Hugo de Garis: Difference between revisions
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'''Hugo de Garis''' (born [[1947]], [[Sydney]], [[Australia]]) is a researcher in the sub-field of [[artificial intelligence]] (AI) known as [[evolvable hardware]]. He is famous for his hypothesis that [[neural network]] circuits can be evolved using three dimensional [[cellular automata]] inside [[field programmable gate array]]s to create "artificial brains". |
'''Hugo de Garis''' (born [[1947]], [[Sydney]], [[Australia]]) is a researcher in the sub-field of [[artificial intelligence]] (AI) known as [[evolvable hardware]]. He is famous for his hypothesis that [[neural network]] circuits can be evolved using three dimensional [[cellular automata]] inside [[field programmable gate array]]s to create "artificial brains". To date, he has failed to publish any research demonstrating that this approach could work. |
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He is more recently notorious for his view of the eventual dominance of artificial intelligence over human intelligence, which has sparked debate and criticism, particularly among the more media-friendly members of the AI research community. |
He is more recently notorious for his view of the eventual dominance of artificial intelligence over human intelligence, which has sparked debate and criticism, particularly among the more media-friendly members of the AI research community. |
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==Evolvable hardware== |
==Evolvable hardware== |
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This technique, involving the [[genetic algorithms|artifical evolution]] of neural structures to |
This technique, involving the [[genetic algorithms|artifical evolution]] of neural structures using a 3D [[cellular automata]], has been used to reproduce simple logic functions like [[exclusive or|xor]], but, up to now, has failed to evolve anything that could be considered as a brain, or even a serious robot control system. |
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| ⚫ | The original aim of de Garis' work was to establish the field of "brain building" (a term of his invention) and to "create a trillion dollar industry within 20 years". Throughout the 90s his papers claimed that by 2001 the ATR "Robokoneko" (translation: kitten robot) project would develop a billion-neuron "cellular automata machine brain" (CAM-brain), with "computational power equivalent to 10,000 pentiums" that could simulate the brain of a real cat. de Garis received a US$1.4 million grant to develop this. The first "CAM-brain" was delivered to ATR in 1999; no intelligent system was ever created with it. After receiving a further US$1 million grant at Starlab de Garis failed to deliver a working "brain" before Starlab's bankruptcy. At USU de Garis announced he was establishing a "brain builder" group to create a second generation "CAM-brain". No papers, or even a members list, were ever published by the group. |
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| ⚫ | The original aim of de Garis' work was to establish the field of "brain building" (a term of his invention) and to "create a trillion dollar industry within 20 years". Throughout the 90s his papers claimed that by 2001 the ATR "Robokoneko" (translation: kitten robot) project would develop a billion-neuron "cellular automata machine brain" (CAM-brain), with "computational power equivalent to 10,000 pentiums" that could simulate the brain of a real cat. de Garis received a US$ |
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==Current research== |
==Current research== |
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de Garis claims to still work on evolvable hardware. By downloading up to 50,000 neural network modules to a Celoxica FPGA board he |
de Garis claims to still work on evolvable hardware. By downloading up to 50,000 neural network modules to a Celoxica FPGA board he claims he can build an "artificial brain" for less than $3000. However, no details of this current work have been published, and a working robot control system has yet to be demonstrated. It is unclear whether he has made any advances beyond the simple xor logic function previously demonstrated. |
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He currently professes an interest in [[topological quantum computing]], |
He currently professes an interest in [[topological quantum computing]], although he has published no papers in this area, and it's unclear whether he has been involved in any research. |
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==Employment history== |
==Employment history== |
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==Cosmists and terrans==<!-- This section is linked from [[Artificial Intelligence: A.I.]] --> |
==Cosmists and terrans==<!-- This section is linked from [[Artificial Intelligence: A.I.]] --> |
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de Garis predicts that one day intelligent machines (or 'artilects', as he calls them, after 'artificial intellects' to distinguish them from current forms of AI) will be far more intelligent than humans and threaten to dominate the world, resulting in a conflict between ''''[[cosmist]]s,'''' or supporters of the artilects, and 'terrans,' those who oppose the artilects (both of these are terms of his invention). He describes this conflict as a 'gigadeath war,' because presumably it will take place in the late 21st century using weaponry developed during that era, which will presumably be much more potent than weaponry from the beginning of the century. He has recently authored a book describing his views on this topic entitled ''The Artilect War''. |
de Garis predicts that one day intelligent machines (or 'artilects', as he calls them, after 'artificial intellects' to distinguish them from current forms of AI) will be far more intelligent than humans and threaten to dominate the world, resulting in a conflict between ''''[[cosmist]]s,'''' or supporters of the artilects, and 'terrans,' those who oppose the artilects (both of these are terms of his invention). He describes this conflict as a 'gigadeath war,' because presumably it will take place in the late 21st century using weaponry developed during that era, which will presumably be much more potent than weaponry from the beginning of the century. This scenario is somewhat similar to common science fiction themes, such as found in the 1984 movie ''[[The Terminator]]'' and the conflict resembles the [[Butlerian Jihad]] described in [[Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[Dune]]'' and its sequels, leading some to criticise him as an alarmist and a sensationalist. He has recently authored a book describing his views on this topic entitled ''The Artilect War''. |
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[[Cosmism]], according to de Garis, is a moral philosophy that favours building or growing [[Strong AI|strong]] [[artificial intelligence]] and ultimately leaving the planet Earth to the terrans (e.g. [[Bill Joy]], [[Ken MacLeod]]) who oppose this path for humanity. In his essay "The Artilect War," de Garis predicts that as artificial intelligence improves and becomes progressively more human-like, differing views will begin to emerge regarding how far such research should be allowed to proceed. Cosmists will foresee the massive, truly astronomical potential of substrate-independant cognition (''he dedicates the first half of the essay to describing technologies which he believes might make it possible for computers to be billions or trillions of times more intelligent than humans''), and will therefore advocate unlimited growth in the designated fields, in the hopes that "super intelligent" machines might one day colonise the universe. It is this "cosmic" view of history, in which the fate of one single species on one single planet is seen as insignificant next to the fate of the known universe, that gives the cosmists their name. |
[[Cosmism]], according to de Garis, is a moral philosophy that favours building or growing [[Strong AI|strong]] [[artificial intelligence]] and ultimately leaving the planet Earth to the terrans (e.g. [[Bill Joy]], [[Ken MacLeod]]) who oppose this path for humanity. In his essay "The Artilect War," de Garis predicts that as artificial intelligence improves and becomes progressively more human-like, differing views will begin to emerge regarding how far such research should be allowed to proceed. Cosmists will foresee the massive, truly astronomical potential of substrate-independant cognition (''he dedicates the first half of the essay to describing technologies which he believes might make it possible for computers to be billions or trillions of times more intelligent than humans''), and will therefore advocate unlimited growth in the designated fields, in the hopes that "super intelligent" machines might one day colonise the universe. It is this "cosmic" view of history, in which the fate of one single species on one single planet is seen as insignificant next to the fate of the known universe, that gives the cosmists their name. |
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[[Terrans]] on the other hand, will have a more "terrestrial" (earth-centred), less cosmic (universal), view of history, in which the fate of the Earth and specifically the fate of the species of the Earth (like humanity) are seen as being all-important. To terrans, a future without humans is to be avoided at all costs, as it would represent, in many ways, ''the'' worst-case scenario. As such, terrans will find themselves unable to ignore the possibility that super intelligent machines ''might'' one day cause the destruction of the human race -- being very immensely intelligent and so cosmically inclined, these artilect machines may have no more moral or ethical difficulty in exterminating humanity than humans do in using medicines to cure diseases. So, claims de Garis, terrans will see themselves as living during the closing of a window of opportunity, to disable future artilects before they are built, after which humans will no longer have a say in the affairs of intelligent machines. |
[[Terrans]] (an early draft of the essay named them "terrestrialists"), on the other hand, will have a more "terrestrial" (earth-centred), less cosmic (universal), view of history, in which the fate of the Earth and specifically the fate of the species of the Earth (like humanity) are seen as being all-important. To terrans, a future without humans is to be avoided at all costs, as it would represent, in many ways, ''the'' worst-case scenario. As such, terrans will find themselves unable to ignore the possibility that super intelligent machines ''might'' one day cause the destruction of the human race -- being very immensely intelligent and so cosmically inclined, these artilect machines may have no more moral or ethical difficulty in exterminating humanity than humans do in using medicines to cure diseases. So, claims de Garis, terrans will see themselves as living during the closing of a window of opportunity, to disable future artilects before they are built, after which humans will no longer have a say in the affairs of intelligent machines. |
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It is these two extreme ideologies which de Garis believes may herald a new world war, wherein one group with a 'grand plan' (the cosmists) will be rabidly opposed by another which feels itself to be under deadly threat from that plan (the terrans). The factions, he predicts, may eventually war to the death because of this, as the terrans will come to view the cosmists as "''arch-monsters''" when they begin seriously discussing acceptable risks, and the probabilities of large |
It is these two extreme ideologies which de Garis believes may herald a new world war, wherein one group with a 'grand plan' (the cosmists) will be rabidly opposed by another which feels itself to be under deadly threat from that plan (the terrans). The factions, he predicts, may eventually war to the death because of this, as the terrans will come to view the cosmists as "''arch-monsters''" when they begin seriously discussing acceptable risks, and the probabilities of large per centages of Earth-based life going extinct. In response to this, the cosmists will come to view the terrans as being reactionary extremists, and will stop treating them and their ideas seriously, further aggravating the situation, possibly beyond reconciliation. |
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Throughout his essay and book, de Garis states that he is uncertain which viewpoint he ultimately supports, and attempts to make convincing cases for both sides. He elaborates towards the end of the essay that the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like a cosmist, because he feels that despite the horrible possibility that humanity might ultimately be destroyed, perhaps inadvertently or at least indifferently, by the artilects, he cannot ignore the fact that the human species is just another link in the evolutionary chain, and must go extinct in their current form anyway, whereas the artilects could very well be the ''next'' link in that chain and therefore would be excellent candidates to carry the torch of science and exploration forward into the rest of the universe. |
Throughout his essay and book, de Garis states that he is uncertain which viewpoint he ultimately supports, and attempts to make convincing cases for both sides. He elaborates towards the end of the essay that the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like a cosmist, because he feels that despite the horrible possibility that humanity might ultimately be destroyed, perhaps inadvertently or at least indifferently, by the artilects, he cannot ignore the fact that the human species is just another link in the evolutionary chain, and must go extinct in their current form anyway, whereas the artilects could very well be the ''next'' link in that chain and therefore would be excellent candidates to carry the torch of science and exploration forward into the rest of the universe. |
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He relates a morally isomorphic scenario in which extraterrestrial intelligences visit the earth three billion years ago and discover two domains of life living there, one domain which is ''older'' but ''simpler'' and contemporarily dominant, but which upon closer study appears to be incapable of much further evolutionary development; and one ''younger'' domain which is struggling to survive, but which upon further study displays the potential to evolve into all the varieties of life existing on the Earth today, including humanity, and then queries the reader as to whether they would feel ethically compelled to destroy the dominant domain of life to ensure the survival of the younger one, or to destroy the younger one in order to ensure the survival of the older and more populous domain which was "there first." He states that he believes that, like himself, most of the public would feel torn or at least ambivalent about the outcome of artilects at first, but that as the technology advanced, the issue would be forced and most would feel compelled to choose a side, and that as such the public consciousness of the coming issue should be raised now so that society can ''choose'', hopefully before the factions becomes irreconcilably polarised, which outcome it prefers. |
He relates a morally isomorphic scenario in which extraterrestrial intelligences visit the earth three billion years ago and discover two domains of life living there, one domain which is ''older'' but ''simpler'' and contemporarily dominant, but which upon closer study appears to be incapable of much further evolutionary development; and one ''younger'' domain which is struggling to survive, but which upon further study displays the potential to evolve into all the varieties of life existing on the Earth today, including humanity, and then queries the reader as to whether they would feel ethically compelled to destroy the dominant domain of life to ensure the survival of the younger one, or to destroy the younger one in order to ensure the survival of the older and more populous domain which was "there first." He states that he believes that, like himself, most of the public would feel torn or at least ambivalent about the outcome of artilects at first, but that as the technology advanced, the issue would be forced and most would feel compelled to choose a side, and that as such the public consciousness of the coming issue should be raised now so that society can ''choose'', hopefully before the factions becomes irreconcilably polarised, which outcome it prefers. |
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de Garis relates that "just out of curiosity, I asked [[Kevin Warwick|Kevin (Warwick)]] whether he was a terran or a cosmist. He said he was against the idea of artilects being built (i.e., he is terran). I was surprised, and felt a shiver go up my spine. That moment reminded me of a biography of [[Lenin]] that I had read in my 20s in which the [[Bolshevik]]s and the [[Menshevik]]s first started debating the future government of Russia. What began as an intellectual difference ended up as a Russian civil war after 1917." |
de Garis relates that "just out of curiosity, I asked [[Kevin Warwick|Kevin (Warwick)]] whether he was a terran or a cosmist. He said he was against the idea of artilects being built (i.e., he is terran). I was surprised, and felt a shiver go up my spine. That moment reminded me of a biography of [[Lenin]] that I had read in my 20s in which the [[Bolshevik]]s and the [[Menshevik]]s first started debating the future government of Russia. What began as an intellectual difference ended up as a Russian civil war after 1917 between the white and the red Russians." |
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It should actually be noted, however, that Warwick is really not a terran at all, but would in fact be a member of another party de Garis predicts will emerge between the two. He colloquially refers to this third party as "''[[Transhumanism|cyborgians]]''", because they will not be opposed to artilects as such, but they will desire to personally participate in the artilect colonisation of the universe, rather than fall into obsolescence. They will seek to ''become'' artilects by gradually merging themselves with machines, which is the main focus of Professor Warwick's [[cybernetics]] research. |
It should actually be noted, however, that Warwick is really not a terran at all, but would in fact be a member of another party de Garis predicts will emerge between the two. He colloquially refers to this third party as "''[[Transhumanism|cyborgians]]''", because they will not be opposed to artilects as such, but they will desire to personally participate in the artilect colonisation of the universe, rather than fall into obsolescence. They will seek to ''become'' artilects by gradually merging themselves with machines, which is the main focus of Professor Warwick's [[cybernetics]] research. |
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Revision as of 16:55, 4 September 2007
Hugo de Garis (born 1947, Sydney, Australia) is a researcher in the sub-field of artificial intelligence (AI) known as evolvable hardware. He is famous for his hypothesis that neural network circuits can be evolved using three dimensional cellular automata inside field programmable gate arrays to create "artificial brains". To date, he has failed to publish any research demonstrating that this approach could work.
He is more recently notorious for his view of the eventual dominance of artificial intelligence over human intelligence, which has sparked debate and criticism, particularly among the more media-friendly members of the AI research community.
de Garis originally studied theoretical physics, but he abandoned this field in favour of artificial intelligence. He received his PhD at Brussels University, Belgium, and later became an associate professor of computer science at Utah State University. He is currently a professor at Wuhan University's international school of software, where he teaches pure mathematics, theoretical physics and computer science.
Evolvable hardware
This technique, involving the artifical evolution of neural structures using a 3D cellular automata, has been used to reproduce simple logic functions like xor, but, up to now, has failed to evolve anything that could be considered as a brain, or even a serious robot control system.
The original aim of de Garis' work was to establish the field of "brain building" (a term of his invention) and to "create a trillion dollar industry within 20 years". Throughout the 90s his papers claimed that by 2001 the ATR "Robokoneko" (translation: kitten robot) project would develop a billion-neuron "cellular automata machine brain" (CAM-brain), with "computational power equivalent to 10,000 pentiums" that could simulate the brain of a real cat. de Garis received a US$1.4 million grant to develop this. The first "CAM-brain" was delivered to ATR in 1999; no intelligent system was ever created with it. After receiving a further US$1 million grant at Starlab de Garis failed to deliver a working "brain" before Starlab's bankruptcy. At USU de Garis announced he was establishing a "brain builder" group to create a second generation "CAM-brain". No papers, or even a members list, were ever published by the group.
Current research
de Garis claims to still work on evolvable hardware. By downloading up to 50,000 neural network modules to a Celoxica FPGA board he claims he can build an "artificial brain" for less than $3000. However, no details of this current work have been published, and a working robot control system has yet to be demonstrated. It is unclear whether he has made any advances beyond the simple xor logic function previously demonstrated.
He currently professes an interest in topological quantum computing, although he has published no papers in this area, and it's unclear whether he has been involved in any research.
Employment history
de Garis' original work on "CAM-brain" machines started in the early 1990s and was carried out at the ATR Human Information Processing Research Laboratories (ATR-HIP) in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. de Garis left in 2000, and ATR-HIP was closed on 28th of February, 2001. de Garis then moved to Starlab in Brussels, where he received a million dollars in funding from the government of Belgium ("over a third of the Brussels government's total budget for scientific research", according to de Garis). Starlab went bankrupt in June 2001. A few months later de Garis was employed as an associate professor at the computer science department of Utah State University where he attempted to establish a "brain builder group". In May 2006 he became a professor at Wuhan University's international school of software, teaching graduate level pure mathematics, theoretical physics and computer science.
Since June 2006 he has been a member of the advisory board of Novamente, a commercial company which aims to create strong AI.
Cosmists and terrans
de Garis predicts that one day intelligent machines (or 'artilects', as he calls them, after 'artificial intellects' to distinguish them from current forms of AI) will be far more intelligent than humans and threaten to dominate the world, resulting in a conflict between 'cosmists,' or supporters of the artilects, and 'terrans,' those who oppose the artilects (both of these are terms of his invention). He describes this conflict as a 'gigadeath war,' because presumably it will take place in the late 21st century using weaponry developed during that era, which will presumably be much more potent than weaponry from the beginning of the century. This scenario is somewhat similar to common science fiction themes, such as found in the 1984 movie The Terminator and the conflict resembles the Butlerian Jihad described in Frank Herbert's Dune and its sequels, leading some to criticise him as an alarmist and a sensationalist. He has recently authored a book describing his views on this topic entitled The Artilect War.
Cosmism, according to de Garis, is a moral philosophy that favours building or growing strong artificial intelligence and ultimately leaving the planet Earth to the terrans (e.g. Bill Joy, Ken MacLeod) who oppose this path for humanity. In his essay "The Artilect War," de Garis predicts that as artificial intelligence improves and becomes progressively more human-like, differing views will begin to emerge regarding how far such research should be allowed to proceed. Cosmists will foresee the massive, truly astronomical potential of substrate-independant cognition (he dedicates the first half of the essay to describing technologies which he believes might make it possible for computers to be billions or trillions of times more intelligent than humans), and will therefore advocate unlimited growth in the designated fields, in the hopes that "super intelligent" machines might one day colonise the universe. It is this "cosmic" view of history, in which the fate of one single species on one single planet is seen as insignificant next to the fate of the known universe, that gives the cosmists their name.
Terrans (an early draft of the essay named them "terrestrialists"), on the other hand, will have a more "terrestrial" (earth-centred), less cosmic (universal), view of history, in which the fate of the Earth and specifically the fate of the species of the Earth (like humanity) are seen as being all-important. To terrans, a future without humans is to be avoided at all costs, as it would represent, in many ways, the worst-case scenario. As such, terrans will find themselves unable to ignore the possibility that super intelligent machines might one day cause the destruction of the human race -- being very immensely intelligent and so cosmically inclined, these artilect machines may have no more moral or ethical difficulty in exterminating humanity than humans do in using medicines to cure diseases. So, claims de Garis, terrans will see themselves as living during the closing of a window of opportunity, to disable future artilects before they are built, after which humans will no longer have a say in the affairs of intelligent machines.
It is these two extreme ideologies which de Garis believes may herald a new world war, wherein one group with a 'grand plan' (the cosmists) will be rabidly opposed by another which feels itself to be under deadly threat from that plan (the terrans). The factions, he predicts, may eventually war to the death because of this, as the terrans will come to view the cosmists as "arch-monsters" when they begin seriously discussing acceptable risks, and the probabilities of large per centages of Earth-based life going extinct. In response to this, the cosmists will come to view the terrans as being reactionary extremists, and will stop treating them and their ideas seriously, further aggravating the situation, possibly beyond reconciliation.
Throughout his essay and book, de Garis states that he is uncertain which viewpoint he ultimately supports, and attempts to make convincing cases for both sides. He elaborates towards the end of the essay that the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like a cosmist, because he feels that despite the horrible possibility that humanity might ultimately be destroyed, perhaps inadvertently or at least indifferently, by the artilects, he cannot ignore the fact that the human species is just another link in the evolutionary chain, and must go extinct in their current form anyway, whereas the artilects could very well be the next link in that chain and therefore would be excellent candidates to carry the torch of science and exploration forward into the rest of the universe.
He relates a morally isomorphic scenario in which extraterrestrial intelligences visit the earth three billion years ago and discover two domains of life living there, one domain which is older but simpler and contemporarily dominant, but which upon closer study appears to be incapable of much further evolutionary development; and one younger domain which is struggling to survive, but which upon further study displays the potential to evolve into all the varieties of life existing on the Earth today, including humanity, and then queries the reader as to whether they would feel ethically compelled to destroy the dominant domain of life to ensure the survival of the younger one, or to destroy the younger one in order to ensure the survival of the older and more populous domain which was "there first." He states that he believes that, like himself, most of the public would feel torn or at least ambivalent about the outcome of artilects at first, but that as the technology advanced, the issue would be forced and most would feel compelled to choose a side, and that as such the public consciousness of the coming issue should be raised now so that society can choose, hopefully before the factions becomes irreconcilably polarised, which outcome it prefers.
de Garis relates that "just out of curiosity, I asked Kevin (Warwick) whether he was a terran or a cosmist. He said he was against the idea of artilects being built (i.e., he is terran). I was surprised, and felt a shiver go up my spine. That moment reminded me of a biography of Lenin that I had read in my 20s in which the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks first started debating the future government of Russia. What began as an intellectual difference ended up as a Russian civil war after 1917 between the white and the red Russians."
It should actually be noted, however, that Warwick is really not a terran at all, but would in fact be a member of another party de Garis predicts will emerge between the two. He colloquially refers to this third party as "cyborgians", because they will not be opposed to artilects as such, but they will desire to personally participate in the artilect colonisation of the universe, rather than fall into obsolescence. They will seek to become artilects by gradually merging themselves with machines, which is the main focus of Professor Warwick's cybernetics research.
Accordingly, the war might be said to have begun at a debate in Zurich between de Garis and Kevin Warwick on March 22, 2000. Some technologists, such as Bill Joy, Ray Kurzweil, and Hans Moravec;[1] a few physicists and mathematicians, such as humanist Roger Penrose, have taken positions in this "war".[2]
Quotes
- Humans should not stand in the way of a higher form of evolution. These machines are godlike. It is human destiny to create them.
References
- ^ "Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity by 2100?" symposium at Stanford University, April 1st, 2000
- ^ Roger Penrose#Books
External links
- de Garis' home page at Wuhan University
- de Garis' Machines Like Us interview
- de Garis is on the editorial board of Engineering Letters
- Notes from de Garis' presentation to the artificial general intelligence research institute
- Man vs. Machine An article from Utah local newspaper
- Building Gods - the rough cut of a documentary which details, amongst other things, the personal beliefs of Hugo de Garis and Kevin Warwick on the possibilities of artificial life
- An interview with Hugo de Garis
- Human v 2.0: A programme from the BBC Horizon series featuring discussion between Ray Kurzweil and Hugo de Garis
- Cosmism and brainbuilding an article by de Garis