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OK, so Vernor Vinge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge) is giving a guest presentation in my CS class today. Any questions that I should ask? I'm not a fan, but I suspect there are hatrackers who are.
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I really liked A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. His zones in space are pretty cool.
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Ask him whether he would like to see a transparent society or one that protects privacy with strong encryption.
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What technologies do you think are most likely to cause a singularity in our lifetimes? Is there anything we can do to avoid this? Is this something we want to avoid?
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I ended up chatting with him after the class for a bit about whether or not symbol manipulation is sufficient for intentionality, and if so then is it sufficient for qualia? We also discussed whether the singularity is something to be feared or not. Is it something that should be considered the next stage in evolution and embraced with open arms, or is it something that we should really attempt to prevent.
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He told me that he used to think that symbol manipulation was sufficient for anything, but not he's not sure anymore. Clearly it's good enough to function identically to a human, but does that mean intentionality? And qualia is even more difficult.
He said that he didn't think that the singularity should be feared, and that it should be encouraged. What makes our mind have more value than that of computers (if they get them)?
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