Reflection, AI, Cybernetics, ...

[Francois-Rene Rideau]

Dear Lynn,

(1) I admit that the "themselves" should probably be changed to
 "part of themselves", to avoid grandiose misinterpretation.
 Where is this document that I should fix, already?

(2) You seem to introduce the topic of AI where there
 isn't anything like that. Reflection may help push back
 the level of abstraction where the (meta^n)programmer sits,
 it doesn't claim to ever get rid of the programmer altogether.
 Note that sources of information for reflective systems include
 digestion of signals from databases and sensors, not just from
 explicitly communicated (meta^n)program code. Of course, such
 (meta^n)code is somehow the ultimate source of "intelligence" and stupidity
 in any resulting system.

(3) The question of whether interaction with a reflective system
 could eventually lead to bootstrap a state wherefrom the system
 could pick up signals from the outside world and interpret them
 as meaning that enables it to survive autonomously, is an open
 question, that is maybe interesting, but unrelated to TUNES as
 such. Just like I did when the topic last cropped up, I invite you
 to move discuss about this topic to the cybernethics@tunes.org mailing-list.

(4) Since you seem very interested in the topic of autonomous systems,
 and the limits of what can be implemented about them, maybe you could
 do a the following job for the Review subproject on Cliki.Tunes.Org:
 review the history of the first, second, and third wave of cybernetics
 (and more?) and their approach to tackling the problem of "AI" and
 autonomous systems in general, their contributions to programming
 paradigms, the reasons for their successes and failures. I think that
 your critical approach makes you well placed to tackle such a study.
 If Google isn't enough, contact me by email.

(5) I am ashamed of not doing much on the subject these times
 (hence my silence on this list), but this list is meant to be
 about TUNES development efforts. Things like Slate, Max, ZZZ,
 first-class pattern-matching, and other past present and future
 TUNES Activities.
	http://cliki.tunes.org/Activities

Cheers,

[ François-René ÐVB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ]
[  TUNES project for a Free Reflective Computing System  | http://tunes.org  ]
Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.
		-- Samuel Goldwyn