Internet

Could the internet become conscious of itself, become alive, at some point when enough computers are logged on could that spark some kind of Internet A.I. (artifisual intelligence) Is something like this even possible? If it is, or it does, then what would the ramifications of that be?

Probably bad news for Google stock...

Originally posted by Buffalo Voice
Could the internet become conscious of itself, become alive, at some point when enough computers are logged on could that spark some kind of Internet A.I. (artifisual intelligence) Is something like this even possible? If it is, or it does, then what would the ramifications of that be?

That's a funny question. Maybe if it got a mind of it's own it could refuse to be censored by the government. It could stop google from restricting information .

I seriously doubt it. We cant even make true AI when we try.

Yeah, but if it ever happens, I hope it just plain blocks out the government, and ensures ATS never crashes.

I think this was the idea in the third Terminator movie. At the end of the movie the hero discovered that he was in a bunker and could not destroy the computers that Skynet was on because it was on the internet.

Sometimes it seems like my computer has a mind of its own already. However I believe it needs to be far superior to what I'm using now with much more advanced software before it seems to appear more human and more alive or conscious. I'm not even sure if we would even know if a consciousness developed on the net or elsewhere since we might just think it was an out of control program or virus. I suppose it might take an expert to tell us what it might take for the internet and all the connections involved with servers etc. etc. to mimic the connections in the brain so that the internet might have the possibility of imitating consciousness or become a thinking brain.

easy, no it is not possible. The reason is because in order for something like this to occur we would need an understanding of what "concious" is.
we have an idea but in order for artificial intelligence hardware/software combinations would be necesary. Like a neural network, supplemented by regular computer processes. This would be EXTREMELY difficult and even then it would be like a child and would have to learn for awhile.

The internet was not designed for this and nothing happens by a random "spark" in the digital world.

If you are interested in this, and can tolerate the highly scientific nature of it, MIT's artificial inteligence laboratory is a good place to start.

[edit on 14-4-2006 by XphilesPhan]

What about the 100th monkey effect? Or systems already on the internet that are currently using AI. Like the acoona search engine. Any one using acoona yet? I think it is about a year old and learns as it goes.

Turing's test for intelligence is based on responses on a computer terminal that are indistinguishable from human. By returning answers to random questions, an artificially intelligent device would be completely humanlike in its responses.

I would add, the ability to voluntarily answer comments or questions, much like this forum.

I haven't seen any programming that is very humanlike in its responses. In fact, some of the posters here seem oddly 'off', if you catch my drift.

It's my opinion that our consciousness is a result of the 'randomness' of the neural links and connections in our brains. This offers some explanation for the randomness of our personalities, at least.

I don't think computer science will ever duplicate the numbers or randomness of the neural network needed to approximate the human brain; either intentionally or accidentally.

NC

I think the Internet already recognizes our avatars. These avatars are alive and they have friends- and enemies in cyberworld.

Sometimes we disagree, but the Avatars remain friends.

Some times we agree, and the avatars disagree.

Ever seen an Avatar you cant stand? Just looking at it makes you nauseaus?

Then there are Avatars you love? Why?

There is already a relationship established among these avatars while we sleep.

Originally posted by dgtempe
I think the Internet already recognizes our avatars. These avatars are alive and they have friends- and enemies in cyberworld.

There is already a relationship established among these avatars while we sleep.

Yea last night my avatar got drunk and woke up next to chisslers,lol

Mod edit: shortened quote

[edit on 14-4-2006 by sanctum]

I beleive it.

Ohhhh, i crack myself up.

It could happen. Really.

We should really look into this further. Whats to say that in parallel Universes this doesnt happen?

[edit on 14-4-2006 by dgtempe]

No more discussion, I didnt think the thread would fizzle so quickly, it could happen you know! Maybe its already conscious and we dont know it yet!

howdy Buffalo Voice,

I don't think it is because there is a lack of interest in your topic, but maybe if you posted it to the "Science and Technology" forum you might get more of the type of discussion you are looking for.

They seem to be into those type of things "over there."

Maybe it's 'cause the rest of us are left speechless by dgtempe's new avatar...

you are probably right about trying this in a different forum, thanks, I probably made a newbe error, this place is huge!