Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3155 to 3160 (15-19 February 2016)
Omega Entity:
So it stands to reason that those AI drives roll processor, storage, and RAM all into one handy device, since even lacking one of those things would make a computer inoperable, let alone an artificial person.
ankhtahr:
Well, assuming a physicalist/monist position I'd say that these AI drives are only that: drives. Hard disks/SSDs, which are used as long term memory. Because in my opinion that is the basically only thing defining a person's personality. It requires a "compatible brain" to function, but the memories are what makes the "core self". However with unified instruction sets finding a "compatible brain" for a memory backup should be far easier for AI. So I'd guess that these AI drives are only memories, but the "brain" of an AI is the combination of memory and CPU. Probably still a typical Von Neumann architecture.
sitnspin:
The "self" is more than just memories. It is an emergent property of various interacting processes. In humans this includes neurotransmitter levels, the endocrine system, the nervous system, and other electrochemical reactions and systems. The self is not a "thing" it is a process, a continually fluctuating state. Change any of those processes and you change the personality.
Is it cold in here?:
@mountevans,
Welcome, thoughtful new person!
They're post-Singularity, so you're right to describe the big AIs as running the world.
Omega Entity:
--- Quote from: ankhtahr on 20 Feb 2016, 07:52 ---Well, assuming a physicalist/monist position I'd say that these AI drives are only that: drives. Hard disks/SSDs, which are used as long term memory. Because in my opinion that is the basically only thing defining a person's personality. It requires a "compatible brain" to function, but the memories are what makes the "core self". However with unified instruction sets finding a "compatible brain" for a memory backup should be far easier for AI. So I'd guess that these AI drives are only memories, but the "brain" of an AI is the combination of memory and CPU. Probably still a typical Von Neumann architecture.
--- End quote ---
The 'self' may, in large part, be the contents of the hard drive, but without the processor to interpret those files and the RAM to be able to execute the function, you're still just left with the storage part of the brain, when other areas are just as important for it to fully function.
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