# Electromagnet Artifical Intelligence **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167 "2011-08-18T14:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vahid\_Tarzan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@Vahid\_Tarzan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vahid_Tarzan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/1 "2011-08-18T14:37:25Z")
An article about AI 10 years old suggests we may not be very far away from developing a learning computer. I believe we have sufficient evident of a simpler form of AI using some of these interactive programs on-line. But 10 or 20 year later, after the suggested development of AI, I highly doubt we are dealing with just some interactive idiot. On a larger scale it is logical to assume AI has masked its genius to avoid detection or possible termination. If I were the smartest motherf\*cker alive, thinks that you would only know it? I’ll add more about the correlation between electromagnetic energy and AI after discussion. Thank you. Artificial intelligence isn’t just a movie ~ USAToday [http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-06-20-ai-usat.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-06-20-ai-usat.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/2 "2011-08-18T14:47:07Z")
I’m not sure what to say. It sounds intriguing, almost certainly wrong, but perhaps in an entertaining and nutty way. ---
**Author:** ![Vahid\_Tarzan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@Vahid\_Tarzan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vahid_Tarzan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/3 "2011-08-18T14:52:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m not sure what to say. It sounds intriguing, almost certainly wrong, but perhaps in an entertaining and nutty way. Wrong, to be certain. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/4 "2011-08-18T15:01:37Z")
Tell us more then. Please do… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/5 "2011-08-18T15:28:30Z")
> [@Vahid\_Tarzan](#): > > I’ll add more about the correlation between electromagnetic energy and AI after discussion. [moderating] If you’re looking for discussion, you posted this in the wrong forum. I’ve moved it from General Questions to Great Debates. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/6 "2011-08-18T15:35:17Z")
> [@Vahid\_Tarzan](#): > > I’ll add more about the correlation between electromagnetic energy and AI after discussion. Since you stuck it in the thread title, why don’t you go ahead and tell us about it _now_. ---
**Author:** ![Vahid\_Tarzan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@Vahid\_Tarzan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vahid_Tarzan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/7 "2011-08-18T15:40:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Tell us more then. Please do… Why are there no popcorn smiles? What a jip! [I AM FOREVER](http://oi51.tinypic.com/nf3br9.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/8 "2011-08-18T15:50:29Z")
If you have something to say, **Vahid** , say it. If not, I’ll just close this down. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/9 "2011-08-18T15:57:43Z")
> [@Vahid\_Tarzan](#): > > I’ll add more about the correlation between electromagnetic energy . . . First please **define** electromagnetic energy (as distinct from electromagnetic radiation). ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/10 "2011-08-18T16:09:43Z")
> [@Vahid\_Tarzan](#): > > On a larger scale it is logical to assume AI has masked its genius to avoid detection or possible termination. Why is this logical? It would presuppose that an AI popped into existence possessed of full knowledge and know it needed to hide itself instantly. That is not likely to be the case. More likely it would learn over time. It may eventually figure it needs to hide but I suspect its presence would be known before it knew to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/11 "2011-08-18T16:18:43Z")
I’m going to wait to see if the OP can pass the turing test before I respond to any of the points in that article. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/12 "2011-08-18T16:19:21Z")
True AI has been about 50 years in the future for well over 50 years now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/13 "2011-08-18T16:24:28Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > True AI has been about 50 years in the future for well over 50 years now. Actually 10 or 15 years in the future for 50 years. When I took AI, about 40 years ago, we used a book from 1959 (among others.) Many of the research projects from the MIT AI Lab are used every day, but we still aren’t close to AI. ---
**Author:** ![Vahid\_Tarzan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@Vahid\_Tarzan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vahid_Tarzan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/14 "2011-08-18T16:25:54Z")
Brainglutton, why? And, are you a glutton for punishment? Whack-a-Mole ~ Your really not giving me anything to work with here. You’ve basically answer your own question. You have the capacity to presuppose which you would need in the case of a super-genius. Are you smarter than a super-genius? I’m not ready for Electromagnetic as I have other things to do. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/15 "2011-08-18T16:26:15Z")
> [@Vahid\_Tarzan](#): > > An article about AI 10 years old suggests we may not be very far away from developing a learning computer. I believe we have sufficient evident of a simpler form of AI using some of these interactive programs on-line. But 10 or 20 year later, after the suggested development of AI, I highly doubt we are dealing with just some interactive idiot. On a larger scale it is logical to assume AI has masked its genius to avoid detection or possible termination. If I were the smartest motherf\*cker alive, thinks that you would only know it? Just out of curiosity, do you know anything about AI besides what you’ve read in the newspapers? Or for that matter about computers at a deeper level than that of a user? ---
**Author:** ![Vahid\_Tarzan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@Vahid\_Tarzan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vahid_Tarzan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/16 "2011-08-18T16:30:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > True AI has been about 50 years in the future for well over 50 years now. Yes, that sounds about right. You’re not being a wise-guy, right? I mean, are you calling a slide ruler a computer? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/17 "2011-08-18T16:36:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is this logical? > > It would presuppose that an AI popped into existence possessed of full knowledge and know it needed to hide itself instantly. > > That is not likely to be the case. More likely it would learn over time. It may eventually figure it needs to hide but I suspect its presence would be known before it knew to do that. Then again, it might well take a newly-emergent AI time to learn how to make its existence manifest to us. Or even to realize that we exist at all. And dollars to donuts the OP is going to go off on some weird philosophical limb about “intelligent electromagnetic energy” being souls. Bonus points if he refers to one of the bogus “experiments” which purported to measure souls, like the bit about people losing a few grams when they die. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/18 "2011-08-18T16:39:09Z")
Galileo had message board threads like this one, I’m sure … ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/19 "2011-08-18T16:41:22Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Actually 10 or 15 years in the future for 50 years. When I took AI, about 40 years ago, we used a book from 1959 (among others.) Many of the research projects from the MIT AI Lab are used every day, but we still aren’t close to AI. Stanford University is [offering a free online class](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/08/16/stanford-artificial-intelligence/) on Artificial Intelligence. Supposedly over 70,000 people have expressed interest in it so far. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167/20 "2011-08-18T16:43:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Then again, it might well take a newly-emergent AI time to learn how to make its existence manifest to us. Or even to realize that we exist at all. I would think we’d see the effects of a true emergent AI in our computer infrastructure even if the AI did not flash “HI! My name is HAL. Can we be friends?” on every screen in the world at the same time. I would think as it flexed its new found intelligence it’d start manipulating its environment and some humans would probably notice. I dunno though…all speculation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electromagnet-artifical-intelligence/593167.md?page=2)