking of course.

[Guest]

There are a lot of crazy patents out there.  For example someone patented using a laser to exercise your cat.  

The cat patent is here

Does anyone else know of anymore crazy patents?