X-Message-Number: 15944 Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 09:04:47 -0800 From: "H. Keith Henson" <> Subject: Re: about machine intelligence etc >Sabine Atkins <> wrote: > >Also I want to recommend these books to everybody: "The Moral Animal" by Robert Wright, >"The Origins of Virtue" by Matt Ridley - - and of course "Goedel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas >Hofstadter. These are excellent books, especially _The Origins of Virtue_ by Matt Ridley. However, I would like to point out that humans *and* computers are respectfully subject to being infested with replicating information patterns, called memes in the human case and computer viruses in computers. Most of the time these RIPs are helpful or at least harmless, but we all have seen that really harmful ones come along and convert nice people or useful machines into something quite harmful. Your suggestions as to how to prevent such infestations from spreading among AIs like foot and mouth disease would be highly appreciated. I am at present deeply involved in dealing with a rather dangerous human RIP. http://freehenson.da.ru/ Which should be updated shortly to reflect the latest motion in court to disqualify a corrupted district attorney's office. Keith Henson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15944