To assess the feasibility of whole brain emulation, one must understand the criterion for success. The aim is not to create a brain simulation so detailed and accurate that one could use it to predict exactly what would have happened in the original brain if it had been subjected to a particular sequence of stimuli. Instead, the aim is to capture e

So far, we have defined a learning rule. To get an agent, we also need a decision rule. To this end, we endow the agent with a “utility function

Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an “intelligence explosion,” and the intellige

walking on their hind legs—just barely attaining the threshold level of performance required for engaging in the activity at all

Goal content What objective should the AI pursue? How should a description of this objective be interpreted? Should the objective include giving special rewards to those who contributed to the project’s success? Decision theory Should the AI use causal decision theory, evidential decision theory, updateless decision theory, or something else? Epist

Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an “intelligence explosion,” and the intellige

Neurological development can be promoted by low-tech interventions such as optimizing maternal and infant nutrition, removing lead and other neurotoxic pollutants from the environment, eradicating parasites, ensuring adequate sleep and exercise, and preventing diseases that affect the brain.33

it took on the order of one million years for human productive capacity to increase sufficiently to sustain an additional one million individuals living at subsistence level.

Nils Nilsson has spent a long and productive career working on problems in search, planning, knowledge representation, and robotics; he has authored textbooks in artificial intelligence; and he recently completed the most comprehensive history of the field written to