X-Message-Number: 14703 From: "John de Rivaz" <> Subject: 'Virtual Anya' Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:31:16 +0100 From the web site: >>>>>>> Can a human being be recreated using electronics? Tomorrow's World reporter Anya Sitaram attempts to find out, by putting herself through the process of being digitally captured and mapped onto a computer. She then answers hundreds of questions set by a computer programmer, in an attempt to give her 'electronic clone' a personality. {after she answered these, the computer then generated a second set of questions "to determine her personality" -JdeR} Once the 'Virtual Anya' has been created, the real Anya puts it to the test by asking it some questions. The first set of answers given by the avatar, or virtual person, are generated from the answers Anya gave previously, and they're all correct. Anya then asks questions which the avatar must generate itself, using its own software and the database of knowledge it has been given about Anya's likes and dislikes. <<<<<< As I understood it, there was some sort of network produced by a digital (ie not hard wired neural net) computer program with weightings based on the facts from the first group of inputs and the result of the computer generated personality test from the second. The production of an image was an irrelevant side issue really, what is more interesting is the bit I just mentioned. No way am I suggesting that this technique could be used for survival of the individual. But I expect that such programs will be sold as toys or amusements in the near future and they could be used for experiments on identity and so on as long as one realises the limitations. That is to say even if these avatars can fool anyone into thinking they are a real person corresponding by email they still may not be anything like the real thing in the way they function. -- Sincerely, John de Rivaz my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, music, Inventors' report, an autobio and various other projects: http://www.geocities.com/longevityrpt http://www.autopsychoice.com - should you be able to chose autopsy? Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14703