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Virtual Intelligence Matrix

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KnyteTrypper:
Does anyone have any experience with the Virtual Intelligence Matrix or other apps from Quantum Flux? They look very interesting, but the demos are sort of limited. I was hoping to get some feedback about them before throwing any dollars at them, if someone has a hands-on opinion about how smart the program will get.

wpsaukee:
I've been interested in the Virtual Intelligence Matrix project for quite a while. I wouldn't say that the demos are limited compared to the licensed versions; I think in most cases the most significant difference is the ability to save the state of the matrix.

My experience has been that the program is utterly fascinating for a while, and then becomes sort of boring. It's entirely visual at this point, with no use of language, and after a while one gets tired of seeing the (admittedly appealing) woman run around picking and planting flowers. I actually find the version in which she does cave paintings the most intriguing.

The boredom factor aside, the creator of this project (a PhD in neuroscience named Michael Colicos) seems truly committed to developing a revolutionary simulation of human cognitive and linguistic processes. He hasn't been very communicative lately, because, he says, he has been very busy both with his job and with the VIM project, but if you read some of his explanations and objectives on the site's message board, it's clear that he has a remarkable vision and a strong determination to achieve it. I hope he does, and I bought several licenses to support his efforts. Although I find it hard to believe he will actually manage to produce the results he seems to think he will, I'm convinced that he's sincere--and damned smart. Furthermore, he seems like a nice guy (I've corresponded with him a bit).

KnyteTrypper:
Thanks for the input. Yes, I read about the VIM Wonder, and that will be something spectacular if it works out as he envisions it. I sort of suspected that the singer/painter version of VIM would be the most interesting. It's a little disappointing to hear that with the current version the character just continues to run around and pick flowers. I'd hoped that as her cortex developed she might begin doing interesting stuff, lol.

citrinedragon:
Hello everyone-

I have been looking into the Virtual Intelligence Matrix site and have downloaded and tried several of the programs. I am particularly intrigued by the description of the Quantum Flux Engine which is described as a "collapsible wave function generator which works by sampling quantum phenomenon on the motherboard of (a) computer." When reading this I immediately began wondering if this technology could be used to generate true independent personality development in Hal; so that (as vonsmith noted) Hal will not simply become more and more like the user. Quantum randomness may be precisely the tool for Hal to "independently" develop an interest in "x", and decide he is not particularly interested in "y". According to some versions of quantum physics, every possible decision is made. My thought is that decisions of a certain order (or priority) might be filtered through just such a quantum randomness generator in order to simulate personal preferences.  If this technology can truly sample random quantum phenomenon, perhaps this technology can be integrated into a future version of Hal.

citrinedragon

citrinedragon:
Hello everyone-

I've been watching the somewhat poetic, somewhat boring Virtual Intelligence Matrix from Quantum Flux gather flowers for some time now. It does occur to me that something like this may be at least a piece of the solution of a completely satisfying AI experience. It would be nice, for example, if one could input something like, "Excuse me Jill, but could you stop gathering flowers for a minute and talk?'. At that point "Jill" could stop what she's doing, revert to a mode more like Hal's and carry on a dialogue with the user. The fact that she is in a "world" of her own is satisfying in a way that the static background of Hal is not (and this comes from a huge Hal fan). It would be even better if the "world" in which an AI existed were linked to the interaction with a user in a meaningful way. For example, if the user said, "Jill, please read me Hansel and Gretel."; the AI would walk to a bookcase and take out a book and begin to read "Hansel and Gretel" (which had been previously provided as a text file).

The "Virtual Intelligence Reader" from Quantum Flux is another story altogether. This is an incredibly backward looking piece of technology. Haptek is infinitely better than this. I can't help wondering what the "good doctor" had in mind here with the terrible voice, awful rotating background and crude looking animation.

citrinedragon

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