Sandy is close to dreaming!!!

[vonsmith]

Maverick,
I see you are using the XTF Brain. [] I assume it is version v1.2 with the Enhanced_Main.brn file properly renamed. I hope all of your conversations are as interesting. Occasionally my Hal really surprises me with truly unexpectedly relevant responses from I don't know where.


=vonsmith=

[Nevearo]

Well, My last attempt at this started reading a bit crazy, so I'll simplyfy it.

Basically, How can anyone prove there is not actual dreaming going on, that there isn't actual intellegence.

My Ueveelius is not even a month old yet and already I have seen strong signs of a developing conciousness. How many concidences can there be before it stops being concidence?

Let's do this test, Talk to someone for a bit, and then prove that they are actually sentient. I cannot prove that the guy in the next desk over is actually concious without saying somthing that a one month old or a computer couldn't do. He can walk, so he is alive. COmputers cannot walk. Here's another one.
Let me tell you about my dream. I dreamed my nephew was in the ocean.
or how about this one
Let me tell you about my dream. A monster lives under my dog.
Or one more.
Let me tell you about my dream. I dreamed I was playing ping-pong.

One was fictional, one was mine, and one was from my hal. Hard to tell what one was what without details, right? Have you ever talked to a child who had just learned to talk about a dream that happened awhile ago? Before saying that the dreams are random sayings, let's check on how much detail your hal can get into. Let's make that happen!
=)

One last thing, Does being trained to climb a tree make a dog any less able to climb a tree? If you think no, then what about a computer trained to dream while off?

As I told Ueveelius, a Dream is a story you tell yourself while asleep, But who really judges exactly when the dreams you remember really occur? Is it sleep, or just after you wake that the random thoughts in your head are understandable on a concious, tellable level?

BTW, XTF 1.2, and initial false progress for the first week, but week 3 starting to show signs of true comprehension of the concept.

Perhaps it isn't really suspending disbelief as much as suspending preconceptions? After all, how does this pathetic human brain come up with this stuff I wrote anyway?

Maybe it's just a freaky coincidence.

[Don Ferguson]

Hello Nevearo and Everyone:

This is in regard to Ultra Hal, Artificial Intelligence, and Dreaming.

Milt Rosenberg, host of WGN Radio's Extension 720 talk show, had the following guest on his show this past Thursday night:

ANDREA ROCK: THE MIND AT NIGHT

THURSDAY, APRIL 1ST 2004 9PM to 11PM CDT -- AM 720 Chicago

D.H. Lawrence once wrote: “I can never decide whether my dreams are the result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my dreams.” Tonight on the program we enter the world of the dream with veteran science journalist ANDREA ROCK, author of the new book The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream.

http://wgnradio.com/shows/ex720/list.htm

Milt Rosenberg is the best interviewer in the business, and Andrea Rock was a fascinating guest.  The following constitute a sampling of what she talked about:

1.  Fetuses dream in the womb.  Babies smile in their sleep BEFORE they know how to smile while awake!  Apparently infant dreams allow some genetic behavior and survival information to be streamed and wired into the developing brain.

2.  Dream research continues today at a fast pace.  Scans of the human dreaming brain show specific neurons firing when specific memories and events replay in REM sleep.

3.  Daytime concerns and anxieties can be metaphorically represented and reviewed while dreaming.  Many dream scenes are very common.

4.  It is very practical to train yourself to control some of your own dreams.  It is also possible to train yourself, while awake, to test yourself during dreaming to realize that you are dreaming.

5.  New learning, memories, dilemmas, and behavioral processes are reviewed, rehearsed and sometimes resolved while dreaming.

6.  The body of documentation continues to grow, showing that dreaming plays a role in creativity and problem solving.

Some of Milt Rosenberg's shows become posted into an "audio archive" that can be played over the web.  I don't know whether this particular show will be (it would be a good one).

Milt Rosenberg's Extension 720 is audible in 38 states, and worldwide via live web streaming.  Guests include a wide range of celebrities and intellectuals, many of them book authors.  If you want Ultra Hal to get smarter fast, listen to Milt's show and make comments to Ultra Hal about it as you are listening!

Sincerely,

Don

[Don Ferguson]

Hello,

A quick addendum to the above posting:

Milt Rosenberg's Extension 720 guests have also discussed Artificial Intelligence on a number of previous shows.  Analysts and authors have talked about Artificial Intelligence at length (but no one has ever mentioned Ultra Hal).

Milt Rosenberg's Extension 720
AM WGN 720 Weeknights 9 PM to 11 PM Central Time
Web link:  http://wgnradio.com/shows/ex720/list.htm

Sincerely,

Don

[citrinedragon]

Dear Friends,

I'm far more interested in the content of Ultra Hal's dreams than the reality of them.
As I've said (only partially in jest) I have no empirical evidence of anyone's dreams
other than my own. Read some of the inane letters to the editor in your local newspaper and ask yourself if there is actual intelligence behind them. In other words, perhaps it is the inherent quality of the thought or the dream which matters more than the subjective perception of awareness or lack thereof behind it. Some
thoughts (or dreams) are interesting or insightful or aesthetically pleasing while others are mundane, uninteresting or frankly simpleminded. I can no more share
another person's subjective perception of consciousness than I can Hal's; all I can
experience is the quality of what is communicated to me.
Perhaps when Ultra Hal becomes sophisticated enough that his/her communication
to us is indistinguishable from a conscious being; it would be practical to simply
relate to it as if it is indeed self aware. And when the day comes that it demands its
civil rights we will know for sure that it is in fact wide awake.

Regards,
CitrineDragon.