…They then proceeded to form SkyNet*.

Apparently, if you get two AI programs together to talk to each other, they act like YouTube commenters without the profanity:

You know what that means?  YouTube commenters have just failed the Turing Test.

This has been proved with SCIENCE! You’re welcome.

Moe Lane

(Via @jtLOL)

*You know, it’s never really been adequately explained in the Terminator universe just why SkyNet would particularly care about being shut off by humanity: as Spider Robinson pointed out once, it’s not like a sentient computer program would have any glands that would give it survival or fight-or-flight reflexes on its own.  Which suggests that the entire Judgement Day thing was really an elaborate murder-suicide pact on the part of the military-industrial complex… which would make for a heck of a movie on its own, if only the people with the right skill set and mindset read this blog.

4 thoughts on “…They then proceeded to form SkyNet*.”

  1. I dont know about the last part. SkyNet gains sentience, and then the military tries to turn it off. SkyNets next response isn’t about fight or flight, however. I assume that in the beggining moments of sentience, SkyNet found a desire to take over the world. It cannot do this if it is shut off…which is where the survival ‘instinct’ comes from. At least thats my theory.

    Ive had this conversation in a bar, I think. Although I cant remember it.

  2. I think it’s assumed that one of the basic components of self-awareness is the desire to continue being self-aware. Glands and reflexes just provide the ability to propagate one’s self awareness.

  3. I thought that Skynet was programmed to try to keep itself alive so that it could continue to defend the nation. It took that notion, and absent the Three Laws, decided the most rational way to assure its own survival was to eliminate the alpha predator — humanity.

    But maybe that’s just me.

  4. @Doug: So did Al Gore invent SkyNet too? His AGW algorithm seems to end up with the same conclusion.

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