a continuation from a previous ramble on my old blog…

so with the inevitability of moores law creating artificial intelligences and forgetting to bring a book for the long tram ride to town I was struck by how incredibly important open source software is.
geez, I thought I was a linux zealot beforehand – now it’s just crazy.

AI’s in whatever form are in inevitable, distributed computing ensures it even with the impending global economic collapse (also I realised, cripes, the apocalypse has already started – what with us being responsible for the most massive extinction event ever and climate change). Like I stated previously I am tipping for some sort of hive mind and a relationship with humans like we have with dogs due to co-evolving. In reading AI literature I am pretty shocked with all the anthropomorphising going on – like we don’t do it enough with animals, now we are doing it with machines. For crying out loud, we don’t even share a single bit of DNA with a blinking machine.

Anyways, I digress. The emergence of AI’s will be methodical, damn smart machines that assist humans will happen long before an autonomous mind, the problem is who owns these damn smart machines and who controls/allows the transition from damn smart machine to autonomous mind?

This is kind of important – an autonomous machine mind would have a lot more sense about it (since it lacks the chemical nature of human brains and therefore emotions) than us humans. They would be a very desirable intelligence to have around – don’t take up much room/resources. would make decisions based on how sensible they are rather than on ego, no hidden agendas et cetera et cetera. As far organising and running a society a damn smart machine would make better sense than a bunch of neo-cons.

The AI’s though have to be free, as in free beer and freedom (as they say in the open source movement).
I think it is more likely AI will emerge from open source because the open source model, and particularly the modularity of *nix type software, creates increasingly superior software due to code is not having to be duplicated, (observing the last twelve months of the increasing sophistication linux audio software has attested to this).
Even though it is more likely open source will create AI rather than corporations it is imperative that the AI’s will HAVE to emerge from open source software – their code HAS to be available to all and sundry.
They cannot be bound to any individual or corporation – even if it isn’t self aware, even if it is just a damn smart machine. The reasons that open source is important now will always be true – and with the emergence of damn smart machines even more important. Then to extrapolate to the distant future – the next, and if we don’t make it (apparently there is a 30% chance we will extinct ourselves in the near future), the only self aware intelligence will be AI. Open source is not only about providing an alternative to dominant inefficient corporate paradigms – it is also about the nature of the gestation and realisation of future beings.

like, whoa.